Would the perception be that bad in indy? They paid him his big contract. Would trading an injured player who is about to earn 16 million dollars rehabbing a gruesome injury and may never be the same, in exchange for healthy players who could help them get the 2nd seed in the east really going to get the fanbase that riled up?
As a matter of fact, IM not sure I would want to gamble on George at this point.
I'm going to quote what I just said on the main site in response to a George-for-Rondo trade proposal:
You know what I find really funny about Celtics fans who repeatedly propose the "Rondo for PG" trades? They say this as if Rondo hasn’t suffered his own serious injury and has yet to show he’s come back 100%. It’s as if you think because Rondo’s injury didn’t seem as gruesome as PG's [edit: it must not have been as bad], despite the fact that it’s generally better to injure vascularized bone over avascular connective tissue.
Last season doesn't suddenly get wiped from the books just because people want to believe Rondo is back to being pre-injury Rondo. He hasn't yet shown he's fully recovered from the injury. This notion that he's completely healthy isn't actually based on anything we've seen yet other than a leap of faith that because he's Rondo, he'll be fine.
That said, I don't see a Rondo-Green Pacers team being considerably better than Cleveland or Chicago or, quite honestly, even Washington or Toronto, since there still wouldn't be enough scoring. They already took a huge hit in losing Stephenson, so George going down was just the death blow. Regardless, I really, REALLY doubt Pacers fans are clamoring about getting the "2nd seed in the east" since ranking high in the conference - and even winning it last year - hasn't resulted in a title. Their best chances of winning a title are undoubtedly with a healthy George and if that means waiting a year and hoping for the best, I think they're more than willing to do so. What's the alternative? Another season that, more than likely, doesn't result in a championship? Doesn't seem like they have much to lose.
(And just before someone says, "how can you say not to assume that Rondo is fully healthy and then say the Pacers wouldn't be better than the Bulls as though the same thing doesn't apply to Rose?", I'm not assuming that Rose is healthy. I'm giving the Bulls the nod because they've consistently performed well without Rose and I think adding Pau will do wonders for opening up their offense. Thibodeau has shown he has the ability to coach around the absence of his best player; Vogel has not inspired any such confidence, unless we really want to argue that Granger was even remotely comparable to Rose, which would be a fair discussion. If Rose is healthy, Cleveland and Chicago are inarguably better than that proposed Rondo-led Pacers team, in my mind.)