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I thought this deserved it's own thread especially because the "Bird too far" thread was getting into our front court depth.
Pretty good article that shows how we may have improved down low and maybe the transition for PG won't be dramatic.
Paul George at power forward: Pacers' crazy plan can work
The Pacers are changing their fundamental style this season, chasing the trends of uptempo, small-ball and versatility that won the Warriors a championship three months ago. According to team president Larry Bird, playing Paul George a lot at power forward is a big part of the plan.
A lot of the appeal of playing George at power forward is about turning defense into offense, pushing the pace and attacking in transition. The Pacers spent the past four seasons with David West and Roy Hibbert manning power forward and center, but in losing both this offseason, were gearing for a new look. That's all well and good, but figuring it out how it all works is a little murkier.
Projecting George into small-ball units is a bit of a challenge, as there is really no sample size to go on. For essentially his entire career, the Pacers have been committed to pounding the ball inside and packing the paint with big lineups. According to Basketball-Reference's position estimates, George has never played more than 1 percent of his minutes in any season at power forward.
That likely means a change in role. The shot chart below, courtesy of Seth Partnow, shows the average shot distribution for power forwards from last season:
Comparing that to George's shot chart from 2013-14 reveals a lot of similarities:
This shot chart shows both George's distribution of shots and how effective he is from each area, compared to the league average field goal percentage. The distribution has some overlap with what we see from power forwards — activity around the basket, at the elbows, along the baseline, and behind the three-point line. The difference is in how those shots are created.
At Nylon Calculus, Adam Mares looked at the ways in which NBA bigs are involved on offense, using the NBA's Synergy Sports play type statistics. Mares' research found that the average NBA big uses most of his half-court possessions in one of three ways — post-ups, spot-ups or as the screener in the pick-and-roll. Although we only have six games worth of data for George last season, he didn't finish a single possession in a post-up or screening in the pick-and-roll.
It remains to be seen exactly how committed the Pacers are to this small-ball experiment and exactly how many minutes Bird is talking about when he says, "a lot." A guesstimate of somewhere between 10 and 40 percent gives a wide and somewhat reasonable starting point. This would put George in the same range as players like Carmelo Anthony, Tobias Harris and Chandler Parsons — the point being that even in small lineups, we shouldn't expect Indiana to use him as they would a traditional power forward.
In the past, George has frequently been used as a spot-up shooter but the rest of his offensive responsibilities are filled out with isolations and screens from other players, both off the ball and with the ball in his hands. The Pacers like to run George along the baseline, setting screens and curling out to receive the ball at the elbow. Those sets, in particular, could be interesting in small-ball lineups. Instead of having two bigs pulling defenders into the paint, like he saw in the past with David West and Roy Hibbert, George could find plenty more room to operate with three or even four other three-point shooters around him.
Depending on the context, we might also expect to see George getting more opportunities to post-up in advantageous matchups. In May, Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote an extensive piece about the rebirth of the post-up game in the NBA. One of the key threads was that creative lineups create mismatches and that postups are a way to take advantage. Lowe specifically mentioned smaller players who could pass out of the post as an emerging weapon, saying, "Guards who can post up are especially valuable because they are natural passers. Smart post passing is a necessity now that defenses can bait post-up threats with all kinds of tricky help coverages."
Being able to post-up George against certain players, particularly with the added spacing and shooting their new roster features, could open a world of possibilities. The other side of that coin is that other teams will almost certainly try to take advantage of him in the same way.
This is where the rubber meets the road — how Indiana's small-ball lineups will adjust defensively. Obviously, George's health is a huge concern and how his legs will handle the pounding of defending larger players. Even if he's healthy, there are challenges to be worked out. The Pacers have several options at center — Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Myles Turner — who offer varying levels of rim protection. Mahinmi is excellent. Turner certainly looked great at the Orlando Summer League. Hill at least tries.
George likely won't be asked to provide a ton in that area but he certainly can help if called upon. According to Partnow's Rim Protection statistics, in his limited minutes last season, George's interior defense saved an average of 2.7 points per 36 minutes. That's well above the 1.94 mark for an average NBA wing.
In a perfect world, George could be dynamic defending opposing bigs in the pick-and-roll. He's quick enough to hedge aggressively or switch onto a small ball-handler. He's also a turnover-creating machine and finished eighth in the league in steal percentage in 2013-14. However, there will also be a temptation to adjust defensive matchups when George is on the floor. He's the Pacers best perimeter defender and in the past has almost always matched up with an opponent's best wing scorer. The need to use him as a stopper for players like Jimmy Butler and LeBron James may be too great, forcing the Pacers to get creative with who defends the opposing power forward.
Ultimately, imagining George as a power forward is just that — imagination. He's never been slotted into anything resembling this role at the NBA level, so it's extremely hard to project how it will work for him. And Indiana has never really used anyone in this role, at least not in the Frank Vogel era.
What they ask of George will depend on how far they are willing to go in this experiment.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...outlook-season
Pretty good article that shows how we may have improved down low and maybe the transition for PG won't be dramatic.
Paul George at power forward: Pacers' crazy plan can work
The Pacers are changing their fundamental style this season, chasing the trends of uptempo, small-ball and versatility that won the Warriors a championship three months ago. According to team president Larry Bird, playing Paul George a lot at power forward is a big part of the plan.
A lot of the appeal of playing George at power forward is about turning defense into offense, pushing the pace and attacking in transition. The Pacers spent the past four seasons with David West and Roy Hibbert manning power forward and center, but in losing both this offseason, were gearing for a new look. That's all well and good, but figuring it out how it all works is a little murkier.
Projecting George into small-ball units is a bit of a challenge, as there is really no sample size to go on. For essentially his entire career, the Pacers have been committed to pounding the ball inside and packing the paint with big lineups. According to Basketball-Reference's position estimates, George has never played more than 1 percent of his minutes in any season at power forward.
That likely means a change in role. The shot chart below, courtesy of Seth Partnow, shows the average shot distribution for power forwards from last season:
Comparing that to George's shot chart from 2013-14 reveals a lot of similarities:
This shot chart shows both George's distribution of shots and how effective he is from each area, compared to the league average field goal percentage. The distribution has some overlap with what we see from power forwards — activity around the basket, at the elbows, along the baseline, and behind the three-point line. The difference is in how those shots are created.
At Nylon Calculus, Adam Mares looked at the ways in which NBA bigs are involved on offense, using the NBA's Synergy Sports play type statistics. Mares' research found that the average NBA big uses most of his half-court possessions in one of three ways — post-ups, spot-ups or as the screener in the pick-and-roll. Although we only have six games worth of data for George last season, he didn't finish a single possession in a post-up or screening in the pick-and-roll.
It remains to be seen exactly how committed the Pacers are to this small-ball experiment and exactly how many minutes Bird is talking about when he says, "a lot." A guesstimate of somewhere between 10 and 40 percent gives a wide and somewhat reasonable starting point. This would put George in the same range as players like Carmelo Anthony, Tobias Harris and Chandler Parsons — the point being that even in small lineups, we shouldn't expect Indiana to use him as they would a traditional power forward.
In the past, George has frequently been used as a spot-up shooter but the rest of his offensive responsibilities are filled out with isolations and screens from other players, both off the ball and with the ball in his hands. The Pacers like to run George along the baseline, setting screens and curling out to receive the ball at the elbow. Those sets, in particular, could be interesting in small-ball lineups. Instead of having two bigs pulling defenders into the paint, like he saw in the past with David West and Roy Hibbert, George could find plenty more room to operate with three or even four other three-point shooters around him.
Depending on the context, we might also expect to see George getting more opportunities to post-up in advantageous matchups. In May, Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote an extensive piece about the rebirth of the post-up game in the NBA. One of the key threads was that creative lineups create mismatches and that postups are a way to take advantage. Lowe specifically mentioned smaller players who could pass out of the post as an emerging weapon, saying, "Guards who can post up are especially valuable because they are natural passers. Smart post passing is a necessity now that defenses can bait post-up threats with all kinds of tricky help coverages."
Being able to post-up George against certain players, particularly with the added spacing and shooting their new roster features, could open a world of possibilities. The other side of that coin is that other teams will almost certainly try to take advantage of him in the same way.
This is where the rubber meets the road — how Indiana's small-ball lineups will adjust defensively. Obviously, George's health is a huge concern and how his legs will handle the pounding of defending larger players. Even if he's healthy, there are challenges to be worked out. The Pacers have several options at center — Jordan Hill, Ian Mahinmi and Myles Turner — who offer varying levels of rim protection. Mahinmi is excellent. Turner certainly looked great at the Orlando Summer League. Hill at least tries.
George likely won't be asked to provide a ton in that area but he certainly can help if called upon. According to Partnow's Rim Protection statistics, in his limited minutes last season, George's interior defense saved an average of 2.7 points per 36 minutes. That's well above the 1.94 mark for an average NBA wing.
In a perfect world, George could be dynamic defending opposing bigs in the pick-and-roll. He's quick enough to hedge aggressively or switch onto a small ball-handler. He's also a turnover-creating machine and finished eighth in the league in steal percentage in 2013-14. However, there will also be a temptation to adjust defensive matchups when George is on the floor. He's the Pacers best perimeter defender and in the past has almost always matched up with an opponent's best wing scorer. The need to use him as a stopper for players like Jimmy Butler and LeBron James may be too great, forcing the Pacers to get creative with who defends the opposing power forward.
Ultimately, imagining George as a power forward is just that — imagination. He's never been slotted into anything resembling this role at the NBA level, so it's extremely hard to project how it will work for him. And Indiana has never really used anyone in this role, at least not in the Frank Vogel era.
What they ask of George will depend on how far they are willing to go in this experiment.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...outlook-season
, here's what we've got as a depth chart.
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