2015-16 NBA Season Preview: Indiana Pacers

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Indiana Pacers

2014-15

Offseason Roundup

Projected Starting 5

• PG George Hill
• SG Monta Ellis
• SF C.J. Miles
• PF Paul George
• C Myles Turner

MVP

"I feel like I'm better than the Paul George I was," Paul George said as training camp opened. "I still have the aspiration of being the MVP."

In his first full season back from a gruesome injury suffered last offseason, gunning for the league's most prestigious individual prize is probably a little premature. After all, George hadn't quite reached MVP levels before the injury, even if the first half of his 2013-14 season was incredibly close. (George finished ninth in voting, having averaged 21.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.9 steals.)

But while the NBA-wide MVP award is more a consideration for 2016-17, assuming George bounces back, he's unquestionably the top dog on the Pacers. Any optimism around the team would have to be rooted heavily in faith in George's expeditious return to form, as well as his ability to handle the rigors of power forward on a regular basis.

George was very, very good before the injury, and he should be again. The Pacers have to hope he gets there quickly.

Breakout Player

It's tough to identify a breakout player on the Pacers. It's a team full of relatively proven players, George, and a couple of intriguing rookies (keep an eye on Myles Turner). But rookies can't be considered "breakout players," so the pick here is Chase Budinger.

That's more of a bounce-back pick than a breakout one, but Budinger began to look like his old, springy self late in 2014-15 and is in line to play a bigger role with the Pacers than he did over the last three injury-slowed years with Minnesota.

An established outside shooter with big hops, the 27-year-old Budinger could see time at the three and the four as head coach Frank Vogel looks to push the transition game.

Season Expectations

The Pacers narrowly missed the playoffs last season, they'll get George back, they added Monta Ellis, they drafted a high-upside center, and they jettisoned the center, Roy Hibbert, who they believed was handcuffing their style of play some.

But it's tough not to feel like some of the East has kept pace or even moved past Indiana. What type of player George returns as is a major swing in their projections, but there doesn't appear to be a great deal of optimism outside of Indiana - ESPN's forecast pegs it for 39 wins and another near-playoff miss, while oddsmakers have set the team's over-under for wins at a more robust 42.5.

Vogel's a terrific coach and there are some fun pieces, but Year One in a new system with several new players could be cause for some early growing pains. Deep in the backcourt but with little proven in the frontcourt - hence the George-as-four experiment, which could serve to thin the wings - the proclaimed new-look Pacers warrant a wait-and-see approach entering 2015-16.