A core of Rondo-Bradley-Green-Sully-Center will win a title

[indeedproceed]

anything can happen in the draft, but i'm pretty sure Rondo-Bradley-Green-Sully will not win a title. And to the person saying no one expected the Pacers, well George and Hibbert are both very legit (and underrated by most non-Pacer fans).

*sigh*
are you kidding me?

Roy Hibbert wanted a max contract and everyone was extremely confused. Everyone laughed at him. Everyone said he wasn't worth it. Everyone said he wasn't good. In 2012 HE WAS AN AVERAGE TO SLIGHT LY ABOVE AVG CENTER!!

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

The Pacers are supposed to be Danny Granger and David West's team. Don't try to use what we know as logic for what we shoulda known at the beginning of the season. NO ONE saw this coming.

And to that point, the OP is saying anything is possible.

Your judgements about others' assessments of Paul George are very far off. People may have missed how good Paul George could've been during his rookie year. But between that and his sophomore season, he grew an inch or two, flashes signs of greatness during his rookie season as a defensive player, and looked like a fairly good bet to breakout during his sophomore campaign. The fact that he only averaged 12 points was the surprise, not that he took a large step forward this season.

  The problem is it's the Pacers and they were saying the same things about George that they'd just finished saying about Brandon Rush (pretty sure it was Rush, definitely someone they dumped).

Eh, I never really got that comparison. Paul George was a highlight factory by the end of his first season and a legitimate defensive blue chipper. Then he took a big step forward in efficiency in his sophomore season and he grew 2 or 3 inches.

If anything after his sophomore campaign his ceiling was set too high. I don't think there was a swingman with more promise outside of Kevin Durant.

[kozlodoev]

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

If you didn't see it coming, then you just weren't looking. Because, in reality, George was a very similar guy on a per-minute basis last year to what he is this year.

[clover]

anything can happen in the draft, but i'm pretty sure Rondo-Bradley-Green-Sully will not win a title. And to the person saying no one expected the Pacers, well George and Hibbert are both very legit (and underrated by most non-Pacer fans).

*sigh*
are you kidding me?

Roy Hibbert wanted a max contract and everyone was extremely confused. Everyone laughed at him. Everyone said he wasn't worth it. Everyone said he wasn't good. In 2012 HE WAS AN AVERAGE TO SLIGHT LY ABOVE AVG CENTER!!

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

The Pacers are supposed to be Danny Granger and David West's team. Don't try to use what we know as logic for what we shoulda known at the beginning of the season. NO ONE saw this coming.

And to that point, the OP is saying anything is possible.

Your judgements about others' assessments of Paul George are very far off. People may have missed how good Paul George could've been during his rookie year. But between that and his sophomore season, he grew an inch or two, flashes signs of greatness during his rookie season as a defensive player, and looked like a fairly good bet to breakout during his sophomore campaign. The fact that he only averaged 12 points was the surprise, not that he took a large step forward this season.

  The problem is it's the Pacers and they were saying the same things about George that they'd just finished saying about Brandon Rush (pretty sure it was Rush, definitely someone they dumped).

Eh, I never really got that comparison. Paul George was a highlight factory by the end of his first season and a legitimate defensive blue chipper. Then he took a big step forward in efficiency in his sophomore season and he grew 2 or 3 inches.

If anything after his sophomore campaign his ceiling was set too high. I don't think there was a swingman with more promise outside of Kevin Durant.

Did he really grow 2 or 3 inches?  His predraft measurements were 6'7.75" w/o shoes and 6'8.75" with shoes.

Maybe he just got some taller shoes.

[D.o.s.]

One more thing--since a large part of player-development prediction, at least to me, relies on injury history--does anyone think that our medical staff might be due for an upgrade?

I mean, I know we're not Phoenix... but why aren't we Phoenix?

[bfrombleacher]

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

If you didn't see it coming, then you just weren't looking. Because, in reality, George was a very similar guy on a per-minute basis last year to what he is this year.

Per minute doesn't always translate to bigger minutes, right?

Bass was a beast on the boards per minute.

[D.o.s.]

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

If you didn't see it coming, then you just weren't looking. Because, in reality, George was a very similar guy on a per-minute basis last year to what he is this year.

Per minute doesn't always translate to bigger minutes, right?

Bass was a beast on the boards per minute.

If you consider 7 boards per 36 a beast, I suppose.

Point being that Paul George's per minutes from this regular season and last are very, very similar across the stat sheet, despite an eight minute increase in his playing time (per game):
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/georgpa01.html#per_minute::none

Which validates the eye test for Pacers fans, who were (rightfully, it turns out) salivating over this dude's potential last year.

[bfrombleacher]

No one saw this Paul George thing coming from a mile away. What evidence did we have of him becoming a star this year? He was almost useless last season. Now he's helping carrying his team against the Heat?

If you didn't see it coming, then you just weren't looking. Because, in reality, George was a very similar guy on a per-minute basis last year to what he is this year.

Per minute doesn't always translate to bigger minutes, right?

Bass was a beast on the boards per minute.

If you consider 7 boards per 36 a beast, I suppose.

Point being that Paul George's per minutes from this regular season and last are very, very similar across the stat sheet, despite an eight minute increase in his playing time (per game):
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/georgpa01.html#per_minute::none

Which validates the eye test for Pacers fans, who were (rightfully, it turns out) salivating over this dude's potential last year.

I meant earlier in Bass's career. Of course, Bass was playing far fewer minutes. I used Bass as an example off the top of my head because I remember seeing this thread.

But the point is kozlodoev was arguing that we weren't looking if we didn't see Paul George coming. Just playing devil's advocate.