Scoring is, of course, important in the game of basketball but so is defense. And how many times have we heard of the phrase "defense wins games"?
Right now, Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird and head coach Frank Vogel say that the team is lacking in scoring, and ridding themselves of the slow and big guys and replacing them with faster and smaller shooters will be the way to go if the Pacers want to finish as a higher seed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs.
Gone are Roy Hibbert and David West and in their place are role players Jordan Hill and Ian Mahinmi. There is, of course, the returning Paul George who will be playing power forward this season, a position he was reluctant to take on at first but something Bird and Vogel believe he will fit into as they go along.
So the run and gun brand of ball will be there, with defense leaving a big question mark in the process.
George already had a feel of things to come when he went up against bigger power forwards like Anthony Davis and that is just the beginning. Wait until he finds himself defending opposite Chris Bosh (Miami Heat) or even Zach Randolph (Memphis Grizzlies).
There will be a lot of banging; seeing how George is coming off a leg injury, it will be interesting to see how the Pacers will deal with that in case the game turns into a defensive matchup nightmare.
Other than that, the Pacers will need to make sure that they are in excellent shape to survive a fast-paced brand of basketball as well, particularly the guards and the small forwards — George included.
There is nothing wrong in the shift of play style but the question is on whether or not such is advisable given the NBA brand of basketball. It somehow calls to mind the mindset of Mike D' Antoni with the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nothing really came fruitful out of it, although the Suns made some headway mainly because they had a talented group at that time (Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, etc.).
The Pacers don't exactly have that kind of talent but then again, they can surely try. Hopefully, it does return dividends.
