2023 Pacers Summer League: What To Watch For (Patreon)

The meaningful guide to meaningless basketball 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper  

It's that time of year again, when rosters chock-full of young players and short on familiarity gather in Las Vegas, playing basketball in an environment that breeds bucket-getting. Well, maybe that applies to the rest of the teams. For the Pacers, who are apparently sending two players who could both be starters next season, in Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, there should already be some existing chemistry, along with a pre-planned parade route for when they return to Indiana as Summer League Champions, amirite? Jokes aside, the Pacers released the full roster for the slate of games beginning on July 8 versus the Washington Wizards, and even with Chris Duarte sitting this year out, nine of the 14 spots are occupied by players who are either rookies, returning from last season, or playing on two-way contracts. 

There's no telling how many games the draft picks from each of the last three cycles will end up playing, but there's plenty to be learned for as long as they do.

Here's what concepts to watch for and why. 

Ben Sheppard, anticipating plays & continuing advantages 

As a defender, Sheppard has length and typically got assigned to the opposing team's best player with Belmont, which speaks well of the stamina he was able to maintain on offense, but he relied heavily on late-switching and would at times create domino effects either resulting in two players defending the ball or losing track of the screener. Rather than dipping his shoulder and staying skinny, he also has a tendency to get away with ducking under as his means for cutting off drives. That said, the Pacers usually switch on screens that don't involve the center position, and Sheppard isn't likely to be cross-matched onto ones as frequently at the next level, so those concerns may not matter as much at Summer League. Still, his point of attack defense shouldn't be expected to change overnight -- or, rather, over the course of several nights in Las Vegas. Likewise, he also isn't going to suddenly bulk up to better handle contact scoring at the rim. Therefore, what's arguably more interesting for the purpose of this exercise is how brightly his strengths, as far as anticipating rotations and continuing advantages, will translate when no longer forced to absorb the full spectrum of the limelight as his team's top-scoring option.

In that regard, when Sheppard moves the ball, he doesn't stop moving. After making a pass, he immediately screens away for the next nearest player and trusts the ball to find the action. 

To be fair, some of that is loosely dictated by the principles of Belmont's motion offense, which aims to be unpredictable and hard to guard, but he also has a feel all his own for sliding into passing windows and making sure the ball can always see him without being demanding. This possession is an encapsulation of everything he has the potential to add as a shooter with passing chops. He doesn't just space the floor, he drifts to his spot and attacks the closeout, making a live-dribble read to the opposite wing before hitting a backpedal, catch-and-shoot three. 

And, get this: According to Zach Milner's shot data, Sheppard shot 41 percent on NBA-range threes. Per Synergy, he averaged 1.1 points per shot on stationary catch-and-shoot attempts, pull-up attempts, and off-screen attempts. But, look at that possession once more and notice how he gets cut-off driving baseline and spins back middle. Would he be able to make that same kick-out with his left hand from the left corner? That's something to watch for, as will be his ability to pass and spray  while finding the next link in the chain when he doesn't draw a crowd.

Of course, he's already shown he can manipulate defenders away from the ball while thinking a few steps ahead of the coverage. As the ball-handler dribbles off the pick in the middle of the floor, look at how he trades places with his teammate at the wing, knowing he can take better advantage of the nail help as a shooter. Then, when the defense switches, he demonstrates foresight yet again, pointing for his teammate to clear out to the opposite side of the floor in anticipation of the big requiring help in isolation so as to create a longer closeout. 

It's all of those little nuances, including drawing contact with an escape-dribble three, that will make monitoring the heady way in which he finds his own usage and maintains spacing while navigating a smaller role all the more appealing. 

Jarace Walker, being aggressive 

Granted, just because a play is run for a player, doesn't mean the shot has to be for that player (oh hi, Bennedict Mathurin), but Jarace Walker can at times be overly deferential -- especially as it pertains to getting to the rim. As was laid out in the patron-only mailbag, there's reason to think that involving him in actions like fake hand-offs, that allow him to turn the ball downhill with a cleaner path to the basket, could improve his turnover rate on drives. Still, there were spots within Houston's offense where he would hesitate rather than seizing the moment.

Here, after setting a ghost screen and slipping into space, he has an opportunity to attack with a left pivot rip-through move, but rather than forcing the read defender to commit, he picks up his dribble and reverses the ball.

All too often, Summer League can be about getting buckets. As it applies to Walker, he could stand to take on some of that mentality -- at least within the flow of the offense. He doesn't have to take bad shots; just don't pass up the good ones. 

Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker, switching ball screens

If Mathurin is going to play in Las Vegas (which, sure?), then his playing time, for however long and as many games as he plays, needs to be meaningful. At the end of last season, the Pacers started giving him some defensive assignments at the point of attack. That's why, for example, he was guarding Fred VanVleet at the start of the final meeting with Toronto. Notably, by the end of the game, the Pacers had swapped Aaron Nesmith onto Jakob Poeltl. That wasn't so much a commentary on Myles Turner, as it was a commentary on ... well ... this.

Mathurin was getting snagged navigating around screens, so the Pacers needed to start switching. The only problem is, Mathurin can also struggle to impact passes to the screener after swapping assignments. 

