Pacers draft Johnny Furphy: First Impressions (Patreon)

On the many fitting ways the No. 35 overall pick fits the Pacers 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Without a first-round pick, Draft Night for the Pacers didn't officially begin until Thursday afternoon -- when they moved up one spot from No. 36 to No. 35 to select 19-year-old Kansas wing Johnny Furphy, who was one of only two players invited to the green room of the draft for the first round who was not taken. In that sense, just as Furphy's draft experience seemingly started later than expected, the Pacers also ended up making an unexpected pick. For the past three draft cycles, all of the selections made by the Pacers who ended up being signed to standard contracts have come in for pre-draft workouts, with the only exception being Andrew Nembhard, who was invited but ultimately didn't attend due to travel issues. Even then, he was re-scheduled and ultimately still came at a later date. As such, Furphy will be breaking from what has seemingly become an established norm in that his arrival will likely be somewhat introductory, at least on a personal level.

To that point, as it applies to his game, the same can be said of this writing. Due to the extended playoff run for the Pacers, there wasn't much opportunity for the same format of "stock up, stock down" pre-draft coverage this cycle. That said, even with the quick turnaround, I still wanted to do a condensed version of those write-ups, taking you along for my journey of getting to know the Kansas product as a player through the lens of one game:

• Houston: 17 PTS, 6-7  FG, 3-4 3PT, 8 REB, 2 AST

Why this particular game, you might ask? Don't worry, it wasn't picked at random. Houston had the stingiest defense in Division I college basketball last season, allowing just 0.770 points per possession; and yet, the Jayhawks racked up 78 points against them, with Furphy contributing his second-highest scoring performance of the season, which included shooting 3-of-4 from three. From watching Jarace Walker a year ago, I'm familiar with Kelvin Sampson's preference for hyper-aggressive coverages and wanted to see what role Furphy played in attacking them. After all, following the In-Season Tournament loss to the Lakers in December, Tyrese Haliburton was blitzed on 2.889 picks per 100 possessions -- which ranked 10th in the league in terms of frequency. According to Second Spectrum, when Haliburton passed out of the blitz over that span, as he did on 118 of 127 possessions, the Pacers scored a massive 1.235 points per chance, trailing only Jayson Tatum among the 29 players who were blitzed on at least 50 picks.

Needless to say, in addition to running the floor in transition, players who can take advantage of odd-man advantages in the half-court will likely be a fit for the Pacers.

So, without further ado, let's roll the film.

Stock up: Shooting 

Just as a refresher, here's the gist of Houston's defense. With two defenders committing to the ball, the top defender on the weak-side pre-rotates to the screener with leeway to go for the steal. Meanwhile, the low-man is responsible for zoning up the two remaining players on the weak-side.

On a side note, that's likely, in part, why the scheme for the Pacers was such an adjustment for Walker. In Houston, he was trained to pounce, tagging early and marauding passing lanes. With the Pacers, who allowed the lowest rate of corner threes in the NBA, he wasn't expected to be as zealous as an off-ball defender, let alone overzealous. To counter, Kansas consistently stressed the low-man on the weak-side with cuts, forcing them to give up a layup or, in this case, a three.

Notably, both the player who pre-rotated and the screener defender rushed at Furphy; however, because he's 6-foot-9 and slid down the arc to further lengthen the already longer closeouts, the contests didn't really have much of an effect. The same could also be seen around post-ups. Here, when the defender at the weak-side elbow collapses to double at the block, his man cuts behind, which yet again splits the attention of the lowest defender, creating another open look for Furphy.

Overall, when picturing him on a Pacers team that ranked just 15th in catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game, Furphy was an impressive standstill shooter, connecting on 43.4 percent of his 83 spot-up, no-dribble three-point attempts.

