Pacers need a real point guard so bad

[slamtheking]

They needed somebody to handle the ball better, turnovers killed them, and Pacers Celtics couldn't handle the pressure on the ball being brought up court .

The pressure defense on the Pacers Celtics killed their flow to the game, they could get set up and work the ball inside like the previous game.

Sounds very applicable to another team we know from earlier in the playoffs

[Moranis]

Ah yes because Mario Chalmers is a world beater.

[hpantazo]

Ah yes because Mario Chalmers is a world beater.

Mario Chalmers has been the 2nd best player on the Heat during this playoff run. Anyway, when you have Lebron you don't need a real point guard, he creates enough for his teammates and gets as many assists himself. 

[sed522002]

They need a scoring point guard..while I was watching the game I was thinking what if Steph Curry played for them instead of Golden State.

[eugen]

Granger + 2 1st round picks for Rajon 'Jonny' Rondo

With West ang Hibbert playing great on the paint,  Rondo would be a perfect combination

[Moranis]

Ah yes because Mario Chalmers is a world beater.

Mario Chalmers has been the 2nd best player on the Heat during this playoff run. Anyway, when you have Lebron you don't need a real point guard, he creates enough for his teammates and gets as many assists himself.

Playoffs - George + Hill = 9.4 assists per game
Playoffs - James + Chalmers = 9.9 assists per game

Given the difference in total points scored by the two teams the numbers are about a wash.


When will people learn that PG's are essentially worthless in determining champions unless your PG is Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas.  I mean aside from Parker (which is now 6 years ago), look at the starting PG of the title teams for every champion since Isiah.  The only PG to win a title in a year that the player was an all star in the same season was Tony Parker (and that was just the 2007 season, the other two he wasn't).  And sure some of the title losing teams had all star PG's playing for them (Payton once, Stockton once, Kidd twice, and Rondo once), but even those are rare on the whole.  PG's do not determine champions.  They are by far the most worthless position where title winners are concerned.

[Fafnir]

The Pacers need to run an offense that isn't so disasterously turnover prone and add some dribble penetration.

More importantly they need a better bench, their bench was a disaster on both ends of the court.

[Moranis]

The Pacers need to run an offense that isn't so disasterously turnover prone and add some dribble penetration.

More importantly they need a better bench, their bench was a disaster on both ends of the court.

Yep on both counts.  A lot of that will be George's maturation process.  I mean nearly 4 turnovers a game from your best player is bad especially given that Stephenson was the lowest starter at 1.9 a game.  And their bench is awful. 

They must re-sign West, but getting Granger back, will be huge for them if they can figure out how to play him, George, Stephenson, and West.  That will then shift a starter to the bench which would be huge for their depth.  They also badly need Granger's outside shooting to help open up the floor.

[MBunge]

The Pacers need to run an offense that isn't so disasterously turnover prone and add some dribble penetration.

More importantly they need a better bench, their bench was a disaster on both ends of the court.

Your offensive scheme doesn't really matter if the players are just coughing up the ball all the time.  An awful lot of Indy's turnovers where just bleepin' awful decisions by Pacer players.

What Indy certainly needs is a coach who's smart enough to realize that you can't sit two of your best three players at the same time in the 2nd quarter of a game 7.  I mean, seriously?  The Pacer bench has sucked all series, they're down by 3 and Vogel can't frickin' change his rotation?  I understand if you want to grab Hibbert a few minutes, but there was no reason AT ALL for Paul George to be on the bench last night until the game was decided.  By the time Hibbert and George came back in, Indy was down 10 and that was all she wrote.

Mike

[CFAN38]

Granger + 2 1st round picks for Rajon 'Jonny' Rondo

With West ang Hibbert playing great on the paint,  Rondo would be a perfect combination

They would have very poor floor spacing with those 3.

[slamtheking]

The Pacers Celtics need to run an offense that isn't so disasterously turnover prone and add some dribble penetration.

More importantly they need a better bench, their bench was a disaster on both ends of the court.

Fixed that for you.   

[BballTim]

Ah yes because Mario Chalmers is a world beater.

Mario Chalmers has been the 2nd best player on the Heat during this playoff run. Anyway, when you have Lebron you don't need a real point guard, he creates enough for his teammates and gets as many assists himself.

Playoffs - George + Hill = 9.4 assists per game
Playoffs - James + Chalmers = 9.9 assists per game

Given the difference in total points scored by the two teams the numbers are about a wash.


When will people learn that PG's are essentially worthless in determining champions unless your PG is Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas.

  Probably a little sooner than people will learn that most players at *any* position are worthless unless they're at a level of a Magic or Isiah. Small forwards are fairly worthless unles you have Bird, LeBron or possibly Durant. Shooting guards are worthless unless you have MJ or Kobe. I could go on, but you get the idea.

[Snakehead]

I wouldn't throw around George's assist numbers.  Sure, he had some big assist games, but he is really a pretty poor passer.

[hpantazo]

I wouldn't throw around George's assist numbers.  Sure, he had some big assist games, but he is really a pretty poor passer.

Agreed. Anyone who watched the ECFs could see that the Pacers really struggled against the Heat pressure, leading to a ton of turnovers, and really lacked a player who could create for others. You can call that player a PG or SF or whatever, but the Heat had one in Lebron and the Pacers didn't, and it made a huge difference. If the Pacers had a player like Rubio or Rondo they would have dominated the series. If they had a decent PG who could deal with the Heat's ball pressure and make good, consistent passes to the post they would have one the series.

[Moranis]

Ah yes because Mario Chalmers is a world beater.

Mario Chalmers has been the 2nd best player on the Heat during this playoff run. Anyway, when you have Lebron you don't need a real point guard, he creates enough for his teammates and gets as many assists himself.

Playoffs - George + Hill = 9.4 assists per game
Playoffs - James + Chalmers = 9.9 assists per game

Given the difference in total points scored by the two teams the numbers are about a wash.


When will people learn that PG's are essentially worthless in determining champions unless your PG is Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas.

  Probably a little sooner than people will learn that most players at *any* position are worthless unless they're at a level of a Magic or Isiah. Small forwards are fairly worthless unles you have Bird, LeBron or possibly Durant. Shooting guards are worthless unless you have MJ or Kobe. I could go on, but you get the idea.

All Star Appearances for the last 5 champions by position

PG - 0
SG - 4
SF - 2
PF - 4
C - 1

You go back further you get a similar representation, though center catches up with the other positions when you start getting Shaq and Tony Parker in 2007 is the only PG on the list till you hit Isiah.  We aren't talking about all time greats in a number of these all star selections.  That is the point.