Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

[BlueNGold]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

So Paul has consistently led team that have won? He should've led opposing teams that lost instead?

Like I said at the beginning of this exchange, Reggie Miller started with less talent around him. Paul had years where he had a very good team. He's complaining because he doesn't have a team good enough to contend. But he had one for several years that was contending. Fact. At the age of 26, Miller's teams were no where close to that.

What we have here is a situation that he doesn't have patience, something typical for his "right here, right now" age group.

[PR07]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

Like I said at the beginning of this exchange, Reggie Miller started with less talent around him. Paul had years where he had a very good team. He's complaining because he doesn't have a team good enough to contend. But he had one for several years that was contending. Fact. At the age of 26, Miller's teams were no where close to that.

What we have here is a situation that he doesn't have patience, something typical for his "right here, right now" age group.

Reggie also played in an era, where most stars stayed on their original teams. It was only when Shaq joined Kobe that we started seeing 'super teams form' later in his career. That's no longer the case. It's hard to win now because you have two dream teams and everyone else is a clear level below.

In your argument, Paul George loses either way. He can't help whether his team has more talent, and the fact that he's won with talent means he's a failure? Yes, he's complaining that he doesn't have enough because no one does unless you're the Cavs or Warriors.

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

It's amazing how quickly some people will turn on a player when he's playing on a team that's currently starting Lavoy Allen and Kevin Seraphin at PF, has essentially 3 good players around him in Teague, Turner, and Thad Young, and then a bunch of spare parts--including two high paid ball dominant guards (Ellis, Stuckey) who can't shoot in a league that now requires it.

Paul George isn't playing well, but on the Pacers list of problems, he's not anywhere near the top of the list.

I'm not turning on him, because of his performance and team record. I'm turning on him, because of his damn attitude. No one wants to keep hearing how "bad" the team is from their "leader", and how good the previous teams were. Especially considering how many poor games he had himself.

If he demonstrated leadership qualities on the court instead crying to the refs for fouls, then I would give him a past on his comments. If I was his teammate, I would have been blew up on him. His statements makes you want to revisit the "selfish dudes" comments from Hibbert.

Ask for a damn trade, and stop blowing bs in our faces.

[Dr. Awesome]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

Or we'll trade him for a roleplayer and draft picks that don't turn out to be superstars, because Bird is a moron.
Or we'll trade him for a decent player but PG will blow up and fulfill his superstardom, because Bird is a moron.
Or we'll re-sign him and he'll play pretty well but not be a Westbrook or LeBron, because Bird is a moron.

I suspect this is an "all lose" proposition, because the chances of getting something better than Paul for Paul are pretty damn slim.

I think this is just such a terrible mentality to have. People are way too hung up on the fact that we won't find a better player than Paul George.

This is certainly possible. But I think a top 3 draft pick this year absolutely could be as good of a player as Paul George....or maybe not, either way all that is irrelevant.

Why is it irrelevant? Because while the chances of us getting a player better than Paul George might be pretty slim, they are much, much higher than the odds of us winning a Championship with Paul George.

Its not Paul George's fault. Its Larry Bird's. But this is a team that is absolutely no where near being a competitive team. We aren't a team that can get out of the first round right now, how the hell do you expect us to become contenders? Nearly every single one of our players are either already in their prime, exiting their prime, or past their prime. Our entire teams hopes literally rest solely on Myles Turner becoming a DOMINANT player next season...and while that may make us better next season, we still won't be remotely close to competing for a Championship.

So, we can sit here all day long and talk about not finding a player better than Paul George. But who the **** cares how good Paul George is when we have 0% chance to win. 0. Literally, we aren't winning. It doesn't matter how good he is when we have a losing situation around him. Even worse, because we keep trading our first round picks or not resigning them, we have no value outside of Turner to even bring in the help Paul George would need.

Teams are not built overnight. They take time. We are probably 3 GOOD players away from being a contender, yet, we have no way to acquire those players. We are in a situation where it is impossible to make this team a contender within the next 3 seasons and even then we would need A LOT of luck. Is Paul George going to wait that long and hope for best case scenario with a President that shares a different vision than him? I highly doubt it. He has had one foot out the door all season, you can hear it in his comments and see it on the floor. The dude is leaving. I mean, in these situations you have to pay attention to the warning signs, and they are all there. And again, on the off chance he doesn't leave, we still aren't winning with him.

The worst part of all of this, is when PG does leave in FA, all of a sudden we will be putting Turner in a **** situation, because, we are going to have a bunch of 30 year olds who aren't great, and Myles Turner with absolutely no youth to grow up with him. If we put all of our eggs in this broken Paul George basket, we are just going to waste Turner's prime as well.

Again, I don't think any of this is Paul George's fault. But its just the situation we have now.

[Dr. Awesome]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

In case ya'll needed to know what a 200 million dollar player doesn't look like.

You can watch that same video to see what a first round exit looks like.

[Dr. Awesome]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

Who doesn't want to play for a winner? If I were him, I wouldn't sign an extension and put the pressure on Bird to build a winner.

But he can't.

We have no assets to trade outside of Turner.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

But he can't.

We have no assets to trade outside of Turner.

