Paul George has been cautious in his timetable to return to the Pacers, but the Fresno State product is fully committed to participating with Team USA again, writes Scott Horner of the Indy Star. “I’m in. Of course,” George said. “The day [the injury] happened, right after, I told them I looked forward to continuing on with USA Basketball.” George reiterated that he wants to be close to 100% when he returns to the court for the Pacers. “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,” George said. “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.” Indiana is 30-37 on the season, tied with Boston for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Blake Griffin says his right arm is considerably smaller than his left one because it was in a cast for so long, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Griffin missed 15 games due to a staph infection in his right elbow. The power forward is shooting 50% from the field in 37.7 minutes per game since recovering from the injury.
- Knicks team Physician Dr. Lisa Callahan has been named the 2014 Physician of the Year, by members of the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association. Perhaps New York can use her employment to its advantage when luring free agents to the city. Older veterans and players coming off of an injury, such as Wesley Matthews, could look at the rank of a team’s medical staff as a deciding factor in where they sign during the offseason, although that is just my speculation.