Insider: Sloan's up, the Pacers need him to remain so

MILWAUKEE – The catchphrase 'next man up' plays strong in Indianapolis.

Chuck Pagano has branded it, as has his Colts players and just about everyone else in the NFL. Frank Vogel has adapted it almost as if the Pacers' very season hinges on this maxim.

And Donald Sloan has simply lived it.

No other player on the Pacers' roster has tiptoed up and down the depth chart quite like Sloan. The injuries on the rosters have mandated that Sloan be as flexible as a circus performer and for the past two games, for his next trick, he gracefully jumped back in as starting point guard.

On Friday while the Pacers needed a fourth-quarter comeback to overtake the better-than-expected Bucks, Sloan was the lone starter to score during that frame. Sloan didn't call bank and he might have held on to the ball a lot longer than you would have wanted on the possession, but his 3-pointer off the glass with 9:38 remaining in the game gave the Pacers their first lead since midway of the second quarter. Sloan finished with 10 points, six assists and eight rebounds.

On Sunday in Los Angeles, Sloan once again started as Indiana's top two point guards sat out due to injuries. George Hill (strain left groin) is expected to miss at least the next two games while C.J. Watson (sore left foot) also could not play.

"Great job," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said about Sloan's performance as the emergency point guard on Friday.

"All year his number's been called and he's had to do more than he's used to do it," Vogel continued. "He stepped up and made a lot of plays, setting people up, rebounding and defending and making shots."

'Next man up' sure sounds like a catchy rallying cry, but it's a vacuous cliché without a replacement player capable of showing a level of professionalism and patience to rise from the sideline to performing for 33 minutes and flirting with a triple-double. Yet, Sloan has done this time and again.

"It's day and night going from DNPs to starting," Sloan said. "As weird as it is, I feel like I've doing it for forever now. So… it's like, mix it up, let's go."

Throughout the day on Friday, Sloan tried to steady his expectations. He knew Hill (strained left groin) would miss the game, but he worked out alongside Watson hours before the game and felt the designated backup would try to give it a go. Even if Watson couldn't, then Sloan figured that Rodney Stuckey would get the call at point – as he had during a mid-November stretch that demoted Sloan from the starting five to completely out of the rotation.

"So I was like, 'well, those guys have been playing and they've been kinda syncing and forming chemistry, so (Vogel's) probably not going to put me out there,'" Sloan thought to himself because he hadn't played a single minute over the past three games.

"But he told me like at 5:30 that I was going to start."

Depending on the severity of Hill's left groin strain and the pain shooting up from Watson's left foot, the Pacers will need more of Sloan.

For a player who wasn't drafted, had to make a pit stop in the Philippines before making a home in the league and only exists in Indiana on the bargain price of a third-string point guard, Sloan has become a very valuable piece in the Pacers' season.

Though his shooting averages could be better – he's at 38.5 percent for the season. And he can make some plays that make you scream at the television like his fourth-quarter one on Friday night when he held the ball for more than 10 seconds before launching that 3-pointer with a defender nearby, that thankfully, for him, banked in. However Sloan does enough to justify his playing time.

After all, the Pacers have won eight games with him as a starter and his 31 points against Washington on Nov. 5 still ranks as the best among the team.

"It's just fun being able to see guys who normally don't get a chance to step up," said C.J. Miles, who scored a game-high 22 points. "They show that they're ready and show their dedication they do everyday. You see Donald do it over and over and over.

"He steps up, he plays well and he holds us down. You go from being completely out of the rotation to starting, that's tough. But that just shows the type of guy he is."

During December, as Sloan teetered on the edge of DNPs and sporadic playing time, traces of his mindset leaked out in a reply to a fan on Twitter.

Sloan does not view himself as a third guy. He wants to be an entrusted backup and next season, when he becomes a free agent, Sloan will seek that role.

"Definitely see myself as a contributing backup and also a guy who can keep the ship steady if the starting point guard goes down," Sloan said. "I don't think there would be a drop off as far as me playing with the first group or starting and carrying the load until the starting point guard comes back. Hopefully, that's what GMs can see now."

"That's where I see myself, where I developed myself over the last year," he continued. "I just think it's the opportunity to play. I've always said I wanted to be a backup point guard, a legitimate backup, but just not getting the opportunities kinda forced me back to the third role."

Though Sloan plays in the present, the future isn't far from his mind.

"You want to play in this league as long as possible. I'm not looking at moving right now but definitely… this is the last year on the deal," he said. "Something has to happen and we'll see what happens at the end of the season."

Through his time in Indiana, Sloan has religiously, and almost comically, greeted his Twitter followers with the morning message: "I'm up." So far this season, he could think about adding: "I'm the next man up."

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

INDIANA at UTAH

Tipoff: 9 p.m. Monday

EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City

TV: Fox Sports Indiana.

Radio: WFNI-107.5 FM, 1070 AM.

PACERS (13-21*)

Pos. Player PPG Keystat PG Donald Sloan 10.0 4.5 apg SG Rodney Stuckey 11.8 3.6 rpg SF Solomon Hill 10.3 4.5 rpg PF David West 12.1 6.8 rpg C Roy Hibbert 11.2 1.9 bpg Key sub C.J. Miles 11.9 33.6 3FG%

*-Prior to Sunday's game

JAZZ (12-22)

Pos. Player PPG Keystat PG Trey Burke 12.2 5.1 apg SG Joe Ingles 3.1 1.8 apg SF Gordon Hayward 18.9 4.9 rpg PF Derrick Favors 15.4 8.4 rpg C Enes Kanter 13.9 7.3 rpg Key sub Trevor Booker 7.2 4.8 rpg

Jazz feeling the blues: Just before the new year, Utah lost its fourth leading scorer, Alec Burks, for the season. Burks, the starting two-guard, tried to play through a shoulder injury but ultimately had to shut it down and undergo surgery. In his absence, the Jazz have turned to 27-year-old Australian rookie Joe Ingles who made his first start during the Jan. 3 win over Minnesota.

He said what?!: "Hopefully not too bad but he'll miss … the rest of this trip and we'll see where he's at and reevaluate when we get back." – Frank Vogel on the status of injured starting point guard George Hill.

Prediction: Even when Burks played, the Jazz could not dependably score as a team and ranked 23rd in points per game (96.1). So though the Pacers may have a burgeoning offense of their own – for the past 11 games before Sunday, they've averaged 97.5 points – they'll be just as satisfied in shutting down a team with problematic scoring. Indiana wins 97-83.

— Candace Buckner