Indiana Pacers Looking Back As They Go Forward

Even if Paul George isn’t entirely sold on the idea of starting at power forward, the Indiana Pacers roster is clearly set up that way. There are plenty of guards, small forwards, and centers, but not a lot at the power forward position other than him.

But the question remains how exactly he’ll adapt to his new role.

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It is worth reading Ian Levy’s “Time Is a Flat Circle and so Are the Indiana Pacers” post over at Hardwood Paroxysm to get a better idea of what that role may look like, but in particular Levy points out how Danny Granger inhabited a similar role years ago.

"Thinking about what George looks like as a power forward is mostly an exercise in imagination. According to Basketball-Reference’s position estimates, he has never played more than one percent of his minutes at power forward in any of his five seasons. There is really no sample to look at of him doing power forward-ish things. Which may be fine because what the Pacers would like him to do as a power forward may not be that different from what he does normally. This move is not an invitation for him to set up on offense with his back to the basket. He is best slashing and shooting and Indiana will (hopefully) be looking for a way to keep him doing those things, gaining an advantage by doing them against different defenders (and with more shooting around him).To thoughtfully consider what George might look like as a power forward, Danny Granger might be the best template. The two best seasons of Granger’s career came from 2008-10, playing for O’Brien in Indiana. In both of those seasons he played about a quarter of his minutes at power forward, again according to Basketball-Reference’s position estimates. Granger’s three-point rate and free throw rate both peaked in those two seasons. He bombed away from the outside, attacked off the dribble and exploited mismatches in the low post. With the floor spread around him, he was able to be the offense’s focal point from wherever the defense appeared weakest.One of the first things I ever wrote on the internet, five years ago now, was a piece at Indy Cornrows about how much better the Pacers were with Granger at power forward. The analysis looked back at the 2009-10 season, pointing out that Indiana was much more efficient on both offense and defense when Granger played power forward, and suggested that the team play small much more often. Advocating that strategy, five years ago, felt like a wildly unconventional take. Thinking about the same strategy now, with Paul George, feels like an long overdo no-brainer."

It helps that the two actually have similar career averages even with a few small differences in their games when you try to imagine PG in a Danny Grenger-esque role. Offensively speaking, PG’s role won’t change a lot I imagine. He’ll position himself on the outsider and slash towards the basket. It will be interesting to see how the court opens up (or closes) with him at the power forward and there is certainly a template for his success in that role.

One thing I worry about isn’t Paul George having to get more physical on both ends of the floor, but whether he will be in a position where he can shut down half the court with his defense. Thanks to PG’s nearly 7-foot wingspan and quick footwork he forces offenses to one side of the floor, eating away at the shot clock and making teams pass their way out in an effort to reset the play. The Pacers had around 20-feet of wingspan in the back-court when Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill were on the floor together a few years ago patrolling the perimeter. That’s one part of what made the Pacers defense work so well. If PG is used like a typical power forward on defense I don’t know if he’ll be able to do that in the same way. Depending on the cross-matches available might play small forward defensively, but you would then be putting an even smaller player guarding the other team’s power forward. We’ll have to wait to see if he’s working more in the back court or the front court on defense.

In the front court we don’t know for sure if Myles Turner or Jordan Hill will do what Roy Hibbert did as far as rim protection goes either. The backcourt defenders allowed the defense to force shooters off the 3-point line and into the midrange unless they wanted to deal with Hibbert. Even LeBron James and the Miami Heat were hesitant to go into the paint as often when Hibbert patrolled it.. We don’t know for sure if Indiana can replicate that defense with their current players so just like imagining George at power forward it is an exercise in imagination.

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We don’t know how the defense will change or if Vogel will run a similar scheme, but we can look at a scenario where PG’s defensive ability gets neutralized by his teammates weaknesses.

It felt like David West was a bit of an after thought in Frank Vogel’s defense the past few years. He was doing a fine job, but he wasn’t the key to the team’s success on the defensive end. Between the perimeter defense and Roy’s verticality, West’s job was to make sure the other power forward didn’t cause Hibbert trouble. We knew the Pacers’ defense was susceptible to bigs that could shoot from the outside and sometimes it was Hibbert that looked bad when it was the center shooting the lights out. But sometimes when David West struggled Hibbert was forced into playing help defense and away from his normal position. If Indiana’s new options at center can’t guard the basket, Paul George is going to have to play defense closer to the basket to help out. If that happens I worry about how the whole defense will operate and whether he’ll be able to shutdown one side of the floor like we have seen him do in the past.

Vogel is certainly trying to figure out all of that right now but until we see the Indiana Pacers on the floor this is all an exercise in imagination.

Next: Roy Hibbert Says He Wanted A Coach With NBA Playing Experience

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Indiana Pacers Looking Back As They Go Forward with Paul George

By Ben Gibson | Jul 29, 2015

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