Is Paul George Being Over praised For the Success of Pacers?

[Disabled Sports]

the only reason I'm posting a youtube video is because I'm disabled & can't really type
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByLlMGrRoao&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

[Wizop]

here in Indiana we believe in team basketball. Paul George could well win the most improved player two years in a row but we agree he isn't the sole reason for our success. when ESPN wanted to interview him, Paul refused and had them interview the whole starting five. Paul is our leading scorer but we win as a team.

a couple of things though. you overlook the fact that we had Danny Granger healthy in 2011. I don't think anyone could claim we could have made up for the loss of Granger without PG's improvement or that we could have won as many games as we did before PG improved without Granger's scoring. you also make no mention of defense and even though every Pacer defends, PG is an elite defender.

it is certainly true though that Hibbert and Stephenson have improved too and David West's leadership and professionalism have been as important as the young players' improvement. George Hill is also a major improvement over what we had at that position previously. Scola and Watson are also upgrades. Coach Vogel's positive attitude deserves credit too.

so is Paul George the 2nd best player in the league? perhaps not, yet. but the Pacers are the #1 team right now and Paul has the role of leading scorer and best perimeter defender.

[EuroPacer]

It is in the nature of journalists to pin-point one particular highlight when a sporting team has success. It makes it easy to write about a team, people aren't really interested in reading about the small details that make a team work. This is why Wizop is spot on, PG is crucial to the team, but he is in no way solely responsible for the success of the team.

As a fan that suffered through years of mediocrity I would rather praise Bird/Vogel for the current success.

[Scoot McGroot]

It is in the nature of journalists to pin-point one particular highlight when a sporting team has success. It makes it easy to write about a team, people aren't really interested in reading about the small details that make a team work. This is why Wizop is spot on, PG is crucial to the team, but he is in no way solely responsible for the success of the team.

As a fan that suffered through years of mediocrity I would rather praise Bird/Vogel for the current success.

It's very hard to spot one thing responsible for the growth of this team. In fact, I'd argue there isn't. There's a lot.

David West instilling a veteran focus of having NO personal goals, just a championship. Roy Hibbert putting in immense work each offseason to become one of the biggest interior forces in the league on both ends. George Hill locking down PG's on the perimeter while also hitting a 3 with reliability; bringing a consistency to the PG spot we haven't seen since Mark Jackson. Lance keeping his head down, learning from the veterans all over the roster and putting team first by focusing on defense, even though he was originally thought to be a pure "offense prospect". Then, Paul George. He's taken his talent from being a borderline lotto guy to being one of the best young wing players in the league over the course of several years. He got his big contract, and could have taken it easy, but no. He kept focusing and working, and now he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the game, and is developing an offensive game that is coming through when we need it the most with more regularity.

And all of that doesn't even touch on the leadership from Vogel and/or Bird. Seriously. Insane growth from top to bottom of this organization.

[Wizop]

and the fans are coming back. sure there were ooh's and ah's for athletic plays by LeBron and Wade, but generally the seats were filled with Pacer fans. I saw very few Heat jerseys. in most part, the crowd was there to see a Pacer win and not visiting superstars.

[Nuntius]

I echo the feelings of the above posters. You won't really see a lot of Pacer fans clamoring that Paul George should be the MPV or that he's better than Durant. We know that he is very good and that he will become even better in the future but we prefer to see it on the court instead of arguing about it a forum.

I appreciate the time that you devoted in making this video, though. Good job

[Miller4ever]

When Paul George was asked to do an interview for Stephen A. Smith, he agreed to it only if the starting 5 + Vogel would join him.

That's all I need to know.

[Pacerlive]

the only reason I'm posting a youtube video is because I'm disabled & can't really type

First of all I wanted to say thanks for making a video to express your feelings.

IMO you can't negate the praise from the media since every writer with ink and blogger in this world will overlook the nitty gritty of the Pacers starting five. It was that way with Reggie, then JO and now Paul George so to me you just have to manage it. The fact is though he is the best player on this team overall when you look at the whole product.

Roy is the hardest to come by in the NBA (a dominant center) but without Paul George Roy is consistent double team and easily negated. Against the Heat you saw the focus was on stopping Paul George with the trap just like last year and our counter was to pass over the trap and hit Roy. Hill can't make that pass over James and Bosh but PG can which is why we have him run the pnr so much agaisnt them. Without PG demanding a double team Hibbert doesn't go off for 24 IMO.

Lastly I would be concern if it was going to PG's head but nothing points to that. Now it may go to everyone elses head (media, fans,) but you can't prevent that. Everyone says this is a really tight locker room and based on how they play I tend to believe them.