[August 13, 2014](Reuters) - The Indiana Pacers are
not counting on injured All-Star forward Paul George returning to action
next season but said on Tuesday their expectations for team success will
remain as high as ever.
George, who led Indiana to last season's Eastern Conference
finals, is recovering from surgery to repair a badly broken leg he
suffered earlier this month and there is no indication yet on how
long he will take to make a full recovery.
"You can't just replace Paul George," Pacers president of basketball
operations Larry Bird said during a news conference. "Are our
expectations lowered any? I don't think so.
"We're going to compete hard, we're going to do our best to make the
playoffs and just compete on a consistent basis. We're going to put
a competitive team out there. We think we're going to play hard and
develop our young guys.
"Everyone's going to get an opportunity to show us what they can do.
I think we'll be an exciting team. We have a lot of things to look
forward to. My goal is to win as many games as we possibly can and
get in the playoffs."
Twice All-Star George, 24, suffered an open fracture of the tibia
and fibula bones in his lower right leg while playing in a USA
Basketball practice game in Las Vegas on Aug. 1.
He collided against the bottom of the basketball stanchion while
contesting a layup attempt by James Harden, and had surgery in a Las
Vegas hospital the following day before returning home on Aug. 5 to
recover.
For the moment, the Pacers are assuming he will be back in action
for the team for the 2015-16 season with anything earlier a bonus.
"No one's told us he'll be out for the entire year, but ... we're
sort of expecting him to be out for the whole year," said Bird, a
Hall of Famer who was a 12-time All-Star for the Boston Celtics.
"If he can play he's going to play. We'll just see how it goes. It's
going to be up to our doctors, our medical staff and Paul, but we
would never put him in a situation where he'd be uncomfortable."
Meanwhile, the Pacers will be building a team around their core players -
George Hill, Roy Hibbert and David West - and others, such as Solomon
Hill, C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey.
They have become perennial contenders in the playoffs since 2011 and
ended the 2013-14 regular season with a 56-26 record before being
eliminated from the postseason by the Miami Heat in the conference
finals for a second straight year.
"We have a winning culture here," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel. "I
think we're going to surprise some teams. Those fans who think the
season is over before it starts are very wrong.
"I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised with the grit and
toughness we play with this year. I think we're going to be able to
compete with the best."
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank
Pingue)