As such, switching on 1-4 pick-and-rolls, in the event Mathurin gets assigned to the point-of-attack, could also provide a sneak peek at Walker. Even if Mathurin demonstrates how not to switch, can Walker play close enough to the ball to correct for the imperfect recovery angle with his lanky wingspan acting like sprawling tentacles? He got rave reviews for his performance against his soon-to-be Summer League coach, Jannero Pargo. Will the same be the case against his fellow youngsters in Vegas, especially early in the shot-clock? The answer to that could be revealing as to how the defense might need to be schemed for next season.

The Nembhard-Walker connection

Like Mathurin, if Andrew Nembhard is going to play after starting 63 games last season, then play him for a reason (or, at least a reason other than chasing a Summer League Championship). In the 19 games he started at point guard, he averaged 14.7 potential assists. For point of reference, Lamelo Ball averaged 14.3 potential assists in 36 games played last season, which ranked seventh in the NBA.

Not all of those are advantage assists, and he certainly benefited at times from the fact that Mathurin and/or Hield were drawing tougher defensive assignments in those lineups, but he also knows how to sneak the ball around the defense, using head fakes, fake finger-rolls, and eye manipulation to pass the screener open.

Prior to last season, Turner had never rolled on more than 50 percent of the possessions he was used as the screener. That changed with Haliburton's pick-and-roll artistry. By comparison, Jarace Walker attempted only three shots as the roll-man at Houston. And yet, he's athletic and his 7-foot-2 wingspan suggests that he would have a forgiving catch radius. 

If Nembhard gets rolling downhill, maybe Walker will, too -- providing a positive feedback loop for Nembhard to pressure the rim, rather than playing for fadeaways. There's potential for this to be a symbiotic relationship.

Kendall Brown, "attacking" short closeouts  

After undergoing season-ending surgery to address a right tibia stress fracture, Kendall Brown hasn't played in an actual game since the second week of February. Prior to that, he had only played 40 minutes for the Pacers while spending a larger share of his time with the Mad Ants. Put simply, he was already on a learning curve as far as development and now he's also going to have to ramp back up to speed. So, there's reason to be gentle with evaluations. That said, he shot 32 percent on jump-shots in the G League, and when he logged action during non-garbage time against the Warriors, Golden State was quick to "defend" him with Steph Curry.

At the introductory press conference for Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard, Chad Buchanan revealed that the first thing Rick Carlisle asks with regard to draft prospects is whether they can shoot. If that's the case, Kendall Brown can't have possessions where there is also a question of whether he "will" shoot. Steph has one foot in the paint here, helping from the ball-side corner, and Brown ends up getting whistled for a travel, record-scratching against the short closeout.  

At Summer League, he needs to fake it until he makes it. If his defender closes out slow, simply shoot the open jump shot. Otherwise, in surveying the league, the number of raw, young, athletic non-shooting wings who manage to stay on the floor during the postseason is notably dwindling. 

Isaiah throwing lobs to Isaiah and defending with Isaiah  

Clearly, the Pacers were reminiscent for the days of yore, back when they employed multiple players with the same names --  be it the T.J. conglomerate of McConnell, Warren, and Leaf, or the trio of Hills, consisting of George, Solomon, and Jordan -- because now they have a pair of Ben(n)'s and two Isaiah's. It would be a real treat if someone on this roster had the first name Jackson, then they could play lineups with Isaiah dribbling off a screen from Isaiah, throwing a kick-out pass to Ben, who drives the closeout and passes to Benn in the other corner, with the mythical Jackson most likely crashing the glass from the other wing. That would be delightful, especially if they functioned as interconnectedly as their names. Well, here's the thing: outside of Ben (Sheppard), who grew up playing point guard but is now more suited to continue advantages, there isn't a whole lot of passing in that lineup.

Generally speaking, Isaiah Wong is a tough shot-maker, who is wired to score first, but his assist rate went up as a senior while maintaining nearly the same usage. As was laid out in this month's mailbag, call horns twist for him and let him cook. If he makes enough shots and the screener's defender plays closer to the level, Isaiah can throw the ball over the top to Isaiah for a lob finish. 

That's a simple action that could be effective in composing lineups and evaluating Wong's ability to leverage the attention he draws as a scorer, but what happens at the other end of the floor might actually be more compelling as it pertains to the Isaiah's. It's been two seasons, and it still isn't exactly clear what the ideal pick-and-roll scheme is for Jackson. Given his slender build and ongoing battle with taking bad angles in drop and standing up when switching out, he oftentimes seems more at home, when he doesn't stay home and instead is unleashed to pounce at the ball, inducing escape dribble and hang-time passes.

Miami played an aggressive trapping scheme, so this would be right in Wong's wheelhouse, jumping passing lanes and making some back-line rotations, but there won't be any data points gathered about whether he's physical enough to defend at the point of attack in a more conservative scheme. Conversely, while Jackson can certainly rise up and catch lobs, those types of actions, playing to the strengths of Wong, are only going to ask him to do what he already does.

When teams drop deep and don't send help, forcing him to make a play in space, this is the riddle he still needs to solve. As of now, the only credible hack is to run veer, where he chases the ball screen with a pindown for the shooter in the opposite corner or navigates the middle of the floor to run a hand-off with the same player. Otherwise, for some reason, thoughts about Chad noting that the first thing Carlisle asks about with regard to prospects is whether they can shoot comes to mind.

All of which is to say that, growth is, by definition, a process of change. In many cases, whether it be making station-to-station passes, adapting to defend at the point of attack, shooting without hesitation, rolling to the hoop, or creating space for others with contact, the Summer League Pacers may need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable -- even if that means being slightly less competitive.