Feb. 16, 2023
All Star Talk PLUS Breaking Down the Pacers' Roster: Inside Scoop on George Hill, James Johnson, and More with Host Rahj
In this episode of The Final Word, host Rahj discusses the Indiana Pacers' recent acquisitions, including Jordan Novara and George Hill, and the departure of Serge. Rahj highlights the positive impact of James Johnson on the team's locker room and shares his loyalty to Indiana teams, specifically his admiration for George Hill's return to the Pacers. The episode also touches on the upcoming Rising Stars and All Star games and emphasizes the veteran presence and valuable contributions of George Hill to the team.
In this podcast episode of The Final Word, the host Rahj discusses recent changes in the Indiana Pacers team. He talks about the acquisition of Jordan Nwora and George Hill, as well as the dropping of Serge Ibaka. Rahj also shares his admiration for James Johnson, who has had a positive impact on the team's locker room due to his veteran presence. Rahj also expresses his loyalty to Indiana teams, specifically his fondness for George Hill, who he hopes will not be let down by the Pacers in the final years of his career. The conversation also touches on the upcoming Rising Stars and All Star games, highlighting the longevity and consistent performance of George Hill as a valuable asset to the team.
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Transcript
Rahj
You are now listening to The Final Word, the number one Pacers podcast on the web. And I am your host, Raj. I just wanted to come to you guys real quick to share some thoughts. So, as you guys know, we've had a lot of changes going on recently with the Indiana Pacers. Some of them good. I think they were good. Some of them not so good, depending on what you're looking at. Me personally, I do like the changes that were made.
0:00:36
Rahj
So let's just get to it real quick. So we've talked about before that we had picked up Jordan Novara and George Hill. My man, George Hill. Loved seeing him out on the court the other night. Can't wait to see him again tonight. Love to see him. My man, George Hill. And we also picked up Sergeybaka, which some people thought he was never going to see the floor. I was hoping he was going to. He didn't see the floor, didn't see the state properly.
0:01:09
Rahj
And we dropped him. And I think I'm not sure if we mentioned before last time. No, we did mention last time, james Johnson. So there was some talk about James Johnson getting picked back up as soon as they dropped Sergey Bacca, because he was actually sitting in at one of the last games, tyrese Halberton's, special seats for his parents or for his family or something like that. So he did get picked back up. So a lot of the guys on the team, I'm sure we're happy about that.
0:01:40
Rahj
I don't really honestly know all about James Johnson because he just got here this year, but apparently he's made a great effect on the locker room and a lot of the guys honestly just get here this year anyway. But apparently his veteran presence and his locker room presence and I guess how he is with the guys, everybody liked him a lot from that standpoint. I think fans like him too. I know I'm a fan, but like I said, I don't really know too much about James Johnson, but if he's good for helping to maintain the chemistry of our team, I'm all for that.
0:02:18
Rahj
Just like I'm all for my man, George Hill. I love seeing George Hill in a Pacers jersey like you guys would not believe. I kind of went into this a little bit before on one of the last podcasts, but George Hill, when he left us and when he got traded in 2017, it hurt just as bad to me as when Paul George, you know, got dealt. So when he went to the Jazz, I was like, oh, I wanted to see him do well. But I just hated him seeing him in that Jazz uniform when he went to Cleveland, same thing my man George Hill, Cleveland jersey wanted to do well.
0:03:06
Rahj
Just hated seeing him in that uniform. And apparently I can't remember, I guess he was OKC. I don't know how long he was there, but he's been to a few teams and then most recently Milwaukee. Love seeing my man George Hill on the court, great guy. But I hated seeing him in a non Pacers uniform, honestly. I think I hated seeing him in a non Pacers uniform, honestly, a lot more than anybody else, more than Lance Stevenson, more than Paul George.
0:03:38
Rahj
And I think it honestly has something to do with the connection to the state of Indiana because I knew he's from here. I'm a very much a hometown supporter. So as far as my teams, I only go really for Indiana teams. I'm a Pacer guy. I'm a coach guy as far as college teams are concerned. Now, you could say, okay, well, who are you with college teams? Are you for IU? Are you for Purdue? Are you for Notre Dame? I'm not for none of those people because I went to Ball State University, Chirp Chirp, and that's my team.
