Paul George was the next superstar. After going toe to toe with LeBron James in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, he earned the best player's respect, the Most Improved Player Award and the max contract.

What a difference a season makes! This time, they also went to the Eastern Conference Finals and got beaten by Miami again. That's not so bad, since everybody got beat by Miami in the East. They only fell one game short of seven-but the reaction towards George is poles apart.

George is seen as immature, inconsistent, a whiner who blames officiating for their losses and someone who will throw his teammate under the bus. Hard to believe that at this same time last year, he was the All-American poster boy of how to overcome your struggles. Grantland examines this anomaly:

"Maybe we anointed him too fast. He might not be that kind of superstar. He's a great defender regardless, but realistically, George had three good games against LeBron last year, and suddenly the world was expecting him to become a top-five player. He was also the only player on the Pacers who could be turned into any kind of marketing force, which probably contributed to people looking at him through the LeBron-Durant prism, something that doesn't necessarily make sense."

Perhaps he was seen as the solution to "LeBron fatigue." He might be the one who can get over the hump that Kevin Durant couldn't. The Miami Heat set themselves up as the world's most hated basketball club, and if Durant couldn't save us from a LeBron dynasty, we hoped that Paul George will.

At the end of last season, it was a no-brainer to give Paul George the maximum contract.

Grantland also recounts the offcourt issues: "The season from hell got started around the All-Star break. George came back to earth a little bit between December and February, but then in early February, a woman from Miami accused him of impregnating her, and there were rumors that George tried to pay her a million dollars so she would get an abortion. It was an awful situation all around."

But Paul George is not lost-it's just that his road is not the smooth expressway that we envisioned. SB Nation makes a thorough comparison:

"Rating George as a player is still a nebulous debate. He certainly ranks below LeBron and Kevin Durant in the pantheon, but within that next group, there is much more room for negotiation. He has had far more playoff success than players like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry, to say nothing of Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge. He is not as good as any of them in terms of statistics, but he is a far better defender than all of them, save for Paul."

Finally, they contend that it's unfair to blame the entire Pacers flameout on George: "His rep has suffered along with the rest of his teammates, but within the Pacers' three-ring circus, George is merely a sideshow. He has not receded like Roy Hibbert or played the fool like Lance Stephenson. Their moods and antics have dominated the postseason, turning what seemed not so long ago to be a team of likable overachievers into a foul-tempered bunch of unsavory frauds and pretenders. All the while, George continues his fitful evolution. He's still one of the few redeeming characters for this exceptionally bizarre team."

Paul George is already committed to become the Pacers superstar with the max contract he signed. If Larry Bird shakes up Indiana, George will still be in the middle of things. If we did overrate him, it's not exactly his fault but the fans have higher expectations all around. George should give no less than his best.