Paul George is out to clear up any confusion about whether or not he wants Lance Stephenson back as an Indiana Pacers teammate next season.
"I like the core that we've got," George told 1070thescore.com, seeking to distance himself from some of the comments he made directly after Indiana was eliminated by the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. During the series Stephenson foolishly stoked LeBron James' fire by engaging LeBron in a trash-talking battle.
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"You don't find that in the NBA where your starting five has been together for a couple of years," George added. "A lot of guys like to move around. In that aspect, I love it. We've got the pieces to win a championship. Someway, somehow, we've just got to find a way to put it all together."
Since the Pacers' playoff ouster and after three straight seasons of being eliminated by the Heat, speculation was building president of basketball operations Larry Bird might be ready to finally break the team up and go in a different direction, starting with allowing Stephenson to walk as a free agent. The veteran Bird is insisting not so fast.
"You can speculate all you want, but I'm pretty set with our core group and we're going to give 'em another shot," he said. "They almost got there two years in a row; I think they deserve another shot."
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And George insisted that sits fine with him, particularly the part about continuing to play alongside Stephenson.
"I think that was taken way out of context," he said of some of his earlier comments. "Obviously, me and Lance have been here four years together. I would love to continue to keep playing with Lance. When I said 'I don't know,' I was speaking on what he's going to do. I don't know what he's going to do, I don't know what our front office is going to do and at the end of the day that's my decision. I went through contract talks, it was tough, but I would love to see No. 1 back here in a Pacers uniform."
Bird indicated he and Stephenson have already begun strategizing about moving forward.
"If we do bring him back here, it's pretty clear what I expect and that's all that was said," said Bird. "So, July 1 I'll talk to his agent and we'll go from there. Lance wants to be here. There's no question about it. He wants to be here so now it's just getting the terms right and trying to get him back."
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