Paul George is primed to have the best season of his NBA career—or so says Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel.
Let’s cut right to the chase, with the help of Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Chris Haynes:
Pacers coach Frank Vogel says he believes Paul George will have the best season of his career.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 15, 2015
Vogel’s faith in his best player isn’t particularly odd. Head coaches tend to believe in their superstars. It’s also not their job to be too candid in public. Good or bad, great or horrible, that mostly happens behind the scenes. So even if he thought that George wasn’t going to have a career year, he wouldn’t come right out and say it.
But he didn’t need to come right out and say this, either. George has appeared in just six regular season games since breaking his leg at a Team USA scrimmage roughly 14 months ago. The Pacers are also experimenting with him at power forward, a role he is reluctantly accepting. With that many caveats in play, it would be safer for Vogel to sidestep these kind of assertions, to offer praise and support without the promise of pomp. And yet, George is only 25 with two All-Star appearances to his name. If there’s a transitioning player worth doubling down on, it’s him.
There’s evidence that suggests George will thrive at power forward. He’s listed at 6’9″, but he’s probably closer to 6’11” at this point. He may even be taller. So while he doesn’t have the girth to adequately body up against the Zach Randolphs of the world, he does have the height.
More than that, the power forward position is changing. The rise of stretch 4s is real. Shooting threes as a power forward has moved beyond the realm of superfluous luxury and become more of an assumption. George’s 36.1 percent conversation rate from downtown for his career isn’t so much a demonstrative advantage as it is a necessity. The Pacers need someone like him if they’re trying to get with the times.
George’s real advantage is his ability to put the ball on the floor and pilot the offense. That remains uncommon among stretch 4s, who are so often specialists rather than jacks of all trades. Think along the lines of Ryan Anderson, or even Kevin Love, who can pass the ball and score in different ways, but isn’t an explosive off-the-dribble buckets-blitzer.
Switching might make George uncomfortable, especially on the defensive end, where, one way or another, his role will change. But in the short time he spent at power forward during the 2013-14 campaign, his last healthy season, his PER exploded, per 82games.com. That tends to happen in these situations, and it usually results in gaudier offensive stat lines. And more provocative per-game splits is something George, like everyone else in the NBA, can most definitely get used to.
In the event George’s body holds up, then, Vogel’s prediction has a legit shot at going from initially ambitious to a matter of fact.