True. We don't have assets and it will take a number of sharp moves to turn it around. Bird isn't delivering and putting more pressure on him isn't going to change that. Paul knows that and will be walking soon.

[Dr. Awesome]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

True. We don't have assets and it will take a number of sharp moves to turn it around. Bird isn't delivering and putting more pressure on him isn't going to change that. Paul knows that and will be walking soon.

Its not that it would even take sharp moves. It literally cannot happen. Turner is the only valuable player we have. Teague has value too, but what would we trade him for? We aren't getting a better player.

[cdash]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

But he can't.

We have no assets to trade outside of Turner.

They are really banking on our first round pick being better than a B asset.

[wintermute]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

FWIW I think the Vogel era teams that challenged the Cavs were probably less talented than the current team, or at least the talent level is arguable.

What we had going for us was synergy and fit, and sadly those things seem to be lacking on the Pacers right now.

Can we get lucky again and catch another wave? Perhaps. But IMO we need changes, a lot of changes, since the current iteration doesn't seem to be working at all.

[Ragnar]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

The part about that has a chance to win a championship kind of scares me because ownership is not going to go into the LT to get us over the top with another star. If you look at the last how ever many championship teams most of them have had a much higher payroll than the Pacers are ever ready to entertain. Durant saw that the Thunder were unwilling to go to that next level so he left had they kept Hardin and gone into the LT to keep all three of those guys they would absolutely been contenders but they were unwilling to spend the money and thats the case here too.

Heck I cant believe I did not figure this out when they let Brad Miller go over not getting into the LT. They had one of if not the best passing big man in all of basketball who could bother the most dominant center of his day to the point of him taking a swing at Brad and we tossed it aside for a broken down Scott Pollard to save 1 million dollars. I just do not see in the modern NBA making it to a title without a higher payroll, teams are willing to spend to have three big stars.

[jrwannabe]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

The part about that has a chance to win a championship kind of scares me because ownership is not going to go into the LT to get us over the top with another star. If you look at the last how ever many championship teams most of them have had a much higher payroll than the Pacers are ever ready to entertain. Durant saw that the Thunder were unwilling to go to that next level so he left had they kept Hardin and gone into the LT to keep all three of those guys they would absolutely been contenders but they were unwilling to spend the money and thats the case here too.

Heck I cant believe I did not figure this out when they let Brad Miller go over not getting into the LT. They had one of if not the best passing big man in all of basketball who could bother the most dominant center of his day to the point of him taking a swing at Brad and we tossed it aside for a broken down Scott Pollard to save 1 million dollars. I just do not see in the modern NBA making it to a title without a higher payroll, teams are willing to spend to have three big stars.

I have no problem with calling teague, PG and Turner our big 3. Problem is outside of that what do we have? The team is missing 3 important players that would put us into contention. We need a 3 and D SG for the starting line-up. A rebounding PF for the starting line-up and a rebounding C for the second unit. These guys don't have to be superstars, just good at what they do.

Still would have been nice if Ellis was the one dealt for Teague.

[Major Cold]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

I'm sorry is it PGs fault that we lost three of our four best defenders last year? Is it his fault that Frank was fired for a new voice that happened to be a voice on the team for two years? Is it Paul's fault that we loaded up on combo guards that can't shoot, can't defend, and can't stay healthy? I'm surprised he hasn't said more. It's easy for us to say," shut your mouth and play basketball". But Paul worked his tail off to get back. And now he is stuck with this.

All I ask is for Herb, Bird, Nate, and Pritchard to get this team back to where we don't have to hear neutered comments from our superstar.

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

I'm sorry is it PGs fault that we lost three of our four best defenders last year? Is it his fault that Frank was fired for a new voice that happened to be a voice on the team for two years? Is it Paul's fault that we loaded up on combo guards that can't shoot, can't defend, and can't stay healthy? I'm surprised he hasn't said more. It's easy for us to say," shut your mouth and play basketball". But Paul worked his tail off to get back. And now he is stuck with this.

All I ask is for Herb, Bird, Nate, and Pritchard to get this team back to where we don't have to hear neutered comments from our superstar.

Where my mindset is at is that Paul is not THAT good as someone stated earlier. He's talented, but I don't believe he gives 100% all the time to the point where he can/should be calling out management or his teammates.

I forgot what game it was, but I was extremely upset when he gave up on the play when the ball was tipped from behind as he was about to start a fastbreak. That was an EFFORT play that he could have salvaged, but didn't even attempt to.

[docpaul]

Paul George on extension: 'I want to play on a winning team' (Indystar)

None of this is the least bit surprising to me. While he hasn't said much to the press on this topic, his body language and performance on the court speaks it almost every game. He's simply not all in like you need a leader to be. I still have hope that he figures it out (what leadership truly is), but it's obviously discouraging to read this.

What he continues to not realize is that getting the best out of his teammates and encouraging good players to consider Indy is at least partly on his shoulders. You didn't see Oladipo crying when he got traded to OKC, right? That's because they have a dedicated leader there who is doing his all to will his team to win.

Wake up Paul. It's right there in front of you. Get out of your own way.

In a strange irony, I actually believe that Turner understands this better than Paul does. Wonder what's going through his mind reading what PG has to say?


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