Starting Five: PG George Hill, SG Paul George, SF Danny Granger, PF David West, C Roy Hibbert
Key Bench Players: PG DJ Augustin, SF Gerald Green, PF Tyler Hansbrough, F Miles Plumlee, C Ian Mahinmi
Notable offseason additions: PG DJ Augstin, G Sam Young, C Ian Mahinmi
Offseason subtractions: PG Darren Collison, SF Dahntay Jones
Which team is the Indiana Pacer squad you should be looking for in 2012-2013? The unglamorous, boring blue-collar team that you see laid out before you whose pedestrian roster is due for regression? Or the underrated team of scrappy young players where every player’s contribution hold equal weight of importance, a la the 2004 Detroit Pistons?
The answer is that this team is still really damn good. Shortly before when we last saw the Pacers, they were up 2-1 with a near 20 point blowout of the eventual champion Miami Heat. To make matters worse, their All-Star power forward Chris Bosh had gone down with an abdominal muscle injury on a team with a thin depth chart. Center Roy Hibbert dropped 19/18 on Erik Spoeltra’s boys, seemingly exposing their biggest weakness against a dominant big man attack. So what happened? LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. In the next three games, the two essentially took an R. Kelly-sized pee on the Pacers. Wade averaged 33 points, 7 rebounds and nearly 4 assists, while shooting 44%, and the future Finals MVP James somehow topped that performance with a completely unbelievable 33/8/11 on 55% shooting. The Heat won all of those contests, nearly vanquishing breakout young star Paul George and preventing any further double doubles from Roy Hibbert. Truth be told, the Pacers played fine basketball – the Heat just had two players perform at the peak of human performance. To put it lightly.
Quite simply, this season’s Pacers team’s success depends on two distinct factors: little to no regression from the main rotation players, and improvements from Paul George. Indy had a lot go right for them last year, including nearly zero major injuries to their key guys. George Hill hit the high water mark with 16 missed games, but only a shocking 5 games between West, Hibbert, Granger and Paul George. The Pacers can hope for another nearly flawless bill of health in 2012-2013, but I highly doubt they’ll get it.
More importantly, it feels like almost every player in coach Frank Vogel’s rotation has peaked. Hibbert enjoyed an All-Star campaign, but 13/9 with two blocks per contest seems in the neighborhood of his ceiling. Meanwhile, David West at age 31 is certainly declining and averages of 13/7 seem a bit low, but about in the right range. The Pacer with the longest tenure, Danny Granger, is a one-time former All-Star who everyone always spends four weeks before the season spouting about how this will finally be the year he makes the leap to superstardom. Well, it’s 2012 and I’m still writing about an overpaid small forward who hasn’t distanced himself from Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Josh Smith and Rudy Gay. On his best Pacers team of his career, Granger put up his worst numbers since 2007-2008, and at 28 might not ever be better than he was two years ago. Out of all the regulars, George Hill, 25, is the only other candidate besides Paul George primed for any sort of breakout, but perhaps his lack of size and court vision could limit his growth.
Last winter, all the NBA hoopheads heard about was how Paul George had inexplicably grown two inches in the offseason. Now towering closer to 6’9″, Indy’s 20 year-old swingman supposedl… Read more...