The Indiana Pacers lost their first three games of the season but have only lost once since and they now have a solid 6-4 record. Indiana's star player, Paul George, has been great to start the season and is a major reason why the Pacers have been so successful. The Pacers roster changed quite a lot this season so head coach Frank Vogel changed up the offensive system and that may be the biggest key to George's success this season so far, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star.
The new system was a serious topic of discussion this offseason in Indiana as Vogel's original plan was to play George at the power forward spot mostly. George was not too happy about the idea of playing the four spot full-time and he vocalized that and he has started all ten games at his natural small forward spot. Instead of George at the four C.J. Miles and Chase Budinger have been seeing some playing time at the four and George credits them for some of his success.
"I've been at the three. They've been putting C.J., Chase; those two have been taking the load at the four spot, and for me it's just been giving me an open field just with more space, more room to break my guy down and create," said George.
The reason the Pacers needed to change things up this season was because of the makeup of the roster. The past few years they have had a starting frontcourt of David West and Roy Hibbert but both are gone and their roster is now more perimeter oriented and Vogel has decided to play faster and put George in the best position possible to excel.
"From day one it was about his comfort level. He's our franchise player; this whole team is built around him. We're putting him in certain spots, and if he's not comfortable in certain spots, we're going to tweak it to make sure he is. That's just the best approach for any team," said Vogel.
Vogel has been rewarded by making George comfortable as he has scored 26 or more points in six straight games and is only the fourth player in franchise history to do so. On the season George is averaging 24.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 43 percent from the field and 38 percent from three. George's first full season back from that devastating leg injury didn't get off to the best of starts but he has found his groove lately and is making this Pacers team look pretty dangerous. George has made up for some of his teammates' poor performance so far this season and a lot of credit goes to the head coach and his staff for realizing they need to cater their offense to their best players strengths.
