The Indiana Pacers appear to be very serious as far as the fast-tempo brand of basketball is concerned for the coming season; and there could be major adjustments in the role of players, Paul George included.
With David West and Roy Hibbert gone, the Pacers have indeed become smaller. Though it remains who will fill in the center slot, George is said to be playing a bit of power forward when the season starts.
No other than Pacers president Larry Bird wants to see his prized star doing some power forward work, although maybe not for an entire game. Bird reportedly wants the Pacers to score six points or more than their previous totals and he believes that going fast is the way to go.
So how does Paul George feel about it? Well it seems the returning Pacers star doesn't mind moving to a new position.
"I'm a ball player," he said in an interview with Vigilant Sports. "You put me anywhere on the court, I'm going to make the most of it. It's not going to be logging 30 minutes at the power forward. Whatever needs to be done. If I got to play a couple minutes at the power forward I'm fine with it."
It remains to be seen if the change in style will benefit the Pacers and on whether Frank Vogel has any plans to improve their defense as well. Many teams have focused a lot on offense, recalling to mind how Mike D'Antoni tried to do it when he joined the Lakers some years back.
The result of that was of course forgettable and hopefully the Pacers do not end up with the same fate.
Bird has been around to know what needs to be done and hence is aware of the circumstances with the fast-tempo style of play.
But those were in the good old days where defense was hardly emphasized. These days, defense has been touted as the formula to win games. Either the Pacers have abandoned that or they have something special planned on the defensive end for the coming season.
