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The Chris Mannix Show
2 hours ago
From the Show: Indiana Pacers Coach Frank Vogel
Chris Mannix: Paul George, big difference maker for you guys this season. Since Danny Granger went out, his offensive numbers are up, he’s been a defensive stopper for you. Has it just been a natural progression with this guy, or is there something more that you point to as to why Paul George is a better player this year.
Frank Vogel: I think he’s grown each of the first couple years that he’s been in the league. When he came into the league, he was just kind of a rookie trying to find his way. We noticed some defensive instincts that quite frankly you can’t teach, and we kind of groomed him to be that defensive stopper using his length. But also he’s got incredible feet in terms of moving and keeping his man in front of you, ball containment-wise. And the offense was just kind of something we viewed as a bonus the first couple of years.
But he’s really worked extremely hard on it. Going from year one to year two he really worked on his catching and shooting and three-point game. And then from year two to year three, just being a multi-dimensional threat – post up, you can get him in the mid-post isos, pick and rolls. He’s really become a very good pin down shooter, and obviously with Danny being out this year, it hasn’t been a great thing for our team, but maybe a blessing in disguise in terms of Paul’s development.
Mannix: Along those same lines, Frank, Lance Stephenson has been a real solid player for you this year, especially on the defensive end, keeping you guys at the top of the NBA in virtually every major statistical category defensively. My question for you is, I know you were high on his talent even as far back as last year – why wasn’t he in the rotation last year and what has been the difference of getting him in the rotation this year?
Vogel: Well, you know he’s a young player, and like all young players, for every good thing that they do, there’s usually a mistake that neutralizes it. We saw a lot of that the first couple of years. This was the year that, going in to year three, his mistakes started to come down a little bit, and you become more of a solid rotational player. We’re going to give him the opportunity to be more of a rotational bench player, our backup shooting guard.
With Danny being out, he’s sort of been force fed some minutes, and he’s really solidified himself in terms of limiting those mistakes, being a disciplined defender, playing within himself on the offensive end, and really has been just a big time surprise in just his efficiency offensively, leading our team in a lot of areas, like field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage – or at least near the top. Like I said, staying within himself with his passing and his discipline on the defensive end.
Mannix: You know that’s twice now in the first two questions that we’ve mentioned Danny Granger, and he’s expected back sometime around the All-Star break. My question for you is, when he comes back, on his minutes and his playing time, obviously they can’t come at the expensive of guys like Stephenson and George, because of the way they’ve played this year. What’s your plan for how to incorporate Danny Granger back into this lineup?
Vogel: We’ll we’re gonna let him have a little bit of a buffer period. Danny’s not going to come back from this injury and all of a sudden be playing 40 minutes a game. So, you know, over the next two to three weeks to a month, we’ll be increasing his minutes incrementally over that time. I’ve been overplaying Paul George. I’ve been playing him basically 43 minutes a game for the last six weeks or so. That’s too much for anyone.
We’re not trying to bring Paul’s minutes down to 30 or anything like that. We want to keep him up near the league leaders. But we’re definitely going to keep Paul and Lance and Danny at least in a three-man rotation. We’ve got some other wings that can play too, so we’ll be looking to get them minutes as well.
Mannix: We’ll get you out of here with this Frank. Roy Hibbert has not been the same player offensively at least that he was last year. How do you explain his struggles on the offensive end and what do you think is going to be the best way to get him out of those struggles and back to the player he was last year?
Vogel: Well I think he’s already begun returning to that player. He’s shown over the last six weeks or so a return to being a low post scorer, a low post threat down there, finishing stronger at the rim. You know I think early on there were a few factors that led to his struggles. One, he signed a big contract, I think he was putting a little too much pressure on himself to produce and it was counterproductive.
The other thing, Danny Granger being out, again missing him, the defenses collapsed more. We had less of a threat on the perimeter, more double teams in the post, which limited him. And I think just the bullseye on his chest from being an All-Star last year, he became the focal point more of defensive game plans. I think a lot of those factors contributed to it. But he’s on his way back and the fourth thing that we didn’t really talk about is, David West is a different player this year than he was last year. You know he struggled with coming back from an ACL last year, was playing but was not really one hundred percent. This year, he’s a beast. Between Paul George and David West, they’ve been getting the ball and the touches. So I think that’s been a factor in Roy’s numbers as well.
