Saturday, August 2, 2014

Paul George Suffers Gruesome Injury

Last night during the USA Basketball inter-squad scrimmage Paul George broke his right leg.  George was trying to block James harden and came down awkward.  He fell into the hoop stanchion and his leg just gave out.  Coach K called the game after George was injured. After the injury many players, including Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Dirk Nowitzki, all tweeted out their condolences to George.  He is most likely out for the whole upcoming season.

George's injury raised multiple questions.  The most commonly asked being, is it worth it for stars to play in international games?  The question makes no sense though.  A team like Indiana is obviously going to say no.  They just lost their star player.  But what if George didn't get hurt.  No one would ask this question.  Instead they would being saying George has developed well alongside other NBA stars.  The games are good for players because they get to play against elite talent and work on their game during the summer.  Players get to work with the best coaches in the world daily.  Young players like George need the international play to develop and become better players.  It makes sense Lebron James doesn't play.  James is the best player in the world and has already developed.  It is weird how owners and GM's don't ask their players to play in these games.  This way they know their players are working on their game with elite coaches.  Some players just sit around all summer or play useless all star games against sub par talent.  It is definitely worth it to risk injury in order to develop your game.  As Larry Bird said in his release about Georges injury, "This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly-visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere."  This injury could have occurred when George was playing in an all-star game, training in the gym, or in the scrimmage.  Stars will continue to play in the international games for now.

The real question is: What do the Indiana Pacers do now?  The Pacers just lost their star player.  George averaged 21.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 3.5 APG last season.  The Pacers also lost Lance Stephenson in free agency.  Stephenson averaged 13.8 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 4.6 APG last season.  So now what?  Indiana lost 35.5 PPG, 14 RPG, and 8.1 APG this off-season.  Roy Hibbert is the next best player on the team and remains a question.  Hibbert averaged 10.8 PPG and 6.6 RPG last season.  He is inconsistent and won't have any help next season.  A 7'2" Hibbert was out rebounded by both George and Stephenson last year.  The Pacers have dealt with drastic change.  Last season they were planning on winning the Eastern Conference at this time of year.  This season it will be a miracle if they make the playoffs.  Indiana may want to try to sign restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe to fill in the void left by George and Stephenson.  But no one can make up for the loss of those two.  The Pacers suffered a huge loss Friday night.  

Hopefully Paul George has a speedy recovery and doesn't skip a beat.  He is one of the best talents in the league and it's devastating to see him get hurt.  Below is a video of George's injury. 

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