Be sure to check out the original article from Philly.com, here.
The Indiana Pacers are imploding.
The team started the season looking like a true championship
contender, and a real threat to dethrone the Miami Heat in the Eastern
Conference.
Then suddenly, after the all-star break, things went south.
Paul George’s play has plateaued, the Indiana offense has
been awful, Frank Vogel’s job security is a television topic, and the team
looks like a shell of its season-starting self.
Then came Sunday night.
In a home game against Atlanta with playoff implications, as
the Pacers continue to fight for the top spot in the standings, Indiana scored
23 (!) first half points, and was booed badly by the same crowd that was so
supportive earlier in the season. The Pacers were embarrassed off the floor by
a hobbling Hawks team that is 33-42 on the season.
Roy Hibbert, who continues to be a giant sulk-show, didn’t
log a single second in the second half, and instead stayed sidelined while his
team struggled. Seems like Andrew Bynum might be
rubbing off on Hibbert a little bit.
Hibbert, who
appears to be a big part of the Pacers’ problem himself, has shifted the
blame recently, saying that some Pacer players are ‘selfish,’ without naming
names.
“Some selfish dudes in here,” he stated.
While Hibbert didn’t go as far as identifying the
individuals in question, NBA Inaider Ric Bucher thinks he has a good idea of
who Hibbert was referring to.
“There has been an issue since they acquired Evan Turner,”
Bucher stated in a video for Bleacher Report.
“Evan Turner and Lance Stephenson are both free agents to
be, and we know with young guys looking for their first big contract, they can’t
quite escape that what their production is, is going to have a big impact on
the kind of contract they receive,” he explained.
Bucher went on to explain that, before the trade for Turner,
Stephenson was clearly the ‘next big thing’ in Indiana with Granger on his way
out, but the addition of Turner has muddied that somewhat, as Turner is ‘trying
to accomplish the very same thing.’
According to Bucher’s report, Evan Turner has only assisted
on one, yes one, Roy Hibbert basket since he became a part of the Pacers; that
probably accounts for some of the perceived selfishness that Hibbert spoke of.
The issue in Indiana between Stephenson and Turner could
have been predicted, as both play a similar style, and both will be looking to
get paid this summer. But, Indiana made the move anyway, and now they are
facing a plethora of problems with the playoffs approaching, as well as issues
to address in the offseason.
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