Column: George shows potential to lead Pacers to future championship

For the second time in five years, an Indiana Pacer has won the Most Improved Player Award.

This time, Paul George brought home the trophy after he helped the Pacers to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

George stepped up this season after replacing the 2008-09 most improved player Danny Granger at small forward, averaging 17.4 points per game.

But unlike Granger, George has the raw talent and promise to lead this Indiana team to a championship sometime in the future.

While it can be pretty much agreed that the Heat will reach the Finals for the third straight season, the Pacers could very well be the team to play them in the conference finals, with George being their  go-to guy.

In his first playoff game, George posted a triple-double, the first of his postseason career.

But George is not ready to be compared with the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

George is just 22 years old, 23 on May 2, and has shown flashes of dominant play throughout the season.

He’s also shown some negatives, too, as evidenced by his regular season shooting percentage of just 41.9 percent.

But I’m willing to give him a break because he shot 44 percent or better in each of his first two seasons, and he wasn’t the go-to player at that point.

The main thing George will have to focus on is building muscle and being able to get to the rim at will.

He has too much skill around the rim to compete with consistently, but he doesn’t have the strength to force himself through bigger defenders and finish plays the way James can.

We know he already has the jump shot. George finished 10th in the league in three-pointers made this season, hitting 170 shots from beyond the arc.

We also know he can captivate the crowd with a huge breakaway dunk, as evidenced in the dunk contest last year.

But when he drives, he’s a little more reluctant to take contact than the average superstar.

He needs to build up muscle because he has so much ability to make plays at the rim that most other players can’t.

Anyone can have raw talent and be a star, but the ability to make plays that no one else can makes you a superstar.

That’s what Paul George has to be in order for the Pacers to win a title.

The Heat will be their most difficult opponent in the coming years. That’s the team for which the Pacers will have to prepare the most, because odds are, if you don’t beat the Heat, you aren’t winning the championship.

For George to be able to do that, he needs to put in the work and learn during these next couple years as his stock rises.

James wasn’t able to win a championship until his mental state improved, and he knew what it took.

George doesn’t know what that takes yet, but he is only 22, and it’s extremely rare to see that young of a star lead his team to a title.

Still, George is coming up through the ranks, and the 2013 Most Improved Player will only continue to get better.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu