8p9s AMA Mailbag: Can Paul George Remain in the Non-Steph Curry MVP Race?

Welcome back to the 8 Points, 9 Seconds mailbag, where we take your Indiana Pacers questions and make you feel internet famous because we answered them!

We’ll be using a consistent email for this process: 8p9sAMA@gmail.com. You can feel free to shoot questions over to that email or reply on Twitter to @8pts9secs using hashtag #8p9sAMA or visit our Facebook page to leave comments.

You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.

David (@davidib17): Will Paul George remain a number-two MVP candidate throughout the season, or was this just a hot stretch?

That is the number one question on everyone’s mind, isn’t it? Paul George has started out a season hot before — as is common, again, we will reference the 2013-14 Indiana Pacers — and he fell off well before the All-Star break.

Right now, he is a top-five MVP candidate, and the hope is that the long-range shooting bump we’re seeing is the result of all his hard work this offseason — that this is just the player he is now. The thing to watch for isn’t whether his shooting slumps, because it will at some point (even if it’s temporary), but whether he’s able to keep attacking the bucket and getting free throws when the rim stops being so kind. I’m not sure he’ll keep up averages of 27 points and 8 rebounds per game all season, but I think he can stay close and keep his name the non-Steph Curry MVP race.

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Robert (@kerba1123): Is the East going to stay so jumbled? Will there continue to be a gap between the top 9 to 10 teams and the rest of the conference?

As of 5 pm on Monday, 13 teams in the East were within 6.5 games of the first-place Cavs (and the Nets are only 8.5 games back). And 10 teams in the East are over .500 (compared to just seven in the West). I’d guess the Cavs and someone else (Raptors? Bulls maybe?) to surge ahead and probably hold a 5-6 game gap, and the Knicks and Bucks to drop further behind. My guess is that spots 5 through 9 (or 10) will stay relatively bunched up, and we see a lot of shuffling in the ranks on a week to week basis.

@almallahtayth: Is there any chance Lance Stephenson will get traded back to Indy?

Is there a chance? Absolutely. I wouldn’t call it a great one though. This team seems to legitimately like each other (see: Solo and GRIII with the 3-Sword celebration), and relies on ball movement and shooting. Lance has not appeared to be (at best) a neutral as far as chemistry goes, and hasn’t shot the 3 — or anything else — particularly well since leaving Indiana. He’s a ball stopper without shooting range, which is counterproductive to this team.

Sam (@sammothy_wood): Since we are looking at ill-fitting Clippers, could/would the Indiana Pacers make a move for Josh Smith?

A recent Marc Spears report on Yahoo Sports said that Josh Smith is available, but he only fits what the Pacers are doing in his mind. He’s a very bad 3-point shooter who shoots too many and isn’t a rim protector. He is a smart passer, and if he could reign in his need to shoot 3s, he would be a useful player for the Pacers. But it seems like he’s just going to keep bombing away at 30% for his career.

@8pts9secs will Myles Turner be a true difference maker when he comes back? #8p9AMA
— Tyrel G (@Thunderlips1506) December 14, 2015

Tyrel (@thunderlips1506): Will Myles Turner be a true difference maker when he comes back?

It’s difficult to say with such a small sample size, but Turner should be a better fit for this team than the Lavoy Allen/Jordan Hill duo. Not to say that JHill and Allen have been playing poorly, but they just don’t fit the scheme as well as Turner does, and neither of them offer any real sort of rim protection. Turner has legitimate shot-blocking chops and is a different sort of offense player than either of that duo. I think he’ll help this team in a few appreciable ways as soon as he’s back.

@Pacers31Colts18: Who would win in a street fight, the Indy Cornrows Crew or the 8 Points, 9 Seconds Mafia?

That’s a tough one! I can only predict two things that would happen there for sure: Brick Tamland would show up screaming with a grenade, and Whitney would make some fantastic gifs of me getting beaten like a bad habit.

Joe G (@graylack): Are the Pacers better with Monta playing exclusively shoot-first, or are they better with him as a facilitator?

I think that Monta needs to find a middle ground. The Indiana Pacers need both parts of his repertoire, but he’s probably never going to be a 20-points-per-game guy playing alongside Paul George. The Pacers need him to attack consistently, but to keep the ball moving and not force it if there’s nothing there. He’s typically been a primary scorer in his career, so I’d guess this will take some adjustment on his part. Hopefully by midseason he will have settled into a comfortable compromise and will be a bit more consistent for the Blue and Gold.

Luke (@lparrish22): Who would the Pacers likely try to pick up in a trade, if anyone?

This is a question I get asked every AMA, and it’s so hard to tell. I never expected Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh to go for Chase Budinger, to give up Damo Rudez (maybe their best 3-point shooter!), to choose Rodney Stuckey and Monta Ellis to run the backup point. But they have — and they’ve looked like smart moves so far.

The Pacers have reportedly made Solomon Hill available, but I don’t think he has a whole lot of value. I wouldn’t expect the Pacers to make a big move this year. My guess is they’ll make a smaller move here and there, flip Solo for another young guy who hasn’t looked great in a change of scenery deal, maybe swap Jordan Hill or Chase Budinger out for a higher-upside or better-fit-kinda guy, but I’d guess this year is about progress rather than title aspirations. Get the system in place, start to find guys who fit and get the guys who will be staying used to it, make strides toward being the team they want to be.

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Caleb (@calebb3ll): Can this group play defense well, or at all, with who we have now? Is it a matter of chemistry or just being terrible?

We’ve seen this group play great defense, so it’s definitely possible. Right now, I think there are two major issues: the lack of any sort of rim protection after Ian Mahinmi and lack of communication. Communication is critical on D, calling out picks and switches, and generally knowing where the guys around you are and will be and who has your back at any given moment. You see this sometimes when a team is integrating new guys, and I think it will get better over time.

@MarryMeFrisbee: Why no Rakeem Christmas call-up?

The Pacers seem content to roll with Ian/JHill/Lavoy and Myles Turner once he’s back. I would not be surprised if one of those guys (I’d guess JHill or Lavoy) are moved before the trade deadline and Rakeem comes up as the emergency big. Right now though, they’re letting him get seasoned in a place where he can get big minutes.

@Typs: Now that we’ve had some time to see it, aside from “Pace and Space,” what offense are the Indiana Pacers actually running?

I think that Vogel is trying to move further away from calling plays. Pace and Space is the philosophy they’re using, rather than a specific offense (like the Princeton offense, or the Triangle). It looks to me like Frank Vogel is just trying to put good players in good spots and let them play basketball, instead of walk the court up, call a play, run a play, run a counterplay, reset, run a play, iso-fadeaway with 4 seconds left on the clock.