George on Miller: 'The love that he had here, it’s what I want'

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INDIANAPOLIS – Basketball history has always fascinated Paul George. His goal, even as a teenager, was to be an NBA star. That meant watching Kobe Bryant, imitating Kobe Bryant and idolizing Kobe Bryant, his favorite player.

A few years ago, after solidifying his career with the Indiana Pacers, George began studying a new player. He was told by just about everyone in Indiana that this player was a legend, a charismatic man Hoosiers will never forget, a standard for future stars from whom to learn. The more George researched the skinny, flamboyant man in the blue and gold uniform, the more he was impressed.

An idea came to George. He started comparing himself to that man, the greatest Pacer ever: Reggie Miller.

“I always look at weird stuff like that – like how close am I to this guy?” George said last week. “So I would look up records, look up years he’s played, scoring, how much points he put up for the Pacers. Where is he at? Where am I at? How far do I got? I’m into weird stuff like that. That’s where I really realize how big he was. It’s the reason his number is retired here.”

With the Pacers’ season starting Wednesday, George will begin the fourth phase of his career. He has transformed himself from eager rookie to underrated starter to versatile All-Star to the franchise’s biggest superstar since Miller.

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The two men have developed their relationship the past two years, and George wants to lead the Pacers in the same manner Miller did for most of his 18-year career. George believes he can. The success of the Pacers will depend largely on George’s success.

But before George begins his next quest, consider what he has already accomplished in his first six years with the Pacers. He is a three-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist and has appeared in the playoffs five times. Miller, by comparison, had yet to match those accomplishments entering his seventh season.

“I think I am where he is at,” George said. “The only difference is Reggie’s done it for many more years than I’ve done it. That’s what I’m trying to get to.”

Several people in the Pacers’ organization have faith that George is ready to accept such stature and thrive. Larry Bird, the team’s president and a Hall of Fame player, is among those intrigued by what might be possible for George and the Pacers.

“He’s still young and he’s still got a lot of room to grow,” Bird said of George last week. “It’s important where he wants to take this team. It’s definitely his — and it could have been his last year. This is the year it’s pretty clear to me that it is definitely his.”

George reached this point much as Miller, the man he is chasing, did.

***

The parallels between George and Miller are plentiful, and their journeys similar.

Both began their careers in embarrassing fashion. In high school, Miller, as a freshman, came off the bench in a junior varsity game and forgot to put on his shorts, announcing himself to the Riverside Polytechnic High crowd with just his jockstrap and bare buttocks. George played his first organized game in jeans, which he cut and converted into jorts just before tipoff.

Both were dominated, developed and groomed by an older sister. Miller was the understudy, and a rather difficult pupil for Cheryl, whom many then considered the greatest women's basketball player. George was defeated again and again by Teiosha, who starred at Pepperdine and played professionally overseas.

Miller grew up in Riverside, Calif.; George was raised in Palmdale, Calif. The two were intoxicated with the Los Angeles Lakers’ lore and championships. College recruiters underrated Miller and George, but each blossomed the longer he played, the more he saw himself as an underdog.

The Pacers drafted both players at almost the same spot in the draft — Miller at 11th overall in 1987 and George at 10th in 2010. Donnie Walsh and Bird selected Miller and George, respectively, with similar intentions and plans in mind.

“Reggie was always a great shooter, but he was a much better basketball player than people gave him credit for,” said Walsh, who became the Pacers’ general manager in 1986. “Reggie was very smart and very committed and far more driven than I thought when I took him.”

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Miller, when he entered the NBA, was not considered destined for stardom. As a rookie, he was backup. He learned from John Long, Chuck Person and ABA legend Mel Daniels. Miller announced his arrival in his third season when he averaged 24.6 points, played all 82 games and demonstrated that he was the best shooter from the perimeter.

Bird felt George could have a similar progression. When considering whom to select in the 2010 draft, Bird wondered whether the 6-9 George could be a modern, upgraded shooting guard from the 6-7 Miller.

