3 Pacers, 4 Indiana high schoolers among top 100 NBA players

The Indiana Pacers will embark on a revamped approach when training camp opens later this month. They start the season with eight newcomers, including one who ranks among the NBA's top 100 players, according to a recent SI.com list.

The Pacers have three of the top 100, and one former Pacer remains there despite some well-chronicled struggles. Indiana high schools are represented, too, with four in the top 50.

The Pacers

• Paul George, who was unranked last year because of his right leg injury, returns at No. 20.

Pacers forward Paul George is a nightmare to rank in this exercise because he fits into two of the toughest categories to gauge: up-and-coming stars who haven’t quite peaked yet, and players beset by unexpected, potentially career-altering injuries. George was left off last year’s list entirely because his horrific compound leg fracture, sustained during a USA Basketball summer exhibition in advance of the FIBA World Cup, was expected to keep him out for the 2014–15 season.

• Newcomer Monta Ellis, a scoring guard, comes in at No. 57, up from 66th last year.

Any team that employs Ellis makes the same bargain: In exchange for his harebrained defense, his awkward fit, and his insistent ball dominance, Ellis will give you around 20 points per game while working the opposing defense into a tizzy. His career showcases agility as a weapon. The ability to turn a defender’s snap decision against them with a quick change of direction is a powerful tool, especially for a ball handler of Ellis’s usage. If a player functions best as a central part of the offense, the least he can do is provide the means to adapt to changes in coverage when they arise. Ellis’s speed and handle give him that out.

• George Hill comes in at No. 80 after not being ranked last season.

There are two George Hills. One is an unassuming caretaker who works best alongside a star perimeter player, spending most of his offensive possessions spotting up and cutting away from the ball. He swings between both guard spots to handle the toughest defensive assignments and, in the process, relieve his backcourt counterpart. 

Former Pacer 

• Roy Hibbert, who was 52nd heading into last season, is No. 95 in his first season with the Lakers.

What’s more damning: That the Pacers posted a better defensive rating in 2014–15 without Roy Hibbert (100.7) than with him (101.1), or that they traded the two-time All-Star center to the Lakers this summer for the NBA equivalent of zilch (a future second-round pick)? Neither fact reflects kindly on Hibbert, the former Defensive Player of the Year contender who played an integral role on Indiana’s back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and 2014, but who has also dealt with confidence issues and inconsistency throughout his seven-year career.

High Schoolers

• Mike Conley, a three-time state champion at Lawrence North, is the Memphis Grizzlies' point guard and ranked No. 27.

To the casual observer, Mike Conley might come off restrained—a floor general who keeps himself and his offense under control at all times. This is partly true. To accomplish that goal, Conley relies on all manners of tricky off-the-dribble techniques. Rarely will his name come up in the discussion of the best ball handlers in the NBA for the reason that his repertoire might be so functional as to appear standard. Conley plays with such an ease about him that it seems any point guard should be able to do what he does.

• Gordon Hayward, a state champ at Brownsburg and an NCAA runner-up for Butler, is a scoring wing for the Utah Jazz ranked No. 31.

Gordon Hayward has blossomed into an efficient alpha scorer who is knocking on the door of All-Star status. Hayward, 25, has been a quality all-around playmaker for a few years now, but he has faced some major handicaps: he’s played on young teams, he’s been stuck without great point guards, he’s been asked to do too much, and he spent much of his early career playing for an uncreative offensive mind. However, coach Quin Snyder’s first season saw Utah improve from 25th to 15th in offensive efficiency. Hayward benefited from higher-quality looks, improved flow, more catch-and-shoot opportunities, and a new pick-and-roll finisher in Rudy Gobert. The Jazz were 6.6 points better offensively with Hayward on the court last season, as he helped compensate for a season-ending shoulder injury to Alec Burks and uninspiring contributions from Trey Burke.

• Jeff Teague, a Pike grad and Atlanta Hawks point guard, is No. 41.

Experience has made Teague a more patient player, which is to say that it made him a better one. The young guard who moved faster than his brain could follow is gone. In his stead is a smooth practitioner of the pick-and-roll who waits for his screen to be properly set and pauses briefly before exploding into action. That recalibration steadied the Hawks and brought Teague to All-Stardom last year, as well as a career-best campaign at the helm of a successful offense and top defense.

• Zach Randolph, a state champion at Marion and Memphis Grizzlies veteran power forward, ranks 49th.

Fears that Zach Randolph’s play would decline sharply as he progressed through his 30s have so far gone unrealized. The Grizzlies’ two-time All-Star power forward pounded out another year of bruising, low-post contributions, finishing the season as Memphis’ second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. Even though Randolph dealt with a midseason knee injury and turned 34 this summer, he managed to be one of just six players to average 16/10 for the season. He posted similar postseason numbers (15.6 PPG, 8.5 RPG) as the Grizzlies pushed the eventual champion Warriors to six games in the second round. Randolph not only delivered great value on his $16.5 million contract last season, but he now looks like a potential bargain in 2015–16, when he’s set to make $9.6 million on an extension he signed last summer.