Last year at this time, ahead of a season with high expectations, that Pacers let it be known right away exactly what they were after from the beginning: the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. From that, it would ensure them a home-court edge during the postseason. This was coming in 2013 after they dropped Game 7 of the Conference Finals on the road in Miami.
They took all kinds of heat for it (no pun intended). Head coach Frank Vogel, and others, saw no problem with it because if you were really a contending team, why wouldn’t you be after the top seed?
Candid moment between the G2 Zone leaders, Paul George and George Hill.
What I think they regret is making the goal so public, even if it was so simple and obvious. As the Pacers welcome in a new season without two big-time contributors last season, Paul George and Lance Stephenson, they all kept to the company line.
“I want to avoid getting into hard-line goals with this year’s team,” said Vogel, “because there is some uncertainty at the wing position. We have plenty of continuity back, a good system capable of getting the job done.”
Point guard George Hill added, “I think it’s better if we don’t make expectations because then you guys [media] judge us for that.”
So much of the Pacers’ struggles last season were their inability to handle success — not trading Danny Granger or signing Andrew Bynum, despite popular belief. Success got to them.
No, it infected them.
There was a national interview with the starters and coach Vogel on ESPN, features in Sports Illustrated, and then, of course, the GQ photo shoot.
Not only were teams gunning for them, as the Pacers were atop the conference standings, but they were finally relevant nationally. And their head’s grew.
“I feel like we lost that sense of urgency when we (became) more of a popular team, people talking about us, having success,” said Hill.
“I think success actually killed us last year.”
Now that the external expectations are low and everyone has counted the Pacers out even before their first practice, Hill hopes to succeed under the radar. He says they’ll be better off that way, as they’ll regain the chip on their shoulder that has been absent.
“I feel like we’re back at square one with our backs against the wall,” Hill said, “and I think that’s when we play our best ball — when no one’s really paying attention to us and we can sneak up on people and play our game.”
Not only did the Eastern Conference improve as a whole, such as teams like Washington and Atlanta, but their division, became extremely challenging. Cleveland with LeBron James and Chicago with a healthy Derrick Rose and now Pau Gasol are two of the favorites to win it all.
Hill is realistic, but also refuses to discount what they could do together.
“I think it’s going to be a special team,” he said. “It may not be the team that everyone thought about seeing or knows anything about, but I think we got a great good of guys and a great locker room.”