Doyel: Larry Bird and Paul George; let’s play the feud?
Paul George said what he said on Saturday, and Larry Bird said what he said on Tuesday, and it sounds like they’re not speaking the same language about George’s move to power forward. What it sounds like is this: The game is on – and not a game of basketball.
A game of chicken.
Someone blinks first. Someone has to. And if you’re asking me who blinks first, well, there’s not much doubt about that:
Paul George will blink.
He’ll have to do it – Frank Vogel coaches the team, Larry Bird runs it, Paul George plays on it – and the way Bird was talking Tuesday, George will want to do it.
George will embrace playing power forward, Bird was saying, but only after saying something else, something that makes it clear – as if Paul George hadn’t made it clear a couple days earlier – the Pacers and the Pacers’ best player aren’t on the same page.
Here’s what George said on Saturday about his much-discussed position change: “It’s not going to be logging 30 minutes at the power forward. Whatever needs to be done. If I’ve got to play a couple of minutes at the power forward, I’m fine with it.”
A couple of minutes? Bird was asked about that comment. Here’s what he said on Tuesday: “He don’t make the decisions around here.”
Bird softened it up almost immediately, but not irrevocably. A man as respected as Larry Bird, known for speaking his mind – earlier this offseason he famously called out Roy Hibbert; on Tuesday he acknowledged Pacers veteran Solomon Hill “didn’t play well” in summer league and Pacers newcomer Monta Ellis “is not a great defender” – can’t say something as acerbic as what he said about his best player and not leave a mark.
He don’t make the decisions around here.
Near as I can tell Bankers Life Fieldhouse has no sand, but on Tuesday that sure looked like Larry Bird drawing a line in it.
This story? It’s not going away.
Not until training camp, anyway, when Bird predicts George will realize the new position helps his game rather than hurts it. Bird speaks from experience on the matter, bringing the brunt of his Hall of Fame career to say that he’s not asking George – um, telling George – to do anything Bird himself didn’t do with the Boston Celtics.
Bird spent the first nine years of his career as the small forward on giant frontcourts featuring center Robert Parish and power forward Kevin McHale, but surgery on bone spurs in both heels limited him to six games in 1989. The 6-9, 225-pound Bird was spotted at power forward some in 1990, then moved there exclusively for his final two seasons.
“I did it,” Bird said of the move George is being asked, er, told to make. “I loved it after I did it. We’ll see how he feels about it. I just think offensively he’s going to find out it’s one of the greatest feelings he’s ever had. He’s going to find it’s much easier.”
In a way, the 6-9, 220-pound George is following Bird’s path. After playing his first five seasons on the wing, George suffered a broken leg in August and was limited last season to six games. Bird spoke earlier this summer to George about that injury, the new position and their shared circumstances.
“I just told how him I think he’ll embrace the opportunity,” Bird said Tuesday. “I know what it did to my career. … Coming off this injury he’s coming off, I think it’d be a good year to try it because he can guard some threes but doesn’t have to do it all the time. Gives him a year to get stronger and healthier, and I believe it’ll be a plus for him and our team.”
George isn’t completely against the move, by the way. Last month he told The Indianapolis Star he’d be “ready for it.”
“I’m working on making that change and being prepared to play some forward this year,” George said June 4. “I understand what Larry (Bird) wants as far as playing the faster pace. I mean, I’m for it. That’s the way the league is going nowadays.”
I mean, I’m for it.
Nothing combative there, but not entirely consistent with what George said on Saturday, predicting he’d play “a couple of minutes at the power forward” — and that comment didn’t seem to sit well with his boss.
Could be, this is nothing but a game of words. Words with friends, let’s call it, since George and Bird have seemingly gotten along to this point. Could be, George simply doesn’t understand how much the Pacers plan to use him at power forward. Could be, he and Bird and Vogel will have a brief meeting on the first day of training camp and clear this whole thing up.
Bird doesn’t want to feud with George, believe that. A few minutes after saying George doesn’t call the shots around here, Bird went another direction by saying: “I’m not going to get into a battle with Paul George about where he wants to play. He’s a basketball player, and he can play anywhere you put him out there.”
Which sounds pretty much like what George himself had said about the position switch this weekend:
“I’m a ballplayer,” he told The Star. “You put me anywhere on the court, I’m going to make the most out of it.”
Odds are he’ll love defending power forwards like Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton (6-7, 215 pounds), Atlanta’s Paul Millsap (6-8, 245) and Miami’s Udonis Haslem (6-8, 230). Odds are he’ll hate dealing with Washington’s Marcin Gortat (6-11, 240) or Nenê (6-11, 260), and Chicago’s Pau Gasol (7-0, 232).
Whoever George has to defend? That guy has to defend George.
And won’t be able to do it.
No, something tells me this burgeoning feud —disagreement? misunderstanding? — between Bird and George will fizzle out once George sees how easy offense can be once he gets comfortable at power forward.
Because Paul George will be getting comfortable at power forward this season, whether he likes it or not. He don’t call the shots around here.
Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel