Pacers' George preparing to play power forward next season

PG is focused on becoming a PF.

Indiana Pacers wing Paul George is spending his summer months training to become a power forward, at the request of team president Larry Bird.

The Indianapolis Star's Dana Hunsinger Benbow reported Thursday that George, who returned to game action late in the season after suffering a gruesome leg injury last summer, has been working on molding himself into more of a post presence ahead of the 2015-16 season.

Acknowledging that the league is rapidly evolving into one which favors "stretch-fours", George seems ready to take on power forward duties, if need be:

I'll be ready for it. I'm working on making that change and being prepared to play some forward this year. 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.

Back in April, Bird stated that he would like to see George fill in for resident power forward David West whenever such an opportunity might benefit the team.

"David is our starter, but when we go smaller, we'd like to see Paul maybe play some (power forward) and you know everybody says, 'You'll have a problem on the defensive end.' Well, I don't think so. He can guard about anybody, and then on the other end, it's a major plus for us," said Bird.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, George has virtually never played the power forward position throughout his five-year career.

George played in the final six games of the regular season, averaging 8.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and one assist in 15.2 minutes per contest.