Central Notes: George, Van Gundy, Monroe

The PacersPaul George feels ready to play, reports Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star. Now it’s just a matter of convincing the medical team. “I feel good but it’s not just me that has to feel good, everyone has to feel good about it,” George said. “That’s what we’re waiting on. It could be close, it could be not but everybody’s got to be on the same page with this.” George hasn’t played since breaking his leg with the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team last summer. He has been ruled out for today’s game and there is no schedule for his return.

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • Stan Van Gundy got used to winning with the Magic, but Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes that getting used to losing with the Pistons is more difficult. Van Gundy’s first season as coach and president of basketball operations in Detroit has been a series of ups and downs — mostly downs — on the way to a 28-44 record. “It’s a lot of losses and it’s tough,” Van Gundy said. “But you walk in every day, and you’ve got a group of guys that are working hard and everything else. So you owe them your best every single day.”
  • If Greg Monroe returns from his knee injury soon, as expected, it will present a new challenge for the Pistons, writes David Mayo of Mlive. Detroit has won five of its last six games and is on the outskirts of the Eastern Conference playoff race, but Monroe’s return will bring changes. “I think to be good, you’ve got to be able to play more than one style,” Van Gundy said. “You’ve got to be able to get down and grind a game out, which I think we can do when we have Greg, and you’ve got to be able to open the floor up, which we can do with this lineup.”
  • The PistonsReggie Jackson will be a restricted free agent this summer, but Mayo writes in a separate story that he sounds like he want to stay in Detroit and play beside Kentavious Caldwell-Pope“We want to be one of the best backcourts in the league,” Jackson said. “We know we’ve got a long way to go. But we are young and we’ve got a chance to do so.” Jackson is 24; Caldwell-Pope is 22 and on the second year of his rookie contract.
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