Frank Vogel says the season still feels young, despite the fact the Pacers are just three games from the halfway point of the 82-game grind.
That’s a good thing, because he still has a lot of work to do to figure out how his team is going to play. And which players are going to play. And where those players are going to play. And when, too.
“We need at some point to settle in to who we are,” Vogel said in the hallway outside the Pacers locker room before they extinguished the Suns with a strong fourth quarter for a 116-97 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
You can’t blame Vogel for the uncertainty. He’s got a glob of a roster with good depth and few obvious options. He’s got versatile veterans and promising rookies, and the capability of playing “small” with four perimeter options or going traditional with two big men.
At some point, though, he’s going to have to make some difficult decisions, unless injuries make them for him. How deep into his roster does he go with the regular playing rotation, nine or 10? Who gets left out? When do you play big, and when do you play small?
“There’s a lot to tinker with,” he said.
The Pacers at least have achieved a passing grade while they seek answers. They’re 22-16, tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference, 1 1/2 games back of second place and two games ahead of the eighth and final playoff position. Their schedule gets tougher next week, when they play four road games against Western Conference opponents, but then softens. Once they hit the last month of January, they’ll finish the season 22-16 – with 22 home games and 16 road games.
NEXT THREE HOME GAMES: Friday, 1/15 vs Wizards » Tuesday, 1/26 vs Clippers » Thursday, 1/28 vs Hawks »
For now, here’s what they’re dealing with: (1) An All-Star still not entirely comfortable with the small-ball strategy, (2) a guard who has had to reclaim a role he had happily abandoned, (3) a backup wing position that remains unclaimed and (4) an uncertain role for the first-round draft pick.
Paul George led the Pacers with 21 points on Tuesday. He scored nine of them in the fourth quarter without missing a shot while playing in a lineup that included just one big man, either Ian Mahinmi or Jordan Hill. There was irony in that, because he still feels more comfortable in a more traditional lineup with two bigs, such as the one Vogel started the game.
“I’m always going to be more comfortable with the big lineup, because I know where guys are at,” George said. “There’s not as much randomness in the big lineup. Small lineup, there’s more randomness and I’m trying to get a read where guys are going to be.”
George’s slow start in this game seemed more related to foul trouble, which kept him on the bench for all but 12 seconds of the second quarter, and poor shooting – he hit just 1-of-6 3-pointers, all but one of the attempts coming in the third period.
George Hill made up for that by hitting 4-of-8 3-pointers on his way to 20 points. There’s irony in that too, because Hill is in many respects back to his role of two seasons ago, when the offense ran through George and Lance Stephenson and Hill was told to go stand in the corner and wait for a possible kick-out pass off penetration.
That led to accusations from the fan base that he’s not a point guard, a point he largely disproved last season when he was allowed to play like one and led the team in scoring (16.1) and assists (5.1) while committing just 1.6 turnovers per game.
Monta Ellis, who had seven assists against the Suns, has made Hill dispensable as a quarterback, and Hill’s shooting touch has made him indispensable as a scoring option. He leads the team in 3-point percentage (.430), having hit 18-of-31 attempts over the last eight games.
He had said before last season that he had “sold that real estate” in the corner of the floor that he occupied two years ago, but hasn’t complained about having to live there again.
Vogel admits Hill is playing off the ball “more than I’m comfortable with,” but praised him as a “whatever-you-need-coach-guy.” He appreciates Hill’s flexibility.
“That’s the blessing and the curse of being someone like George Hill, who’s equally effective off the ball as on the ball,” Vogel said.
Hill has no complaints.
“I’m a team-first guy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. I just want to win the game. I always think about team first. Whether it’s me having the ball, somebody else having the ball, I can do many other things to impact the games.”
So he’s OK to be back living in the corner again?
“I’m fine,” he said as he headed out of the locker room to catch the plane to Boston for Wednesday’s game. “Whatever they’ve got, I’m taking. That corner has good views.”
Glenn Robinson III is getting a better view of the games, too, now that he’s playing in each one. Vogel put him in the rotation to fill the backup wing position formerly occupied by Chase Budinger and Solomon Hill for the game in Miami last week. Robinson hasn’t yet earned it, having scored 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting, but he hasn’t given it back, either.
Vogel said before the game he planned to stick with Robinson, who just turned 22, for a couple of weeks to see what he can do with the opportunity. Robinson was the team’s second-leading scorer in the preseason and has had three double-figure games this season, but so far hasn’t made it any easier for Vogel to choose between the options.
Playing 18 1/2 minutes, he scored two points on 1-of-4 shooting on Tuesday, with four rebounds, an assist and two turnovers. He hasn’t looked completely comfortable in any of the five games since opportunity knocked on his door.
“Tonight I struggled, but the past couple of games I’ve been trying to feel my way back in,” he said. “I’m trying to bring some energy, bring some defense, some of the things I brought early in the season back to the team. Trying to get my chemistry back with some of my teammates.”
Chemistry could be a problem for everyone until Vogel settles on a player for that role – either Budinger, Solomon Hill or Robinson – because there are ripple effects.
“There’s a new guy in the rotation by the week, it seems,” George said. “A new guy coming in, a new guy going out. It’s a lot of uncertainty who’s going to be out there sometimes.
“But it helps when we get the practice time. When we go through stretches where we can’t practice, it makes it tougher.”
Myles Turner’s place in the plan also remains uncertain. The rookie, who missed 22 games with a fractured left thumb, continues to show promise. He sat out all but the final 2 1/2 minutes of Tuesday’s game because Vogel didn’t think he was well-suited to defend on the perimeter against Phoenix’s smaller lineup, but still found time to hit two shots.
Vogel has plenty of options to consider for Turner, whose perimeter shooting and rebounding and shot-blocking ability make him suitable for several roles. He’s mostly played him with four perimeter players, but Vogel leaves open the option of playing him alongside starting center Ian Mahinmi or backup Jordan Hill.
“I want the kid to play at a level to where I can’t take him off the court,” Vogel said. “If that happens and Ian continues playing the way he’s playing, then we’ll put him over at the four. That’s a little bit of a challenge for him defensively – a lot of fours are 3-point shooters now. We’ll look for situations that allow him to continue to grow, but he’s got to earn it.
“We’ll figure it out.”
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