Some thoughts on Paul George, the rotation and a trade scenario

As some others, I was surprised the Pacers selected Paul George with their first round pick, a move against their previous selections of taking established players; George certainly has all the upside one can think of (as Shawne Williams did, too....). We'll see how it turns out, but looking briefly at his stats, there is one thing that stands out (to me at least): He is a great shooter. His 3% percentage went down from 44% to 35% from 1st to 2nd year, but these percentages can vary when the opposing defense concentrates more on you as the team's best player. However, his free throw percentage increased from about 70 to 90%! The last 90% free throw shooter I can remember (apart from Danny Granger who was almost there) on the Pacers was a guy named Reggie Miller. This is no skewed stat, George did this on a significant number of attempts (3.9 per game in his 1st year, 4.6 in his 2nd year).

To me this means several things: (1) Taken together with his improvement in other categories, this should be a guy who can work on different aspects of his game. (2) Even if he can't reach the ceiling he has in terms of being an all-around player, he should at least become a good shooter, and there is always a niche for those in the NBA. (3) He has the ability to get to the line, and combined with his shooting this should be a very effective combination on offense. (4) He has the physical abilities to become a good defender, too, so he could really become a very good player one day..... (I am not speculating on this anymore because my head is full of Shwane Williams comparisons).

Other than most people, I tend to disagree that one of the "wing" players on the roster "has" to be moved. If a team goes into the season with the maximum of players allowed (15), it would be logical to fill the roster spots with 3 players/position, i.e. 3 point guards, 6 "wings" and 6 "big men". IF the Pacers sign all their 2nd round picks and no free agent, this WOULD mean they had 2 point guards, 6 wings and 7 big men. So a more logical move would be to exchange 1 big with 1 point guard. But anyway, Lance Stephenson and Magnum Rolle do not have guarantees and will have to earn their roster spot. In practical terms, I don't see too many rotation problems: The Pacers don't expect Stephenson to contribute right away, and George won't get a lot of minutes at the beginning of the year either. I could imagine Dunleavy being better than last season (with - finally -  a healthy offseason behind him), so his trade value could rise towards the trade deadline at mid-season, so it is possible he could be moved by then; this would be a more reasonable time frame for the rookies to get more playing time by then, too.

Finally, one more trade scenario to get a point guard: Kirk Hinrich could be had from the Wizards who clearly don't need him. (Cannot be finalized before I think October 8th, but who cares). Pacers give TJ Ford and Solo Jones (or D. Jones) and provide the Wizards with some salary relief at the end of next season. Pacers have to take on one more year of salary with Hinrich, but get a bigger point guard who can shoot. One more year of salary may be OK with the Pacers, since they can't spend all their cap space anyway in 2011 (they will have to think of re-signing Roy Hibbert and possibly B. Rush in 2012!!). I know this trade is certainly not as popular as some others listed here, but possibly a bit more realistic.