On Ben Sheppard and how easy it is to remember (Patreon)

Why no reminders should be needed about the value of Ben Sheppard as the all too often forgotten man 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

At this time last year, the starting lineup for the Indiana Pacers was Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin, and Myles Turner. With Brown signing a two-year, $45 million contract that instantly made him the highest paid player on the team, Andrew Nembhard slid back to the bench, appearing as though he would be in for a smaller role, while perhaps sharing point guard duties with T.J. McConnell. Turns out, McConnell was informed on opening night that he would be out of the rotation as a casualty of the numbers game.

It wasn't anything McConnell did. He was the same serial paint-attacker that he'd always been. Meanwhile, although he had been sidelined with kidney stones during training camp, Nembhard wasn't exactly deserving of a smaller role, either -- at least not with how he had performed at Summer League, when it quickly became apparent that he had nothing else to prove at Summer League. Still, when the season started, Nembhard was the back-up point guard. During the In-Season Tournament, however, the roles flipped, with McConnell taking back the reins, until eventually Nembhard's ability to put a cork on the ball became too invaluable to overlook for a defense-starved roster. By the end of the season, he was the starting two-guard, providing support to Haliburton not only at the point of attack, but also with his ability to run offense when opponents face-guarded Indiana's star guard. As for McConnell, who upped his efficiency even while taking on more usage as he was pressed into starring as sixth man, he never again relinquished stirring the drink for the second unit. Likewise, after beginning the season as a bench player, Aaron Nesmith also ended up starting 47 games as the team's go-to security blanket.

Needless to say, all three of them played themselves into bigger roles, which was at least somewhat foreseeable although not initially or clearly feasible. McConnell was too good not to play, even if the decision not to play him was made with the intention of prioritizing Nembhard's development at point guard. Moreover, for a team that specifically listed "defense" and "unselfishness" as criteria for winning minutes, it only seemed inevitable that the Pacers would, with time and for good reason, progress back to the familiar of the two players on the roster who arguably most defined those characteristics.

As of now, Ben Sheppard appears to be in a comparable state of limbo to where McConnell, Nembhard, and Nesmith once were: quite possibly boxed out of his former role, even while providing plenty of reason as to why he shouldn't be boxed in. Four months ago, in Game 2 of the first-round of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers trimmed the rotation down to eight, and Sheppard was one of the eight, existing along with Nembhard at the rare intersection of both winning and development. Then, when Haliburton went down due to injury, he started Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And yet, with the roster now healthy and the team in need of positional size at the wing position, he's found himself on the bubble of the 10-man rotation, as he didn't even enter the game in Cleveland until there was 4:05 left to play in the third quarter.

His arrival came sooner in the preseason finale, and he soon made himself just as conspicuous with his play as the fact that he spent most of the exhibition schedule with his playing time tied to who wasn't playing. It wasn't just his big, game-tying four-point play to force overtime, either. This time, when he entered at the 4:49 mark of the third quarter, he never came out, as he logged the final 21:49 of regulation and overtime without a sub. All the while, despite the fact that the team was down by 15 when the wholesale substitution for the bench was made, he was still fully committing to the assignment on defense, whether applying full-court pressure, earning key deflections, bobbing-and-weaving around screens, or sticking his arms in passing lanes to quickly manufacture points at the other end of the floor.

Overall, it was a stark contrast to the defensive effort that was put forth by the starters, in which through the majority of preseason, they appeared to be there more in body than in spirit. Here's a snapshot of the listlessness. For as pretty as this look-away skip pass is from LaMelo Ball, the help defense on the baseline drive isn't all that helpful. And this is less than three minutes into the game.

Of course, for a roster that mainly carried over from last season, Sheppard arguably has more to play for and prove during preseason. And so, he did. Not only with the way in which he embodied the play-hard switch that the team as a whole never managed to fully turn on, but also with his willingness to yield to his own greenlight, both from deep and off the dribble.

Remember, this is a player who made 76 passes out of the corners last season compared to only attempting 123 shots from the corners. For point of reference, Buddy Hield completed 26 passes compared to 62 shots. So, where Hield easily doubled up his volume of passes to shots, Sheppard didn't exactly crack that barrier. That's why, although he wasn't standing in the corner, where he can at times be a bit too robotic triggering the extra passes out of skip passes, it's notable that he used a pass-fake to instead free himself up to let the ball fly.

Granted, the attempt ended in a misfire, but he didn't hesitate and the same applied to some of his drives, as he could be seen playing with his head up and searching for direct scoring opportunities, whether backing up with a retreat dribble to attack and play through contact or delivering a shovel pass under the basket when the defense steps up, rather than prematurely aborting his dribble or automatically continuing the advantage.

