8p9s Roundtable: How Good are the Pacers and Paul George Right Now?

Which player has been the biggest surprise so far?

Medworth: A lot of guys are stepping up and surprising me. I like a little bit of what Glenn Robinon III is doing. He’s a scorer that we need. Chase Budinger plays better defense than I ever imagined. And Jordan Hill for better or worse, is almost averaging a double double. It’s hard to pick one this early, but I like how this team is coming together.

Furr: The combination of Jordan Hill and Ian Mahinmi. Hill looked awful during that 0 and 3 start, and there were tons of questions about Ian starting coming into the season. Mahinmi has shown that he’s not completely useless on offense, and Hill has looked more comfortable attacking rebounds and working on the block. Hill’s still got to work on his shot selection, but he has been “actively helpful” since those first 3 games.

Stewart: Monta Ellis, and not necessarily in a good way. He played very well against Chicago, but that seemed to be an outlier in an overall set of poor form and especially on the offensive end. Ellis is still useful for Indiana and is figuring out the best way to be a threat, but hasn’t found his stride just yet.

Donahue: Ian Mahinmi has been a contributor to the Pacers, but in different ways than expected. Though he’s been blocking some shots (2.4 per 36 minutes), his overall rim protection has been spotty, allowing almost 58% at the rim, as opposed to the 45% he posted the last two years. Still, his fouls (4.6) and turnovers (1.2) per 36 are career lows. He’s rebounding and finishing at the rim effectively, and he’s proven to be a complete defender. Now, if he could just hit his free throws.

Comstock: Monta Ellis. I’d read a lot about Monta before watching him play on a nightly basis, and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by his play so far. I was expecting him to be a somewhat selfish mid-range chucker who alternated between slacking off and gambling on defense. I wasn’t expecting him to be a willing and creative passer who frequently passes up his own moderately good shots in order to get the ball to his open teammates. I also wasn’t expecting his steals to come within the flow of what has been a much better than expected defense. His chemistry and lack of competition for ball-handling opportunities with George Hill has also been very nice to see.