Paul George (Photo : Twitter)
Every offseason brings changes and one team that took it to the "extreme" is the Indiana Pacers.
This is the assessment from Matt Moore of CBS Sports. He cited that the Pacers were so close to the title and last season's failure was due to Paul George's Team USA injury that took him out of the season. He is questioning why Bird just blew up a team that took years to build.
"Larry Bird went to extremes this offseason," Moore declared. "Maybe David West was always gone, and maybe if that hadn't happened, he would have reconsidered trading Roy Hibbert. To go to the lengths he did to reshape this team, as quickly as he did, looks pretty extreme, though. Still, the damage is done and the Pacers are going to this smallball approach no matter what."
A team that has been the model for management and player development suddenly becomes a disaster waiting to happen. The small ball approach will force George to play the "four." Bird saw East rivals use LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in the position and thought that it might work with George, but USA Today had PG13's comments that were not so encouraging.
"Um, you know it's, uh, I was open for - to try it out," George said. "It's definitely a change. It's something new. We'll see how it goes. As the season goes, it might be better for me to just be at my regular position. But I told them I was open to the situation and (we'll) see where it goes."
He's not exactly jumping up and down, and he later aired his misgivings.
"It's just being outmatched strength-wise with guys at the four spot is really the only concern," the former Most Improved Player stated. "It's not really the concern for one game. It's the concern just over the course of a season just how my body would take it, especially coming off the injury that I had and a whole year of rehabbing."
He added: "Just not sure of how it's going to take it. (We'll) start camp, see how camp goes. Again, I'm not too thrilled on it, but it could change the more comfortable I get at the position. But we'll see. But again, I could very much end up loving it, so it's all up in the air. I'm open to the position."
The Pacers will be an experiment this season, and the conclusion may go either way.
