Indiana Pacers: 66-1
This.
. .this will get ugly.
Paul George is likely done for the year with a broken legand Stephenson is grazing at purpler pastures. Down their two best perimeter players on defense and offense, the Indiana Pacers are likely to struggle in a big way.
Frank Vogel still has Roy Hibbert in the center, and George Hill will be one of the NBA’s better defensive point guards. So getting stops still ought to be a strength for Indy, but scoring is going to be demanding.
Really rough.
Remember, this team ranked 22nd in offensive performance last year. After the All-Star fracture, just the Sixers’ scoring strike was less powerful, per NBA.com. Taking away two of Indiana’s three leading scorers is going to make it almost impossible to get buckets at anything better than a bottom-five rate.
Perhaps Chris Copeland will stretch the ground with his shooting. Perhaps Hibbert will become a bigger threat on the cube. David West could have yet another big year in him.
But even though all three of those things come to pass, it’s difficult to say they’ll make up for losing George and Stephenson.
And in what may be the most frightening harbinger of an offensive tragedy to emerge, Donald Sloan leads Indy in preseason points each game and is going to be the starter at point guard for up to three weeks while Hill’s left knee mends.
Oh dear.
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