Can We Be Honest About Paul George for a Second?

[DefenseWinsChamps]

George is not as good at offense as he thinks he is.

After an explosive beginning of the season, from December through February, he is average 39% from the floor and 34% from 3. He is also averaging 3.6 TO per game.

"But he is coming off injury" - These shooting percentages are right in line with the rest of his career. When his usage rate goes up, his percentages go down. Also, he started the year really well and he finished last season. Guys coming back from injury normally start poorly.

"But his teammates ..." - He has two really good playoff guards to help him run the offense and take pressure off of him. His bigs are inconsistent and young, but Mahinmi, Turner, and Hill have all played above expectations this year.

The brilliance of Paul George is his elite two-way play. His defense is not as good this year as it has been, but he gives you great play on both sides of the ball.

I don't think he is going anywhere, but Celtic fans who clamor for George need to understand that his numbers a bit inflated because of usage, but he does not have elite efficiency. After watching some of his games, I think he has a little Monte Ellis in him these days.

[Who]

Yeah, it had looked like P.George had made the leap offensively and turned into a legit MVP candidate but he has fallen back as the season has gone on.

Still a top 10 player in the league.

[Csfan1984]

Paul George has some great stretches and bad ones. Still a top ten player. Unfortunately today's NBA top ten players have a crazy amount of bad stretches.

[chilidawg]

13th overall in RPM, good on both sides of the ball.  I wouldn't kick him to the curb just yet.  Still coming back from a horrific injury.

[CroCorvus]

Paul George has some great stretches and bad ones. Still a top ten player. Unfortunately today's NBA top ten players have a crazy amount of bad stretches.

hm? can you name them?

[PhoSita]

PG isn't as good as Kawhi or Jimmy Butler, but in the world of NBA wings, he's still solidly in that tier below Durant and LeBron. 

He's definitely more up and down offensively than you'd like from a primary star, but he's still the kind of guy who can win a playoff series.

[The One]

Wow...was not expecting this...but point taken...I will have to pay more attention going forward.

[Big333223]

I disagree that George has "two really good playoff guards to help him run the offense." Monta Ellis has looked pretty bad this season and George Hill is a great defensive point guard who needs help bringing the ball up the court.

I suspect his slumping since the hot start has to do with conditioning. As the season wears on, he's just not in as good of shape as he should be, due to missing the amount of time he did. I'm not going to make any strong judgements about his game until next season, when he's all the way back.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I disagree that George has "two really good playoff guards to help him run the offense." Monta Ellis has looked pretty bad this season and George Hill is a great defensive point guard who needs help bringing the ball up the court.

I suspect his slumping since the hot start has to do with conditioning. As the season wears on, he's just not in as good of shape as he should be, due to missing the amount of time he did. I'm not going to make any strong judgements about his game until next season, when he's all the way back.

I get your point. Ellis was the second scorer on Dallas' playoff team last year and Hill has been a staple on Indiana's playoff teams. I say "really good" instead of All-stars because they are not all-stars.

Conditioning is a possible problem, but he did finish the season last season and have an entire off-season to get into shape. Maybe he is still coming back, but the stats seem to say that these are right in line with his normal high usage efficiency.

The anomaly for his career doesn't seem to be the last three months, but rather the high efficiency month of November.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Paul George is a beast and his team is garbage.  Think of it this way, the only player who went on to become better after leaving the Pacers was Evan Turner.  Lance and Hibbert were completely exposed without playing next to George and even the vets fell off a cliff.  Granger and CJ Watson can't play at all anymore.  David West is old and on the Spurs, but he doesn't even look the same.

The whole defense is focused on PG-13 every game, every possession.  His teammates are WIDE OPEN all game and they can't do anything with it.  I am going to do a hot take and say that I think that if he and Anthony Davis switched places, the Hornets would have an uptick in wins and the Pacers would have a downtick.

[ManUp]

I wanted to say that Paul George wasn't top 10 but then I looked at the best players in the league and just wasn't impressed.

Curry
Lebron
Durant
Westbrook
Harden
Davis
Cousins
George
Paul?
Lillard?

I was under the impression that the league was getting better and more competitive, but is that really the case?

[passesofftodj]

I think PG would be ridiculously good in CBS's system.

The NBA has 2 studs + Durant/Westbrook stud combo, there really aren't many truly great players...lots of good ones though.

[max215]

He was the best player in the NBA in November. He's been good-not-great recently. He's still a borderline top ten player.

[Snakehead]

I wanted to say that Paul George wasn't top 10 but then I looked at the best players in the league and just wasn't impressed.

Curry
Lebron
Durant
Westbrook
Harden
Davis
Cousins
George
Paul?
Lillard?

I was under the impression that the league was getting better and more competitive, but is that really the case?

You forgot Leonard, Chris Paul, Griffin.   I think Wall and Draymond Green are right there too.   I don't have Lillard higher than any of those guys at least.

I do think the league is very deep but it is lacking in a few top level players I would suppose.   Comparing it to different eras, especially the late 80's and early 90's.  Even with the league being deeper now, if you go back to like 04-05' and look at all the greats playing at once even if the league wasn't as talented throughout, that's an impressive group.  From the All-NBA teams that year:

Shaq, Duncan, Nowitzki, Nash, Iverson, Ama're, KG, LeBron, Ray Allen, Wade, Ben Wallace, Shawn Marion, McGrady, Kobe, Gilbert Arenas.  Of course Pierce, who was left off there.  Also Yao Ming, Melo, Vince Carter, Billups, Hamilton, Sheed.

A more impressive group of players to me.

[Bucketgetter]

Paul George is a beast and his team is garbage.  Think of it this way, the only player who went on to become better after leaving the Pacers was Evan Turner.  Lance and Hibbert were completely exposed without playing next to George and even the vets fell off a cliff.  Granger and CJ Watson can't play at all anymore.  David West is old and on the Spurs, but he doesn't even look the same.

The whole defense is focused on PG-13 every game, every possession.  His teammates are WIDE OPEN all game and they can't do anything with it.  I am going to do a hot take and say that I think that if he and Anthony Davis switched places, the Hornets would have an uptick in wins and the Pacers would have a downtick.

Interesting idea because you mentioned no players on the hornets.