“I always looked at him as a two guard,” Bird said. “If Paul’s playing the two, he’s going to score points, but not in the way that Reggie did. To me, it’s unfortunate that we had to play him at the three all the time because I think he could have been a hell of a two guard, maybe better than a three.”

George improved at perhaps the most blistering rate of any player in the 2010 draft. He, just as Miller did, became an All-Star in his third season, averaging 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds in 79 games.

His meteoric ascension continued last summer. With USA Basketball, George helped the national team win the Olympic gold medal. He became the second player, following Miller in 1996, to win the gold representing the Pacers. When George received his medal in Rio de Janeiro, he smiled and acknowledged Indiana the same communal way Miller did: “This is for you, Indiana.”

George returned to Indianapolis in September and thanked Miller for creating a path for him to follow.

“I’ve been adopted here,” George said. “I feel I have birthed a new generation of basketball players. I feel like I’ve been iconic to the next generation of kids that will grow up the same way that they grew up loving Reggie and still have that admiration for Reggie. I’m a part of them and I am a Hoosier.”

In Miller’s seventh season, he began to have seminal moments, signature performances and clutch game-winners. His eight-points-in-nine-seconds performance against the New York Knicks, his antics with Spike Lee in the playoffs, his buzzer-beater over Michael Jordan in Game 4, his constant trash-talking, his play, metaphorically and literally, carrying the Pacers to Eastern Conference finals and one appearance in the NBA Finals.

Miller’s theatrics and heroics made the Pacers, a once beleaguered franchised, relevant again.

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“Playing in a small market for 18 years, you really get to know your neighbors very well,” Miller said in his 2012 Hall of Fame induction speech. (He declined interview requests for this story.) “I want to say thank you to the great state of Indiana and all the fans. … It wasn’t always pretty. I remember in 1987 running out of the tunnel at Market Square Arena and they had the black curtains down. There was only 4- or 5,000 people in the stands and I’m saying to myself, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ But we learned to trust one another.”

Mark Boyle, the Pacers’ radio announcer, began his time in Indiana with Miller’s rookie season in 1986-87. From his seat, Boyle witnessed and chronicled the long relationship between Miller and the fans.

“Paul is a charming fellow,” Boyle said. “I get the sense that fans really like him, but the fans loved Reggie. There was something about Reggie and the fans that was symbiotic. They fed off each other. Reggie was beloved.”

George, on few occasions, is reminded of the fans’ devotion to Miller. His intentions with the future of his career are clear.

“The love that he had here,” George said of Miller, “it’s what I want.”

***

George, despite the trajectory of his career, is, in many ways, different from Miller.

Beyond playing a different position, George is not singularly known for his perimeter shooting the way Miller was. He’s had clutch playoff performances, a Miller staple, too. But George is taller, more athletic and possesses a rare NBA gift that several people in the franchise say distinguishes him from Miller: He is an elite defender.

Bird believes George’s defensive skill set is what could lead the Pacers to an NBA Finals. The task for George entering this new phase, Bird said, is to accept the responsibility that comes with being the franchise’s superstar.

“It’s a big step to take because you know every day you’re going to come in and you’ve got be the hardest worker,” said Bird, who coached Miller for three seasons. “Paul’s best attributes are on the defensive end. I think he’s a hell of a defender. Can he get these other guys to follow his lead on the defensive end? If we’re going to win big, that’s where we’re going to win.”

The Pacers — from Bird, Walsh and coach Nate McMillan on down — want George to mature into a stronger leader. If George can master any aspect of Miller’s career, several people in the organization said, it is how Miller went from a diligent worker to a relentless one, a competitor who pushed himself harder than anyone else possibly could.

“He would slash your throat,” assistant coach Dan Burke said of Miller. “I saw him punch one of his best friends in a scrimmage. He was a big guy. It elevated practice. I don’t see that (fierceness) in Paul yet.”

