At the start of the season Paul George was flying, he was propelling the Indiana Pacers and it was clear that he hasn’t lost a step which was good to see.
But now as we near the All-Star break, George has simmered down a little, this is due to his new role in the Pacers squad, trying to help others flourish as well as him. He’s not shying away from it, but he’s experiencing some growing pains with the new role.
“Before it was, I had the confidence just being out there. I knew what I could do and I was comfortable in doing that. Then it was like slowly ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that, too much of this, too much of that,’ so I had to change it up a little bit. Kind of opened it up for our other guys to be aggressive and have opportunities. So I’m not sure what to call it….
“It’s changed, it’s definitely changed (since the) start of the year,” George said. “Just kinda felt like I had the confidence and coach was giving me the confidence with the green light. I’m still confident, guys are still making the right plays. Just seems like a transition a little bit.”
When George’s career ends, we will mark this season as the beginning of George’s evolution from ‘Get Buckets’ to a true leader that tries to do it all for the betterment of the team. He could easily get 30 a night but what will that do when you lose by 20? It’s a necessary sacrifice.
