Post#136 » by frizzledizzle » Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:55 pm
People keep saying you need a superstar to win a championship. Who the heck did the Pistons have?
Billups
Rip
Prince
Sheed
Ben
So which one of those would you consider a superstar? You could argue the Pacers are an identical but better version of them. If I had to compare the players, I'll even do worst case scenario of comparing them.
Billups > Hill
Rip = Granger
Prince < PG
Sheed = West
Ben = Hibbert
That's being generous in my opinion. Granger has been the go to guy and team leader for years, he's still only 29 and I think that makes him a better player than RIP. And Hibbert is better than Ben, he at least has some semblance of an offensive game.
To break it down...
6'3 Billups vs. 6'2 Hill
Billups was better than Hill but Hill isn't far behind. Billups put up insane numbers in his prime and his career average has been lowered in recent years as he's gotten older. You could make the same argument for Hill though. Until the end of last season, he was a bench player which lowered his numbers and he's still only 26 years old. He has room to improve and his career averages should all continue to increase as long as he's starting.
6'7 Hamilton vs. 6'8 Granger
Hamilton is a slightly better shooter but Granger is a good shooter too and a better all around player. Granger had the burden in recent years of being the best player on the team with defenses focusing more on him than everyone else. Rip on the other hand played had Billups and Sheed who were excellent scores and Prince who was solid enough. This season is going to be the first time Granger won't have to carry the load and do it all.
6'9 Prince vs. 6'9 George
PG is better than Prince in every facet of the game. The only way Prince comes near PG was his defense. Other than that, PG is a better scorer, better ball handler and better rebounder all while maintaining elite defense.
6'11 Rasheed vs. 6'9 West
Similar players but West is better on the Pacers than Wallace was on the Pistons. Both are big men that could hit mid-range jump shots. In fact, West leads the entire league in mid-range shooting percentage with over 300 attempts. So any shooting guard or small forward out there with over 300 attempts, West shoots a higher percentage from mid range... the guy knocks em down all day if you give him a foot.
6'9 Ben vs. 7'2 Hibbert
Ben was the better rebounder but Hibbert is better in every other area. Plus, he's a lot bigger. He's an elite defender that can create his own shot if need be. He used to have a really good hookshot but he doesn't do as much shooting as he has in the past. But if you put the ball in his hands, he's capable of backing defenders down and shooting a hook shot over them
A lot of people won't want to admit it but they are very similar teams and if the Pistons can win a championship, whose to say the Pacers can't? They're sitting in 2nd place without a player most would have considered their best player up until this season. And the Pacers bench is without a doubt better than Pistons bench was.
People keep saying the Pacers aren't good enough but who says? Last season the Pacers had a 1st year head coach and it was George Hill/David West's first season with the team. You have to remember it was a shortened offseason to prepare and install Vogel's system. Not only that but George Hill didn't take over as starter until the end of the season and David West was still struggling to get back into form coming off his ACL tear. This season has allowed George Hill to build more chemistry with starters and David West has recovered and is looking like the David West of the past. It has also allowed Paul George to grow into an all-star and given Lance Stephenson playing time. They've also added Mahinimi and with Stephenson's growth, those two will be better than anyone the Pacers had coming off their bench last season.
I don't think people know this but the Pacers starting unit was statistically the best starting unit in the NBA last season as far as winning is concerned. It was the terrible bench that cost them. Both the starters and bench have improved this season. That's not unexpected either seeing as last season, Paul George was 21, George Hill was 25 and Roy Hibbert was 25 as well. Obviously most players don't peak at those ages and have room for improvement. Despite being that young, the Pacers still had the 5th best record in the NBA. Now with them being 22, 26 and 26, they're still sitting 2nd place in the east. That's even with Granger who was 28 last season being out and being replaced by 22 year old Lance Stephenson. Think about how young the Pacers starting line up is... 22, 22, 26, 26 and 32. With a bench that's 23(Johnson), 25(Augustin), 25(Pendergraph), 26(Mahinimi) and 27(Hansbrough). Why does nobody think they can improve?
They're young, good and they're going to improve. They get to add a 20-5-3 guy tonight without trading anyone on the team to get him. That's just going to make the team better and deeper. People who don't pay attention to the Pacers just don't get it. They have a 22 year old that's virtually average 18pts, 8rebs, 4asts and 2stls on the season while shooting 40% from downtown. Some people don't think he can be a superstar and yet he's really close being that he's already an all-star. The Pacers absolutely can pull off of Pistons-type championship. You don't think the Pacers can't do it without a superstar and yet Paul George and Danny Granger are both probably better than anyone on that Pistons team. And it looks as though they may have one advantage they didn't have last year come playoff time. All of those ticky tack fouls the refs were calling in favor Lebron and Wade because they're superstars, refs haven't been calling it on the Pacers. Refs have been letting them play physical and if the refs let the Pacers play Miami physical, there's more than a punchers chance that Miami goes down.