It's funny how much easier it's become to come around on Paul George. He may be overpaid and may not be on the same level as Jaylen Brown in terms of talent, but even after one preseason game, there's a fair argument that he's the better fit around Jayson Tatum than Brown was and a better fit for Mazzulla Ball.
However, that doesn't erase George's biggest caveat: he's injury-prone. On the surface, it is a red flag that ever since he was traded to Los Angeles in 2019, he's only surpassed the 70-game mark once. WEEI's Glenn Ordway pointed this out the other day.
Over the past seven years, George has played, 48, 54, 31, 56, 74, 41, and 37 games from his first season with the Clippers to his last season with the 76ers. We can't argue with those numbers. They are not encouraging, but the one thing we have to remember about numbers is context.
Yes, George got consistently hurt badly enough to miss a substantial amount of time, but there were other circumstances affecting his ability in this aforementioned timespan.
Why George's inavailability isn't as bad as it looks
Let's start with his lone two years with the Sixers. Last season, George missed over half the season. However, that was not solely because of injuries. George was suspended 25 games for PEDs. If he had played those games, he would have played in 62 games. This doesn't negate that he did miss some time due to injury, but his inavailability last season was not primarily because he got hurt.
As for the season before, George got hurt just before the season began for the Sixers. In fact, he missed the first 14 games of the season. What many forget is that Philly's season went to hell pretty quickly because of Joel Embiid's mysterious knee injuries. By the time George was ready to come back, the Sixers were done.
Because they owed the Thunder a potential high lottery pick if they had continued to try, it was in their best interest to tank, so they put George on the shelf. Again, he definitely missed time because of injuries, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
As for LA, it's definitely a little more cut and dry. George got hurt a fair amount of the time, but in all fairness, so did Kawhi Leonard. What I would like to point out is the fact that those two first seasons were cut short because of COVID-19.
Playing 54 games in the 2020-21 season looks bad, but not as much when knowing that season had 72 games maximum. Same thing goes for the season before. Playing 48 games looks bad, but not as much when knowing it was out of 66.
Ironically, George never missed substantial time because of COVID, though he got it around the play-in in 2022, which effectively sealed their fate that year. This isn't being brought all to refute the notion that George isn't injury-prone. He absolutely is, but it's not as bad as you think.
Celtics are well-equipped to handle George's absence
George's history isn't as bad as it looks to the untrained eye, but that doesn't negate that it's still not good. He says this is the healthiest he's been in some time, and we should give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. However, we also shouldn't be surprised if he misses around 20 games.
One might think that would be a problem, but we must remember: Boston survived Jayson Tatum missing about three fourths of last season. When he came back, they were the No. 2 seed. If they can endure their best player being out, they can endure George's potential absence.
Boston has a plethora of wings that make the team better when they are on the floor. Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez have shown that in preseason already, which they already showed last year when given time. Factoring in Jordan Walsh and Ron Harper Jr., and George's absence probably won't be too devastating.
It would be inconvenient if George misses time, but Mazzulla Ball is about being 15 deep, or 18 when you think about it. However, don't be surprised if his injury problems aren't as bad as many dread they will.
Add us as a preferred source on Google