Stock down: Shot versatility 

But, here's the thing. Take another look at that first screenshot against Houston and consider that pre-rotating doesn't often work against the height, passing vision, and ability to shoot over closeouts of NBA talent. For example, spot the difference from the first round of the playoffs. When Bobby Portis blitzes the screen, Damian Lillard isn't already positioned to tag Turner as the high defender. He's staying home, with Khris Middleton instead rotating up as the low-man. Then, rather than having Lillard zone up on the weak-side, Portis doesn't recover to the screener, he peels off to the perimeter, taking away the 2-on-1 advantage and forcing Turner to make a play.

Granted, the Bucks were not always that crisp with their rotations (to say the least), but there's an obvious difference in coverage as to why Kansas was able to create a longer closeout for Furphy above the break -- where, via hand-tracking, he only launched 42 percent of his attempts with very few, judging by the eye test, being attempted as deep threes. Moreover, he also struggled with threes coming off screens (2-of-19) as well as off-the-dribble (1-of-6), which at times manifested in some shots just not being taken. Here, when he comes up from the baseline around a pair of off-ball screens with his defender trailing behind, he immediately gets off the ball, neither attempting to create space with a one-dribble escape move nor looking to finish around the basket with his downhill momentum, even though no bigs were in the vicinity of the paint.

Tellingly, while he shot nearly 75 percent at the rim, only 27 of his 66 attempts from point-blank range were in the half-court. Of course, for a Pacers team that led the NBA in fastest average time to shoot, that means Furphy was lights out in transition, where he routinely transformed into a moving target for hit-ahead passes, of which Haliburton completed more per 100 possessions than any other player in the league (11.9) with T.J. McConnell also cracking the top-five (9.7).

Plus, in addition to moving forward with his teammates, he's also an engaged and effective mover -- even if not yet an efficient movement shooter. Take this possession, for example. While it may appear cramped for two players to be spaced below the break, Furphy is actually creating space by sacrificing space. Remember, with the way Houston was pre-rotating to the screener, if Furphy was merely standing at the wing, flanked by his teammates not involved in the pick-and-roll, the defense could've loaded up as usual. Instead, because he cut and then momentarily stood in the corner, his defender was late tagging the screener.

As such, his gravity was enough to flatten out the defense just long enough to create room for the screener to operate before, eventually, rotating out and up to the wing to also create options for the screener to find. On the one hand, he's executing a tactic to reshape a very specific form of defense; however, on the other hand, he's executing a tactic to reshape a very specific form of defense, while demonstrating an understanding of when and where to move in relation to his teammates. Of course, this is just one game, and he would obviously need to show more to crack what is already a crowded rotation for the Pacers. To that point, if the roster stays as is, there's a chance that both of last year's first-round picks could be competing with each other for minutes at the back-up three spot as the tenth man before even considering Furphy.

Not unlike the team as a whole, he still needs to tighten some screws at the other end of the floor. In this game alone, he flashed some potential denying a pass to the corner and jump-switching onto the ball after funneling a drive to the rim on the same possession, but he also got clipped chasing over on screens, gave up some blowby drives after switching onto the ball, and had some issues with his positioning.

As in, why is he craning his neck to look over his shoulder here instead of just opening his stance at the level of the ball so he can split his vision?

In the reverse, a quick turn of the head is all it took for him to get slammed and lose his man.

Beyond some of those familiar lapses, there's also the matter of him taking 83 of his 84 spot-up threes last season without a dribble, which is somewhat reminiscent of Aaron Nesmith (minus the 1-on-1 containment), whose three-point percentage cratered in the playoffs as he struggled to recapture his rhythm from deep after putting the ball on the deck. All of which is to say that, Furphy is only 19 and flashed his sense for crashing from the corner and seeking out box-outs, which is a definite area of need for the Pacers, especially at his size. He'll need time to add strength as he adds to the strengths of the team, but there's no denying that he fits with how the Pacers play. Maybe, in some respects, even to the point of fitting them all too well.

And yet, for a player who was projected to be picked in the first round, there's certainly reason to find out, whether the Aussie, over the course of far more than just this one game, can perhaps also be a swing for the unexpected -- just like his selection at No. 35 overall.