Larry Bird on Paul George: ‘I expect him to play this year’
Paul George doesn’t have to act as the tipping point that pushes the Indiana Pacers into the playoffs. He doesn’t have to return as a star, and on the flip side he probably won’t have enough of an impact to derail Indiana’s postseason run.
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He just has to attempt to return this season in an attempt to save his sanity, and to glean some reps in anticipation of what will truly be a pressure-packed 2015-16 season. Might as well get The Big Return out of the way early.
So says Larry Bird, in a typically frank and appealingly nuanced discussion with reporters on Monday. From ESPN’s Mike Mazzeo:
“He’s getting a lot better,” Bird said. “I think he has to go through a series of tests this week, just like we’ve always been doing to see where he’s at. I think he’s cleared by the doctors to play, but obviously he’s not in shape. Just because he’s cleared to play, doesn’t mean he’s in shape to play. And I don’t want Paul to go out there until he feels comfortable with his conditioning and the way he’s practicing. I’d like to see him do a little bit better.
“It was a rough go at the beginning, which we knew it was going to be. He (isn’t) going to be Paul George, 100 percent. We know that. But I think mentally he wants to get out there, play a few games and get ready to see what he needs to do this summer to get back to 100 percent — and he will.
“I expect him to play this year. I hope he does for his own good — not for us to get in the playoffs or anything like that, but just for his own mental state. I think anytime you go through an injury like that, you have to get back out there and prove yourself. But he’s not going to be 100 percent.”
The Pacers president isn’t making excuses for George, who broke his right leg in a horrific injury suffered during a Team USA exhibition match last August. He’s also not putting the onus on George as he works his way back from the injury (often in full view of the press), as other teams in Indiana’s division have done with their stars. He’s just trying to temper expectations while pointing out what we all know – every bit of healthy game action, regardless of the outcome, will help in George’s attempts to return to whatever “100 percent” will eventually mean to him.
Via the Associated Press, in anticipation of Indiana’s game against the Rockets on Monday, both George and Pacers coach Frank Vogel went easy with the expectations:
”I’m competitive, I obviously want to be out there and I feel like I can help those guys now,” he said.
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”We want to make sure I’m as close to 100 (percent) as possible,” George said. ”It’s not coming down to you know, ‘Paul’s feeling good, let’s get him out there.’ It’s about making sure everything’s where I’m comfortable, where the medical staff is comfortable, where the front office is comfortable.”
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But the Pacers don’t expect to see him back in All-Star form this season, so they’re playing it safe.
”We’re all excited about him getting back as soon as we can get him back out there, and we’re all excited to find out when that’s going to be,” Vogel said. ”So until we have that date, there’s no update.”
This is the logical extension of what George came through with earlier in March, when he revealed to reporters that he had no designs on altering Indiana’s chemistry as they worked with a seven-game winning streak.
Indiana has lost five in a row since then, and the team is locked into what is shaping up to be a four-team race for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. The Pacers are just a half-game in back of the Charlotte Hornets for the final spot in the East, but they’re also tied with the Boston Celtics and just a half-game up on the Brooklyn Nets. The Pacers will play the Nets, Celtics and Hornets in a four-day stretch between Mar. 31 and April 3.
With George expected to miss the entire season, the postseason was thought to be a long shot of sorts with Indiana, but the squad would prefer to make the extra frame so as to cash in on that impressive late-winter stretch, one that saw them winning 13 of 14 at one point. George, however, is not going to act as the tipping point for the Pacers return to the playoffs, however. For two significant reasons.
One teammate declared that George is “not even close to 100 percent” while expressing strong skepticism about a return this year.
One week ago, Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears also reported a Pacers source as describing George’s gait as including “a noticeable limp,” hardly what you’d hope for in return for nearly a month’s worth of practices from Indiana’s franchise player.
Then there is the nature of George’s injury, itself.
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NBA players have returned to full health and to their initial athletic levels after tearing ACLs or dealing with meniscus injuries, but broken legs are something else altogether. Jay Williams was never able to return to NBA game action after shattering his left leg in 2003, and while Golden State guard Shaun Livingston has done well to work his way into an impressive career as a journeyman in the wake of his 2007 break, his athleticism isn’t nearly the same.
George doesn’t fully rely on his athleticism to get where he needs to go, but he’s not too far removed from banking on it almost completely. He’s a savvy player with remarkable skill, but as Indiana learned after swingman Danny Granger’s legs left him, life is a game-changing flat-footed shooter isn’t in the cards for George, and no targeted return date will change the fact that most should be fearful of just how he’ll look when he’s completely back. Post-break, a Paul George at 100 percent might be 90 percent of what we once saw, sadly.
Any bit of action helps, whether it means George returning to take on the Dallas Mavericks this Sunday, or if he declines to meet 2014-15 and waits things out until August’s Team USA mini-camp. NBA speed is a tricky thing to catch up to, nobody knows this better than Larry Bird, and it is in Paul George’s best interest to take in as many minutes as possible as he attempts what will be a carefully monitored comeback.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
