David West, Luis Scola and C.J. Watson. All of these players have something in common, yes they all played for the Pacers last year. They were also the three biggest leaders last year. They have all left via free agency, leaving a big question unanswered. Who are the Indiana Pacers leaders this year?
The easiest thing to do would be to look at age. But our oldest player heading into the season is Monta Ellis. He has never shown leadership qualities and that is unlikely to change. Ok, so what about the star player, Paul George? That does work, Paul George showed he is a vocal and lead-by-example leader before the injury, and given their losses he is likely to take those qualities to the next level. But is there anyone else to step-up?
Yours truly has always believed most point guards are given leadership whether they want it or not. Luckily our PG is George Hill, vocal and a hustle guy he is a very good leader for the pacers to have. C.J. Miles maybe? This writer believes not, while he is a good teammate and player he hasn’t been vocal over his career, he also isn’t the most gung-ho player either. Speaking of gung-ho players, how about Rodney Stuckey?
Stuckey truly is the epitome of leader by example. He lays his body out on the line with hard drives, dives into the stands and even dives into the scorer’s table. He came in big for this team last year when West, George, Watson or George Hill was injured at any given time. He earned everyone’s respect and is likely to lead the second unit this year, which is a perfect situation for us in this writer's opinion.
Yours truly has heard some people talk about Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger stepping in as leaders. Well yours truly has never heard of Chase being a leader and that could change, but your humble writer wouldn’t bet on it. While Jordan Hill has some experience in the league he also has an iffy past. He also just recently got arrested for driving over 100 MPH in Georgia, definitely not something you would want your leaders doing. You can also take Myles Turner, Joe Young, Rakeem Christmas and Glenn Robinson III. Between them they have 1 year of pro basketball experience, while they could all contribute well for the Pacers it won’t be as leaders.
This Pacers team is very young, 3 rookies and only one player 30 or over and that is Ellis who is sitting directly at 30. So leadership obviously won’t be coming from the standard wily old veteran. But Paul George is the right man to lead the Pacers on the floor and George Hill is a very good wingman. Rodney Stuckey playing with the second unit is going to work brilliantly for our young players. Those three are hard-working, vocal leaders who are perfect to lead these young and tough Pacers.