0:04:24
Rahj
So that being said, I don't really keep up with them too much, to be quite honest. I don't. But actually because I really don't keep up with college sports too much anyway. So, yeah, I'm just very much like that. So if I'm going to go with the college, I'm going with Ball State. I'm not cheering for none of these other colleges. I didn't go there. I didn't get a degree from there. I'm very much a hometown.
0:04:45
Rahj
Wherever I'm from, that's who I'm rocking with. And I've been watching some of these interviews george Hill has been involved in, and honestly, some people were like, okay, well, he's near the end of his career. Wouldn't he want to try to get a championship, get with the team who's going to get him a ring? And to tell you the truth and he honestly, and I do believe this, he was saying he wanted to be kind of like a Udonist haslam, and however long it's going to take him to retire, he hopes he's doing that in a Pacers jersey. And I really hope the Pacers don't mess him over on this. I really hope so.
0:05:36
Rahj
You never know. I like seeing Lance Stevenson last year, and to tell you the truth, it was weird seeing George Hill in that number seven jersey, like, seven. That just looks weird on him because he was number three, and he said he even signed his signed somebody's autograph. He did autograph for somebody and wrote down number three, George Hill, because he was number three with the Pacers. So he said he's getting used to that being seven.
0:06:09
Rahj
He said he wasn't going to pick one. And this is the reason he said he wasn't going to pick one, because that's Lance's number. He said that's Lance's number. So I'm hoping possibly I know this is a stretch, I'm hoping somehow Lance Stevenson will end up on the Pacers again. I don't know how it could possibly happen. Why not? You say there's no room for them. I agree, there's really no room for Lance Stevenson. But having Lance Stevenson on this team again would bring so much recent Pacers nostalgia back, I think it would be worth it.
0:06:45
Rahj
People would light up if they saw Lance Stevenson and George Hill on the court together running to play. That would be amazing. Lance Stevenson and George Hill on the court together now, probably not going to happen, but it was just so nice to be able to see George Hill out there. It's nice to be able to see Lance and on George Hill's first comeback game with the Pacers against his prior team, the Jazz, the team that we traded him off to.
0:07:20
Rahj
I was honestly hoping that last year when Lance came, he came and had that magical quarter and scored like 20 points or 22 points or something like that off the bench. And it was amazing. Everybody's going crazy and I think some people were kind of hoping another one of those magical moments happen, maybe with George, I don't know. George is a different type of player. He's not going to try to score, he's not going to try to be a scorer like Lance's.
0:07:46
Rahj
He's not flashy. He's just going to do what he's going to do to help the team. That's just kind of how he is. He's going to run to play. He needs to run. They're run to help the team and he's going to be in the spot he's to be in to help the team. He's going to make the pass to help the team. So he's not necessarily looking to shoot, but he can definitely, definitely, and I hope they take advantage of him for this reason, to mentor the younger guys, help with defense.
0:08:14
Rahj
George Hill with the he didn't score a basket, which I'm pretty sure everybody was just going to uproar, getting an uproar if he scored a basket, didn't score a basket. But his presence on the court was just so nice to see. You could see I like seeing guys like him and you might not say, well, these are role players, I agree. And their potential is being realized and now they're on the decline, which is true.
0:08:43
Rahj
But watching guys like George Hill and watching guys like Daniel Tyce be on the court, just knowing that they know what to do and not look kind of frazzled and be clueless or not overreact to a play, it's just kind of nice seeing that because I see Dwarte overreact, I'll see Nesmith overreact to a play. But George Hill, he's solid also. Same thing, Tyson, he's solid. So it's to say something, to be able to be in the league that long and continue to play in your position, it kind of just has to be like clockwork. So, yeah, obviously George Hill, he's probably not going to be getting a ton of minutes, but he's on the pacers, so I don't know. And it's the season's winding down, we don't really have a whole lot to look forward to, except for seeing our Rising stars, benedict Matheran and Andrew Nimhard and the Rising Stars game, and then also seeing the one and only Tyrees Halliburton playing the All Star Game, which I think he's going to show out for the allstar game.
0:09:58
Rahj
So we don't really have a whole lot to look forward to except for that coming up and then it's pretty much going to be possibly a continuous downward spiral, I don't know. But that being said, I just think, I personally think we should let George Hill go in and run it. Go ahead and take some of those minutes from TJ. McConnell and throw George Hill in there a little bit more just so we can see what can happen.