Last season, Sheppard averaged 3.697 drives per 100 possessions with only 1.572 of those ending with a shot, foul, or turnover. In this game, he racked up nearly three times as many driving forays, at 9.524 per 100 possessions and finished roughly two-thirds of them with his own usage (6.349). Some of that increase is a product of preseason inflation. After all, the group that was on the floor to finish the game didn't include Haliburton, McConnell, or Nembhard, and they weren't up against Charlotte's top-tier talent. Still, he was aggressive and assertive, which is a change. Plus, look closely at his handle prior to when he completed the assist to Enrique Freeman. As he receives the hand-off from Tristen Newton at the top of key, notice how he pushes the ball into space with his inside hand on his initial dribble.

That's one of Andrew Nembhard's favorite techniques, as it enhances the movement efficiency of the ball-handler by taking a more direct angle to the basket. And that was against a switch. As such, spot the difference here, as he never glances at the rim, even as Payton Pritchard is losing his footing.

Likewise, with Donte DiVincenzo trailing in rearview pursuit, he never even gives a consideration to turning the ball downhill with his inside hand, as he instead advances the ball into what becomes a tangled mess of spacing.

Given that the nature of hand-offs is for the side-to-side action to carry the ball away from the rim, it isn't insignificant, even in garbage time, that he was willing and able to find the inside track with his inside hand -- especially given that he isn't the most explosive athlete.

That said, just as he went places with the ball that he had rarely gone before, he also very much exuded the overall sense that he had been here before. Nothing came of it, but look at how demonstrably he is directing traffic in the weak-side corner. That's because, for as all-out as Freeman plays with his non-stop and incredibly high motor, he can be a little erratic getting from Point A to Point B within actions.

In addition to this play, he also whiffed on what was supposed to be an off-ball screen and re-screen for Cole Swider that ended up causing a snag in the flow of play. On the above possession, he was supposed to pitch the ball to the second side and then drop into setting the second screen of a stagger for the player into the corner to cut to the opposite wing, like so.

In that case, while the end result isn't a shot, Sheppard does a screen-the-screener dance for Swider to fly off the picks. In the prior clip, when the set went haywire, Sheppard likely would've been the player jetting out to the perimeter, seeing as how the alternative would've been a dosey doe with Newton. With that in mind, it shouldn't be any wonder that Sheppard is demonstrably barking out orders. The next evolution of the play was supposed to be for him. Even so, he very notably recognized that the next evolution of the play was supposed to be for him, and he didn't shy away from letting it be known.

Again, he's been here before; however, even in such a subtle show of experienced know-how, he hasn't always shown that degree of boldness before. And maybe, in some ways, that's also what stood out about his game-tying, four-point play. He wasn't the first option. That was Swider, who got pushed off his route from squirting through the elevator doors. He also wasn't the second option (or, at least who was looked to second). That was Quenton Jackson, who (literally) slipped while slipping out of the elevator against the overextended defense.

So no, the play wasn't for Sheppard. In fact, after attempting a quick misdirection cut away from the action, he wasn't even really a factor. That is, until he made himself a factor -- diving on the loose ball, in typical Ben Sheppard fashion; and then, firing away without thinking twice, in somewhat atypical Ben Sheppard fashion.

"He's a proven competitor," Rick Carlisle told reporters following the preseason finale. "Guys like that are taken for granted because they're great people and they appear to be low maintenance, but it's important that we keep reminding him how important he is to our culture and how important he is to our team, certainly with all the positive things he did in the playoffs last year. But this is a new year, and the great thing is that he hasn't changed one bit and likely never will."

Following day three of training camp, Carlisle made similar remarks about Nembhard, with regard to him being "low maintenance" and how it important it is to "remind yourself that you need to let him know how much you appreciate his team-first approach." From the outside, it doesn't appear that Nembhard nor Sheppard have changed in that respect, as Carlisle noted, but Nembhard did progress with change during the playoffs, just as Sheppard also flashed some elements of change in the run-up to the season. A year ago, with Bruce Brown in the fold and T.J. McConnell (both figuratively and literally) relentlessly turning the corner, Nembhard had to box himself out from being boxed in before ultimately becoming a fixture of the starting lineup. Sheppard isn't likely to ascend to those heights in the near or long-term future even with struggles from that group; however, in what was a lackluster overall preseason, which saw the Pacers sitting bottom-10 in points allowed per 100 possessions, points allowed in the paint, points allowed off turnovers, opponent offensive rebounding rate, and opponent field-goal percentage at the rim, he made himself easy to remember -- distinguishing from that which otherwise would preferably sooner be forgotten.