The Chris Mannix Show
2 hours ago
From the Show: Indiana Pacers Coach Frank Vogel
Chris Mannix: Paul George, big difference maker for you guys this season. Since Danny Granger went out, his offensive numbers are up, he’s been a defensive stopper for you. Has it just been a natural progression with this guy, or is there something more that you point to as to why Paul George is a better player this year.
Frank Vogel: I think he’s grown each of the first couple years that he’s been in the league. When he came into the league, he was just kind of a rookie trying to find his way. We noticed some defensive instincts that quite frankly you can’t teach, and we kind of groomed him to be that defensive stopper using his length. But also he’s got incredible feet in terms of moving and keeping his man in front of you, ball containment-wise. And the offense was just kind of something we viewed as a bonus the first couple of years.
But he’s really worked extremely hard on it. Going from year one to year two he really worked on his catching and shooting and three-point game. And then from year two to year three, just being a multi-dimensional threat – post up, you can get him in the mid-post isos, pick and rolls. He’s really become a very good pin down shooter, and obviously with Danny being out this year, it hasn’t been a great thing for our team, but maybe a blessing in disguise in terms of Paul’s development.
Mannix: Along those same lines, Frank, Lance Stephenson has been a real solid player for you this year, especially on the defensive end, keeping you guys at the top of the NBA in virtually every major statistical category defensively. My question for you is, I know you were high on his talent even as far back as last year – why wasn’t he in the rotation last year and what has been the difference of getting him in the rotation this year?
Vogel: Well, you know he’s a young player, and like all young players, for every good thing that they do, there’s usually a mistake that neutralizes it. We saw a lot of that the first couple of years. This was the year that, going in to year three, his mistakes started to come down a little bit, and you become more of a solid rotational player. We’re going to give him the opportunity to be more of a rotational bench player, our backup shooting guard.
With Danny being out, he’s sort of been force fed some minutes, and he’s really solidified himself in terms of limiting those mistakes, being a disciplined defender, playing within himself on the offensive end, and really has been just a big time surprise in just his efficiency offensively, leading our team in a lot of areas, like field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage – or at least near the top. Like I said, staying within himself with his passing and his discipline on the defensive end.
Mannix: You know that’s twice now in the first two questions that we’ve mentioned Danny Granger, and he’s expected back sometime around the All-Star break. My question for you is, when he comes back, on his minutes and his playing time, obviously they can’t come at the expensive of guys like Stephenson and George, because of the way they’ve played this year. What’s your plan for how to incorporate Danny Granger back into this lineup?
Vogel: We’ll we’re gonna let him have a little bit of a buffer period. Danny’s not going to come back from this injury and all of a sudden be playing 40 minutes a game. So, you know, over the next two to three weeks to a month, we’ll be increasing his minutes incrementally over that time. I’ve been overplaying Paul George. I’ve been playing him basically 43 minutes a game for the last six weeks or so. That’s too much for anyone.
We’re not trying to bring Paul’s minutes down to 30 or anything like that. We want to keep him up near the league leaders. But we’re definitely going to keep Paul and Lance and Danny at least in a three-man rotation. We’ve got some other wings that can play too, so we’ll be looking to get them minutes as well.
Mannix: We’ll get you out of here with this Frank. Roy Hibbert has not been the same player offensively at least that he was last year. How do you explain his struggles on the offensive end and what do you think is going to be the best way to get him out of those struggles and back to the player he was last year?
Vogel: Well I think he’s already begun returning to that player. He’s shown over the last six weeks or so a return to being a low post scorer, a low post threat down there, finishing stronger at the rim. You know I think early on there were a few factors that led to his struggles. One, he signed a big contract, I think he was putting a little too much pressure on himself to produce and it was counterproductive.
The other thing, Danny Granger being out, again missing him, the defenses collapsed more. We had less of a threat on the perimeter, more double teams in the post, which limited him. And I think just the bullseye on his chest from being an All-Star last year, he became the focal point more of defensive game plans. I think a lot of those factors contributed to it. But he’s on his way back and the fourth thing that we didn’t really talk about is, David West is a different player this year than he was last year. You know he struggled with coming back from an ACL last year, was playing but was not really one hundred percent. This year, he’s a beast. Between Paul George and David West, they’ve been getting the ball and the touches. So I think that’s been a factor in Roy’s numbers as well.
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