After overhauling their roster this offseason, the Indiana Pacers’ status quo was drastically changed and that has reflected in the statistics.
Even going into last year with the departure of Lance Stephenson and his stat-stuffing ways you expected Roy Hibbert to be getting rebounds, George Hill to distribute, and Paul George and David West to lead the way scoring. Last year’s statistics were a bit off thanks to all the injuries Indiana dealt with, including Paul George’s 76 game absence.
But this offseason both Hibbert and West left and in came Monta Ellis, Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill, not to mention several rookies and second-year players.
So who is leading the way now? You’d expect Paul George to lead the way in scoring, but in assists and rebounds, there are a few surprises as well.
Indiana Pacers 2015-16 Scoring Distribution | PointAfter
PG is still king, but the sharp shooting C.J. Miles has become the Pacers second leading scorer with 309. It tells you how good of a season Paul George is having when he has nearly twice what Miles has at 609. Miles happened to be Indiana’s leading scorer last year, thanks to George Hill and David West’s injuries as well as Paul George’s, but his sharp shooting this season is why he’s second. For comparison, last year at this point he had missed 8 games and had 165 points. Ian Mahinmi’s 177 points fall short of Roy Hibbert’s 241 at this point in the season, but Mahinmi’s 8 points a game have been enough for the Pacers this season.
Indiana Pacers 2015-16 Assist Distribution | PointAfter
Monta Ellis have it all? More like Monta Ellis shares the ball.
[Editor’s note: Ben Gibson was released by 8 Points, 9 Seconds for making a pun detrimental to the team.]
[Editor’s note: That is a joke.]
Anyway, Ellis has become the Pacers primary ball-handler this season and is leading the team in assists. Any fear of a selfish Monta has been erased, which isn’t too surprising as he was doing fine in Dallas last season before Rondo came. George Hill has almost taken a more shooting guard role, but missing 3 games is another reason why he trails both Ellis and Paul George.
Indiana Pacers 2015-16 Rebound Distribution | PointAfter
Rebounds aren’t too surprising here as Paul George leads the way with 7.8 a game, slightly ahead of centers Jordan Hill (7.7) and Ian Mahinmi (6.8). Much like Ellis, I believe Jordan Hill has acquitted himself of some of the criticisms lobbed his way when he joined the Pacers.
That’s the basics of how the Pacers are filling the stat sheets, but let’s take a look at some of their on/off court numbers to see any surprises.
Next: On Court/Off Court