This is off Alex Golden’s Twitter, but someone posted it in Facebook a couple of days prior. Obviously Jerami Grant went off for 34 points last night as well. Safe to say we are yet to figure out the PF position.
by festar35_Pacers
@Indiana Pacers
9 Comments
I’d like to see Jarace Walker get some run if only to see what he can do defensively, cuz my god it’s terrible defensively right now
Well Obi can’t defend so that’s probably why
The Heat don’t utilize Bam a ton so he will probably only hit us for ~20ppg on 60% fg%
I hope he credited whomever if he took their analysis
Obi Toppin contests 8% of shots (according to Danny LeRoux in the latest 15 in 60 Eastern Conference).
Let’s be honest here folks, the Toppin experiment isn’t working. He’s not reliable enough as a scorer, doesn’t rebound anywhere near enough and can’t defend a chocolate tea cup. I’m fine with us trying, but I’d like to see the coaching team move on from the experiment.
Give Jarace his minutes and start Nesmith. There’s a reason Toppin hardly ever finishes a game.
Everyone focuses on the 4 for good reason, but they need bigger options at the 3 as well. Too many guys on the Pacers who are playing undersized at both those positions.
I’m still a it perplexed by the last draft. They had a bunch of picks in it—a draft full of interesting combo-forwards—and while they got one (Jarace), they so far have refused to play him, and instead of taking a stab at another, they drafted Shepphard. Don’t get me wrong, I like Shepphard. He has promise and an interesting skill set especially in regard to shooting, but it’s yet another 6’5” player who’s probably best suited for the 2.
Kuz averages 23 on 47% from the field, Tatum averages 28 on 50%, Lauri averages 24 on 48%, and Harris averages 19 on 53%. There are some legitimately BIG games in there but these are good players and some of this is them doing what they do
Lots of people are dumping on Obi for this, but the Pacers switch so often that it’s not really an individual problem. For anyone that watched the game, Grant was abusing our 2, 3 and 4.
The switching seems to be the game plan, but the guards just aren’t being held accountable at all on the defensive end. Any time a screen comes, the guard dies on it at the 3 point line. (And quite literally is already going to half court for an outlet) This leaves both the ball handler and the screener in a 2 on 1 if they role, or puts the ball handler in an advantageous match up if the screener fades.
It would also seem like there’s an effort to hide Hali in the corner defensively, so guys like Brown, Hield, Math, and Obi are out there getting mismatched pretty consistently.
If only we had a player akin to Jarace Walker who specializes in guarding forwards