VIDEO: Paul George updates us on his rehab – Nov. 21, 2014

Paul George met with local reporters for the first time this season on Friday after Pacers practice. Standings in a corner on the practice floor at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the face of the Pacers discussed his rehab, which is nearly four months in. (He had surgery in the early hours of August 2nd after suffering an open tibia-fibula fracture.)

It was George’s first time addressing the media since his post-surgery press conference on August 15th.

Watch the entire interview in the embedded player below:

Moments earlier, head coach Frank Vogel said “[It’s] very unlikely that Paul George plays this year.”

We’ve seen him shoot and a video of him running in the underwater treadmill, but he still has a ways to go.

“It’s really a big unknown,” Vogel pressed further on when his star might return. “It’s going to be up to the doctors to see where he’s out as he starts increasing activity. He hasn’t done any real activity, other than walk around and shoot around. It’s still a long ways away and we’re still approaching like it’s very unlikely that he’s going to play this year.”

Prior to speaking with the media, he completed another game of “Around the World.”

Highlights and quotes from George’s interview:

• “My rehab’s going good. I’m satisfied; I’m happy where I’m at.”
•  He’s gotten his conditioning in on the underwater treadmill. He plans to do “real limited stuff” on the court next week. From there, it’s slowly building and adding more work, like light jogs and such.
• He said he’s not dealing with any pain, only some soreness on the day after a heavy workload.
• Paul has been working a lot with his close friend George Hill on rehab, as Hill is dealing with a bruised knee. “We always joke I’ll be back before George,” PG said.
• He very clearly wants to play this year. “That’s one of my goals,” he said. “I would love to come back and make a return to help this team out any way I can down the line. But right now it’s about getting healthy and making sure I’m good for the future.”
• Paul: “…no doubt in my mind I’ll come back better.”
• On what he’s learned from sitting out: “I feel like I took a lot of things for granted in this game. Coming back, it’ll be a lot more passion through it and just a lot of love for this game and I think that’ll show the first minute I’m back on the court.”
• He plans to travel later in the season. Early on, there will be spot moments where he’ll travel.

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