0:10:25
Rahj
Get the fans excited, let George Hill get a 20 point game or something like that and Pacers fans will be happy for now. And the funny thing about this, I was actually talking to my dad earlier, but the Pacers, they weren't trying to tank but somehow we've slid backwards to a position to where technically we could have started tanking from the beginning. We're like in the bottom six or bottom five spots in the NBA right now as far as our record.
0:10:59
Rahj
So I was talking to my dad about this and we were like, yeah, it's kind of funny because they weren't trying to tank and they did actually really well and they were five games above 500, but now they're in a position they could still get that Victor Wembiana everybody is clamoring about. They could still be in a position to get him, you never know, but at least another top pick, which will be definitely good. So it was actually a good thing that we didn't try to tank and I don't think the players would just try to not play well together because it's important to get time, experience and develop chemistry.
0:11:32
Rahj
But it's just good that they had that feeling of being a great team and winning and knowing that their potential is higher than what their record looks like right now. So I'm glad they were able to do that, get those experiences and now let's just have fun for the rest of the season and then it's going to be what it's going to be. I really don't want them to try to make a playoff push. I don't want them to just make it to the play in to where their record is just good enough so they can lose and then we're out of position to pick a really good draft pick.
0:12:10
Rahj
So that's not really what I want right now. I don't think that's what we really need to do. So I would like to see a whole lot more from and I was talking to my dad about this as well, isaiah Jackson, my dad said he is coming. I think he is too. So if he just develops an outside jumper. Outside jumper. If he can knock down that three, he'll be like miles turner. He could potentially be miles turner 2.0.
0:12:42
Rahj
I know that's talking a lot right now, but I don't know. He seems like he has the build to be able to put on some muscle and have it actually impact his game properly, which is something I don't think really, miles turner ever really did, in my personal opinion. Like, I would have wanted them to. Like, for instance, I've used this example before yanis, for example. Yanis, when he came into the league, if you guys remember, was painfully skinny. Like, he looked like he just needed to eat a bowl of rice and beans and drink a bowl of duck fat. I don't know.
0:13:23
Rahj
But yeah, that man looks like a beast right now. He looks like beast mode. And he went from painfully skinny looking to where it just looks like you don't want to mess with this guy. And isaiah jackson never looked painfully skinny. He never really looked painfully skinny. But hopefully he works hard. I know he was talking about how you put on £15 from last year to this year. What that's looking like now? With the way their schedule is, I have no idea.
0:13:53
Rahj
And how their bodies change over the course of the season. But hopefully he continues to work hard. I think he knows he has great potential. I mean, he's top ten. He's he's number seven in the league and block shots right now. So we have miles turner, who's number three, and then we have isaiah jackson, who's number seven, which I'll be straight up honest with you guys. I mean, I would love to see that work out somehow on the court together.
0:14:26
Rahj
I think isaiah jackson is fluid enough, if he can work on his defense around the perimeter, that he could actually get some more power forward minutes. I think if we could have him at the power forward working with miles turner as well as rotating in with jordan aura, I think that'd be good. I don't really know how neesmith is going to be at the power forward. I think they should really just go ahead and take him down to the small forward.
0:15:00
Rahj
And as far as the lineup is going to go, I'm not really sure, but I'm not really a super like, I'm really not a super fan of having NIM hard in the lineup, so I could go without having NIM hard. But I think it would be nice to have a lineup of tyrees at the point, buddy heeled at the two, ne smith at the three, and then jackson and jordan, the war rotating at the four, and I think that'd be good. And if we could get obviously tyson's going to be a long term if we can somehow get jalen smith up to speed, which I don't know what that's going to take.
0:15:36
Rahj
Rotating at the five with miles. That would be optimal for me. Yeah. Jackson at the four with noir. That would just be amazing. Guys, think about that. Think about and the pacers. You guys, front office, you guys have had to think about this scenario in your mind. You have two of the top shot blockers in the entire league on your team right now. That's ridiculous. Two of them, and they're both very good.
