I hope you are right about the cause. I liked the pre-collapsed Pacers's chances and was baffled by their mid season nosedive. Now that Stephenson is gone, we'll see what happens. (although I suspect that Hibbert had something to do with the collapse too)
Fans write personal messages on banner hanging outside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse: amandalwhaley 2 hours ago Such an awesome amount of support from the Indy community for Paul's recovery! The banner is covered in encouraging handwritten messages
You mean, the team that played a horrible schedule and hit an inordinate amount of 3 point shots before regressing back to the mean was a contender. As for rooting the Spurs, guess who swept the Spurs in the regular season? Contender!
Indy definitely just had it easy the first part of last year. They were hitting everything, PG was playing at another level and they had a jump on the league as far as chemistry IMO. Sad thing for Indy is they never were quite strong enough to conquer Lebron. They probably won't be in the next year or two either. They need to suck this year and rebuild around George. A high draft pick can bring them a young player to grow along with George or a high value trade asset. They could run the team through Hibbert this year in order to rebuild his confidence or trade value.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>PAUL GEORGE. No ligament tendon nerve or joint damage! Just broken bone and skin. He will return 100% the player he was!</p>— Dr. Robert Klapper (@DrRobertKlapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrRobertKlapper/statuses/499753291488968704">August 14, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
^ LOL, wut <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>LAKERS. Getting into Playoffs this season is Goal BUT Priority is still beating Clippers and Houston!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Reality?src=hash">#Reality</a> Check</p>— Dr. Robert Klapper (@DrRobertKlapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrRobertKlapper/statuses/499570252481458176">August 13, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> He may be an orthopod, but he's still on the ESPN payroll
He is a L.A. local orthopedist. He is a Lakers fan. He even hosts a show on the L.A. ESPN radio station.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Paul George says he has a rod in right leg with pins in knees and ankles to keep it in place.</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/statuses/500348843557285888">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"It felt like gasoline was on my leg and someone set a match," said Paul George, about the pain he felt when he broke his leg.</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/statuses/500350424625332224">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"I don't know yet." <a href="https://twitter.com/Paul_George24">@Paul_George24</a> on his recovery timeline. "We don't want to put a date on it or a time frame on it."</p>— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/statuses/500345504387969024">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Paul George on his first reaction to the injury: "I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it was me that this happened to."</p>— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/statuses/500345895724924930">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Paul George: "When I looked down and saw my bone sticking out, I knew it was bad."</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/statuses/500346189221339137">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>PG said the criticism <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball">@usabasketball</a> has received is unfair. “Freak accidents happen. Sucks I was on the bad side of it.”</p>— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/statuses/500347166334808065">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Paul George said he had early discussions with his agent, <a href="https://twitter.com/AMintz">@AMintz</a>, about going with “PG-13” to become household name before rookie season.</p>— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAgness/statuses/500350245885054976">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>March?!</p>— Paul George (@Yg_Trece) <a href="https://twitter.com/Yg_Trece/status/562695761461522433">February 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cool but the same time they're not making the playoffs, might as well shut it down for the summer and comeback next year.
If he is 100% physically it might do him some good psychologically to get the "can I trust my leg in a real game?" mindset dealt with this season so that he can come back next year 100% in his mind as well as body.
If he's cleared to play, he should play. Never a good idea to take unnecessary time off like a Derrick Rose, just takes you that much longer to get back to speed.
