Paul George’s Expectations for New Season

The ink is dry on Paul George’s max deal, so what can be the expectations for this coming season. I know everyone will want George to be the best player he can be, and that he needs to be that top player for the Pacers that he can be.  But you need to look at a realistic idea for what should be expected out of Paul George.  I believe in this coming deal, he’ll have some incentives based upon what he does during the season, so getting the MVP, NBA All team honors, and all that should be great expectations to have.

I want to expect the most out of George this coming season, and I’ve said before what he needs to get this on the right track.  There are those few areas, dribbling, ball handling, and cutting down the turnovers to me are those ways that he can become the best all around player.  First, you want Paul George to step it up on the ball handling side,even though I love the way he can roll off a screen and make a jumper.  But I do think that if he can improve the ball handling and create scores for himself, that’s going to be even better for him.  The Pacers usually don’t have those guys that can create for themselves, but the way that George can finish at the rim makes me want him to improve in that area.

Cut down some of the bad passes that he makes, and that assist rate goes up.  Just like Lebron James is that can that can give out the ball as much as he can score, I want Paul George in that same vein.  He’s a guy that might have to deal with more defenders on him this year, so he has to find that open man, and really look for guys at times.  He was able to get a couple of double figure assist games, and I would say that even 3-5 assists a game would be ideal for him.

Scoring wise is where I believe people will expect the most. But what kind of scoring should George get?  15-20 points is my expectations since the Pacers do have those other options to go to. The other word I would throw here is consistency.  Last season, we saw George hit that zero line in points against Golden State, and now that he’s a “max-player” that can’t happen. I would hate to hear the sports talk radio if Paul George gets that this season.  He’s probably going to have an off night here and there, but double figures at the LEAST should be expected out of him now.  Each and every night there’s that expectation that George could go off for 30 or more points.  But at the same time, let’s be reasonable, and look at the Pacers with those other options.  Maybe Roy Hibbert has a great night of 20some points.  David West is still someone that you can expect 15 or more points just about any night.  Then there’s Danny Granger coming back that will need some touches to get back into rhythm. I understand George will be that PRIMARY scorer, but in the Pacers’ system, I don’t think any guy will be that high in scoring average, and that’s fine.

It’s ultimately what will Paul George do to make this Pacers team better.  If he betters himself, the team is going to look better as he’s the focus.  It’s important now for George to step up the workouts, step up the time in the gym, get his head right with the signing done, and really put on his Pacers cape to carry this team to that goal of NBA Finals.