Paul George Is Doing Windmills in Practice

The Indiana Pacers lost again last night, and their playoff hopes are looking more and more hopeless by the day. If they can’t beat the Celtics tonight in Boston — on the second night of a road/road back-to-back — then their chances of making the postseason will grow George Hill slim.

More from Pacers News

Amid all this is more drama: The Will-He-Or-Won’t-He-Play-This-Year? decision on Paul George.

Indiana’s start has been practicing for over a month now, and we are more than two weeks beyond the March 14 goal George set for himself to be back on the court. But still he takes the sideline each game in a suit.

Originally, there was speculation that his return could disrupt the chemistry of a team that won 13 of 15 games. But that seems like eons ago now that the Pacers have dropped eight of their past 10 and fallen a 1.5 games out of eighth place with just eight games left in the regular season.

Only the doctors and the team can make the decision of whether he is ready to take the court, but we got some new information recently when Roy Hibbert told David Aldridge of NBA.com that he has seen Paul George throw down windmill dunks.

"He is a 6-foot-8 ghost who walks among them, a franchise player who flashes his old form often in scrimmages — “I’ve seen him do windmills,” teammate Roy Hibbert said — but is still not back on the court … “Seeing the things he does in practice, it’s awesome,” Hibbert said. “He’s coming. But I don’t know what’s going on with, I’m not a part of it. The training staff hasn’t told us what they’re planning on doing, and the front office doesn’t. So they collectively talk. But the things he does in practice looks like the old PG, so whenever he comes back he’ll be good … People are going to be surprised. He’s going to have a big play his first couple of possessions back.”"

Hearing Hibbert’s endorsement is encouraging, but of course, tales of him doing windmills on thin air doesn’t prove much.

Paul George is a two-foot jumper, generally, and most of his best dunks are so powerful because of this fact. But he is adept leaping off one leg, too, and he usually throws it down right handed, leaning at the rim with his left shoulder, and getting most of his explosive lift off his left leg. And his left leg was not the one he broke. So a 6’9″ guy with springs like PG who could formerly do dunk-contest dunks in his sleep doing windmills in practice doesn’t exactly mean he’s ready for the advanced cutting and other rigors of a full-speed NBA game.

And my guess is that we’re not talking about windmills like this:

paul george windmill /

In the same article, David West essentially cautioned as much, saying that Paul George needs to take all the time he needs and not let any external pressure affect when the team lets him get back out there.

"“He wants to play bad,” forward David West said. “He’s just got to be smart. He’s got to be patient. He’s got to get healthy. He’s got 12 more years in this. You have to be smart about it. That’s what, at least me personally, that’s my message to him, just to be smart, trust your body, trust yourself, which he’s doing. He’s trying to get after it every day, I know, but obviously wanting him to be healthy for the long haul.”"

At this point, it’s hard to say whether he will — or should — play this season.

If they don’t win tonight, the team’s chances of making the postseason look bad. And it’s not guarantee that Paul George can even help.

Next: Lance Stephenson Doesn't Regret Leaving the Pacers

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

Home/Pacers News

Roy Hibbert Has Seen Paul George Do Windmills in Practice

By Jared Wade | Apr 1, 2015

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds