Larry Bird Says Wait and See About Indiana’s Playoff Hopes
By Ben Gibson
The Pacers have one win behind a better Roy Hibbert, but that shouldn’t change anyone’s expectations for the Pacers season.
When Larry Bird spoke with the media a few days ago, he shared his feeling that at best Indiana’s playoff chances are still up in the air with all the injuries the Pacers are dealing with.
"“Not really, not with that many key players,” Bird told reporters Tuesday. “Guys are starting to play a lot better. They were doing some things that coach wanted them to do as far as moving the basketball. I thought they looked pretty sharp. All of a sudden the injuries started. It jolted us a little bit, but we’ve got to get through this period until the guys get back.”“My goal was to get into the playoffs,” Bird said of his expectations before training camp. “I think Paul (George) will probably be out all year; we don’t know yet but it looks that way. I thought we had a legitimate chance to get into the playoffs but we’ll see what happens. That’s still our goal and we’ll fight towards that goal and I think it’s important for our franchise to get into the playoffs every year. Then we’ll regroup when Paul gets back and go from there.”"
With Paul George healing and holding up cap space, the Pacers can’t make too many moves, if any, to try to put themselves in position to improve the team. Don’t get too excited about George coming back, even if he is beating his dog 1-on-1.
"“That means nothing. He’s got a rod in his leg, holding that bone together and it’s gotta heal,” Bird said. “(George) looks good against his dog and when he’s standing out there in front of you guys (media), he looks pretty good. Other than, that he don’t do nothing.”"
It’s a lost year, but Indiana knows it is getting one of the league’s top talents back for the 2015-16 campaign. But sadly for fans that won’t do anything to help out this year and the Pacers have limited options to improve this year’s roster, short of drastic trades. Candace points out in the article that with 15 players on the roster, Indiana would have to make a trade to bring in talent this year, and they still have limited cap space to work with. It tough for anyone who cares about the Indiana Pacers because the reasons are quiet obvious why the team won’t compete this year and there aren’t any realistic ways to fix it. Even if they would have successfully negotiated with Lance Stephenson, the roster would still be banged up and missing PG. Indiana is going through a streak of bad luck that will only be fixed with the return of Paul George in particular, but David West, and George Hill as well. Until then the Pacers have to work to develop the rest of the roster for another title run a year from now.
We’ll just have to wait and see.