Miller gained such an attitude because he knew the guy in the Central division of the Eastern Conference. When Bird became the coach in 1997, the Pacers, driven by Miller, wanted to dethrone Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

“We only played once and it was that epic seven-game series (in 1998),” Miller said of Jordan in a television interview in 2012. “You’re measured by your competition. He is clearly, and in my opinion, the best basketball player I’ve ever seen to date. I knew I had to bring it each and every time I stepped on the court when I was going against M.J.”

The interviewer asked Miller a follow-up question: Were you friends?

“No,” Miller responded. He later added: “I wanted what he had … the championships.”

George knows the guy now in the Central division. He has already battled LeBron James three times in the playoffs — and he wants to face James again.

Burke asked George to watch how James interacts with his championship teammates in Cleveland. When the Cavaliers make a substitution, Burke said, see how James makes sure everyone is organized in their assignments. Watch how James, without his coach, coaches his teammates and lets them know what is expected.

George hopes his career will be different from Miller's as he hopes to relish a postseason series victory over James.

“In order for me to win, I’ve got to take him out,” George said. “At this time, I feel more experienced. It’s now about how do I get my team to play at a higher level. That’s what I’m trying to get to.”

Walsh, a consultant to Bird at age 75, has spent the past few years observing George. Last season, he noticed how George was adapting to being the Pacers’ go-to player. He was proud to see George perform under control in the first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. The next stage, Walsh believes, is for George to develop his voice this season.

George was given the opportunity Sept. 26, the day the Pacers began training camp. McMillan, during the team’s dinner, asked all the players from the team that went to consecutive Eastern Conference finals in 2013-14 to stand up. George was the only player standing — the longest-tenured Pacer.

From then on, George has prioritized being more a vocal leader.

“They know how good we’ve been here defensively,” George said Monday. “They believe what I’m saying is the right things. I’ve got their trust.”

***

Last month, George entered Bankers Life Fieldhouse on a Sunday afternoon. Miller was there, too. The men sat in a suite and watched Tamika Catchings play her final regular season game for the Indiana Fever.

“Both of them have been huge in this community,” George said, “and huge in this organization.”

On that day, George saw how Catchings — a nine-time WNBA All-Star, a four-time gold medalist, a WNBA champion, the Fever’s brightest star for 15 years and a future Hall of Famer — was revered by Hoosiers. Miller explained how that day felt for him — May 19, 2005, his final game in the NBA.

George has thought of a similar ending for himself. He has the chance to be a Pacer for life, never play in another uniform but endear himself to Hoosiers the same way Miller and Catchings did. One player, one team, a legacy tied to one city, one franchise. It sounds nice to George.

Even though NBA free agency has changed since Miller retired, George thinks it’s possible for him stay in Indiana and continue to attract talented players to the Pacers.

“Guys want to play with guys,” George said. “I think I have a better chance to accomplish that given Reggie and the era that he was in. My only goal is playing for a championship. As long as we’re competitive and I have something to do with that, I’m happy.”

Bird wants George to stay with the Pacers. He spent every season of his 13-year career as the Boston Celtics’ leading man. He understands what George could encounter by playing in a spotlight that can be taxing to the point that it becomes a burden. But Bird does not expect that to happen with George. He thinks this phase, taking ownership of a franchise, could be the most rewarding in George’s career.

“It could be the easiest step if he has a plan,” Bird said. “I think he’ll have more fun with it. I loved it.”

Most of George’s conversation with Miller that Sunday afternoon was about elongating his career. The more years he plays, George said, the more chances he’ll have to do something — and bring something to Indiana — that Miller wasn’t able to achieve: win a championship.

Miller detailed his summer workouts to George, how he extended his career by perfecting his lower-body strength. He told George the training didn’t always happen in a gym. Get outside, he told George. Come mountain biking with me in California.

“I’ll put you on a different way of conditioning your body,” Miller told George. “You guys are so accustomed to training and working out in the gym. That stuff gets boring.”

George accepted Miller’s invitation. Next summer, George plans to return to California. He will learn more from Miller and he will chase the former superstar, on both the biking trails and in the record books.

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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