0:16:05
Rahj
Obviously them being top shot blockers would equate them being very good, but one is a high flyer. Getting those lobs brings excitement, lots of energy, and then another can stretch the floor. He's got that experience now. He's got that little hook jump shot around the rim. He's not really beasting on guys. Sometimes people like to see a center like this is a bonus. People like to see somebody just really bang in there down low, which we talked about. That's not really important, I don't think.
0:16:40
Rahj
And honestly, for your career to last longer, you don't really probably need to do that. I'm sure miles Turner would probably like to have a longer career. So I think miles turner is going to be a much better long term center. So I'm glad we do have glad we do have miles Turner, but I just think there's a lot of potential for this team coming up. It's going to be very exciting to see how everything turns out.
0:17:02
Rahj
And I guess we're just going to see how this draft goes. But before all then, obviously we still have to finish another season. But coming back from the last game, they played the Utah jazz and there was no Smith, no jalen Smith at all, and no Chris devorte at all. So, I mean, it has to get you thinking. I mean, what's going on? Jalen Smith I'm not too concerned about, but Chris Dwarte, what's going on? George hill got some play.
0:17:37
Rahj
People were talking about George hill. He's not going to get any play, he's not going to get any run. He's going to be on the bench. She's going to be like for real reunion on his hands on. Now George hill is getting some play because he can play defense. And we struggle in defense. We are 29th in defense right now, which is quite ridiculous, 29th in defense. So, yeah, we need to get that together.
0:18:04
Rahj
And I think George hill is going to help us. Obviously he's not going to be leading it, but maybe they can rub off on guys. I don't know what it's going to take, but hopefully that will work out. But we had no darte, like I said, darte's defense is very suspect and we had no jalen Smith, but we did have James Johnson come back. People were excited about that. And I think there was another thing I forgot to mention, with this whole people getting waived and everything, we did not mention that Terry Taylor got waived at all in our last podcast.
0:18:36
Rahj
None of them so forgot to mention that. So honestly, Terry Taylor I know people liked him. I just don't understand how much potential he could have actually had to be a center who plays key minutes for us just because I'm sorry, he's six five, so six foot five center is only going to get you so far. I mean, he has heart and hustle and everything like that, but I don't know, he just needs to figure something else that I don't know.
0:19:15
Rahj
I really don't know. He needs to work on a shot, do something. He needs to play. He needs to start figuring out how he can be small forward minutes with whoever he's going to be. I just don't know. 65 center, NBA doesn't make sense to me. I know he's been able to get rebounds and he's done his thing, but I think really they just saw this is really all he's going to be and we need to do something. So it's much more important to have somebody like Jordan aboard than having Terry Taylor and also George Hill than having Terry Taylor, because we have a ton of centers. I don't even really think about him as being a center.
0:19:53
Rahj
I mean, we had, obviously, Miles Turner, then we had Tyce, Daniel Tyce, who's been getting eaten up all the backup center minutes. Then we had Isaiah Jackson, who's really starting to eat up backup center minutes. Now with Miles being out and everything, it's been Tyson. Tyson. Not Tyson. It's been Tyce and Jackson. And then we had Smith, then we had Goga seven footer, which honestly, I do miss Goga a little bit.
0:20:29
Rahj
I'm sad he's gone. I wish something would have materialized, but he's gone. It is what it is. Yeah. And then we had Terry Taylor. I mean, that's a lot of centers. How we ended up with that many centers, I don't understand. And I think that's why Kevin Pritchard said that he thinks it's partially his fault that Goga didn't get opportunity. And I'd have to agree, it was definitely partially his fault. He just didn't have the opportunity to develop his game and get a real fighting chance to get some serious minutes.
0:21:10
Rahj
But it is what it is. I think who we have is we're meant to have at this point. But, yeah, you're going to be playing the Bulls coming up and it's going to be a great game. And I just wanted to get this in, guys, just so I could get some things off my chest. Preston's not here. He's attending to his kidly duties because he's 14, so he's a kid, that stuff. It's not like me, but all right, guys, hope you enjoyed this special edition of The Final Word.
0:21:46
Rahj
I'll be back with you next time, definitely with Preston. And we're going to give you guys all the hotness freshness. And you guys take it easy. Make sure you share like subscribe to the final word Hit that bell icon. If you're listening and watching on YouTube and share the final word with a friend, share the final word with an enemy. Just share the final word and tune in. We'll talk to you guys later. Bye.
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