In a chat this week with local reporters, Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird and head coach Frank Vogel addressed Paul George’s devastating leg injury, the team’s application for a Disabled Player Exception, and Bird shot down rumors of a failed attempt to deal away center Roy Hibbert to Phoenix.
From the team website :
Q: Larry have you received a disabled player waiver yet? Bird: “Have not, we put in for it, just waiting for the league to make their decision.”
Q: How (did Paul George’s injury) impact your vacation? How’d that impact your day? Vogel: “Well we were leaving the next day. Certainly devastating news. But thankfully everything since then has fallen in line for best-case scenarios, a full recovery is expected, and we’re wishing Paul the best.” […] Bird: … “We had dinner last night with Shawn Marion. We’re trying to gage his interest in coming here. We think he can help us. But we also know we’re not going to replace Paul. You just can’t replace Paul George. Are our expectations lowered any? I don’t think so. We’re going to compete hard. We’re going to do the best to make the playoffs. That’s always one of our goals. And just compete on a consistent basis. I can sit up here and try to sugarcoat it all you want me to, but you just can’t replace Paul George.”
Q: Larry, there was a report over the weekend that a trade was offered to Phoenix involving Roy Hibbert; any truth to that? Is he being shopped around at all? Bird: “Like I always say, when people are 2,000 miles away and they start rumors, it’s pretty hard for me to sit here and really talk about them. I’ve never heard that one so maybe you can tell me something I don’t know.”
