Teammate: Paul George 'not even close to 100 percent'

As the Indiana Pacers ascend as the hottest team in the NBA, fans should expect Paul George to remain seated.

OK, so the familiar face of the franchise donning a new number may still indeed make his long-awaited comeback before the end of the 2014-15 season. He may play restricted minutes off the Pacers' deep bench, already the top-scoring unit in the NBA, and even regain confidence in his rehabilitated right leg before starting fresh next year.

But the player who flashes fast-twitch muscles to jump passing lanes, locks down the rival's best wing scorer and carries the burden of the Pacers' offense while balancing the weight of his growing brand on his 24-year-old shoulders — don't look for that Paul George this season.

That All-NBA star is not joining the Pacers for a potential playoff run.

The image of George looking like a basketball player again in a No. 13 practice jersey — still equally parts alien and astonishing after his traumatic broken leg seven months ago — makes for an encouraging storyline. George topped his goal of returning to full practice by early March and has continued his own restoration routine without any setbacks.

However, even as George has practiced for three weeks, Pacers' teammates, while highly supportive, see a player who looks good for someone who broke his leg while noting that he is still on the mend. One teammate declared that George is "not even close to 100 percent" while expressing strong skepticism about a return this year.

Though George once zealously pictured himself back on the court "around mid-March" — Saturday's game vs. Boston was targeted in published reports — while promoting his line of New Era hats during All-Star weekend, the team never envisioned such an early return.

"That was more, I thought, adrenaline instead of brains," Pacers assistant coach Dan Burke said. "The heart always wants more than the mind realizes. You just got to be careful."

These days, George seems to speak with more measured optimism. On the day before that possible return against the Boston Celtics, game No. 65 of the regular season, George still appeared hopeful but much more reticent on the topic.

When asked if he thought he would play this season, George's eyes shifted down as he chewed on his lip and searched for an answer. Later, George acknowledged that he accepted the reality that a comeback might be delayed until the start of the 2015-16 season.

"For sure, that's always been the plan. It would have been a miracle..." George said before catching himself and changing gears. "I wouldn't say a 'miracle,' but it definitely would have been ahead of schedule to come back and play this year. That was the dream. But for sure to be on schedule to start next year."

For several weeks, media and fan interest have surged on a potential George comeback — sometimes, even overshadowing the Pacers' team success since the start of February — but coach Frank Vogel has carried around a caution flag, waving it at any mention of a perceived timetable for his star player's return.

"He's coming, he's developing. We're not going to get into good days and bad days," Vogel said Friday. "When he's ready, we'll let you know."

Over time, Vogel has used several similar sound bites, including, "He's a ways away," and, "He's still got a long way to go," and recently joked that the next time he's asked about George's progress, he'll simply mutter, "Marshawn Lynch," a riff off the notoriously monosyllabic and reporter-loathing Seattle Seahawks running back.

While Vogel never speaks about how George looks on the court, during the brief moments when media has watched the end of practices, George has shown little to justify a return in the near future.

Friday's media session offered only a minuscule window into George's activity but the final three minutes didn't resemble the player last seen in the Eastern Conference finals. During that stretch, he could not get through rookie Shayne Whittington's screen. Then on a different play, George recovered late trying to pick up Whittington, who was open for a mid-range jumper. George cursed as the shot swished through.

Also, for the several months that he has participated in spot-up 3-point drills, George appears to have developed a hitch in his footwork. On some long attempts, George will shoot and follow through while his right leg instinctively steps forward to brace him, instead of landing and stopping without additional movement as most jump shooters would.

Still, George appears to carry a sense of reality about his abilities, stating that if he comes back this year it would be "to get my feet wet." This aligns with the history of players who have missed significant time off the court, needing time to round back into form since fully healthy does not always equate to fully recovered.

If George does return before the end of the season, he would become only the fourth 20-point-per-game player over the past 20 years to miss at least the first 65 games of a season due to injury, according to STATS LLC. Two — a 28-year-old Elton Brand (Achilles tendon, 2007-08) and a 30-year-old Alonzo Mourning (kidney condition, 2000-01) — returned to bench roles during those seasons and never averaged 20 points in a season again.

A 23-year-old Amar'e Stoudemire — who was a young, rising star more aligned with where George is in his career — missed the first 67 games of the 2005-06 season due to a knee injury. He tried to return, starting three games at the end of March, but never surpassed 20 minutes on the floor, and missed the Suns' postseason run to the Western Conference finals. Stoudemire did, however, return to his All-Star form for the following five seasons.

Additionally, a rusty player needs the time and space to learn to trust in his body again. Burke recalls a time when former Indiana starter Mike Dunleavy was working back from a knee injury and hesitated before making his return.

"There was a game he was going try to play some minutes, come off the bench," Burke said, "and he called me the night before and said, 'D.B., I just need to play somewhere else to make sure I'm confident. I don't think I can just go in the game.'

"He just wanted to find confidence in his knee, not so much in his game," said Burke, who set up a late 3-on-3 run for Dunleavy so he could feel good about his body's capabilities. "So, a lot of it is the player's psyche."

Also, though it doesn't get mentioned enough, a return after such a long delay will often demand a change in roles as teams execute the delicate high-wire act of re-integrating a healed player as well as protecting chemistry within the roster.

Even an All-Star like George cannot simply spin 360 degrees back into the lineup and pick up where he left off because the team — and its focus — has since changed.

When current Pacers assistant Nate McMillan was the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, he often had to work with an injured star player in Brandon Roy. In 2010, Roy began the season but played his last game as a starter on Dec. 15 before experiencing problems with his knees. By Feb. 23, 2011, Roy, a former All-Star and explosive two-guard who could score off pick-and-rolls, returned, but McMillan incorporated him as more of small forward/spot-up shooter off the bench. Roy remained a second-unit player during Portland's first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks.

McMillan said, referring to his Portland days: "Those are not guys who stand in the corner, they're used to playing with the ball, so you have to give them the ball (but) … they've got to be productive or it can break the rhythm of the team."

Sixty-five games have come and gone without George on the court. By any standard, the Pacers have survived and learned to succeed without him while climbing to the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. While striving to clear several hurdles in recovery and working with the Pacers' medical staff — who will make the decision if he plays this season — George has cheered on this revival while dressed as a fashion model from his seat on the Pacers' bench. With only 17 more games remaining in the regular season, it seems as though that front-row seat will stay warm.

"I think if it gets to the point where these guys are in the playoffs, and I'm thinking about coming back, I think at that point, I might as well let these guys finish the year out because that's just too big to try and make a push," George said.

"I want to play, but I don't want to play under any terms of just wanting to get out there. I want to be fully healthy. It's different if this was the beginning of the year, and we were still trying to find our way. But these guys are playing at the top at their game right now and again, the last thing I want to do is slow them down."

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.