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Pascal Siakam improving, changes without Buddy Hield, and more Indiana Pacers progress + changes



Pascal Siakam improving, changes without Buddy Hield, and more Indiana Pacers progress + changes

Pascal seak now two months into his Pacers tenure how has his game evolved and how have the Pacers made him fit in better plus a month without buddy healed what has that done to the Pacers we’re talking that and jarus Walker with the great Caitlyn Cooper on today’s locked

On Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up y’all happy Friday congrats you made it through the week and welcome into another edition of the lockdown Pacers podcast where we of course talk

About the Indiana Pacers as always my name is Tony East I cover the team for Forbes and Si and today we have a lot of interesting and great stuff to dive into about the Pacers and their trends of the last couple months Caitlin Cooper from basketball sh’s going to join us to get

Into all the details of about the first two months of Pascal sakam how they’re evolving in fitting him in how he’s doing how he’s helping the Pacers and then we talk about a month without buddy heeld who’s been traded away how have the Pacers evolved without the shooter

And screener that buddy heeld is and we end talking about jerus Walker who played one of his better games with the Pacers thir Wednesday night against the Bulls how is he fitting in how is he growing what does that mean going forward we get into a lot of

Nitty-gritty stuff today you’ll learn a lot I learned a lot uh it’s great show follow Kaitlin and support all the things she’s doing let’s just jump right in looking at Pascal yakum the Buddy heal the Pacers jarus Walker and more months are the theme of the day it’s

Been about two months since Pascal cakam became a Pacer it’s been a little over one month since the trade deadline and jerus Walker we’re just going to talk about with no month required and joining me to talk about all things Pacers we’re both wearing our hot girl pretty girl

Basketball gear the inventor of the shirt herself from basketball she wrote It’s Caitlyn Cooper Caitlyn how are you how are you feeling after an overtime defeat with many moments two nights ago I’m doing well I’m happy to be invited back on here I’m always glad when the audience puts up with me and

Allows me to come talk with you about basketball no matter what quality of the basketball there might be I was hopeful Tony when we got to the final possessions of that game that I was going to be coming on at a high point with the Pacers winning three games in a

Row instead of what occurred but this is my lot three wins in a row and then six to the east didn’t look at their defenses a little better and instead they’re still playing okay but uh I want to talk about some changes in their basketball strategy and you were the

Perfect person to do that I it was very fitting that after a loss like thatb so my neighbor kid they have a basketball hoop in our culdesac and he yesterday for the first time of the year got out the sidewalk chalk to draw the basketball court lines in front of the

Hoop and then today it poured rain and it’s all God so that is a fitting that is a fitting summary of Pacers Bulls I’ve ever done before they’ll have to redraw the court when it’s dry outside I want to start with Pascal sakam who has now been with the Pacers for two months

Asked him about this at the end of the Pelicans game at home so this was the end of February but it seems like to me he has found ways to be more comfortable with the Pacers he knows where his shots will be coming the team knows where his

Strengths are and when to get him the ball and at what times on the road trip they just had in particular every time it felt like he got a switch with a small on they were looking for seak they were trying to get him the ball on the

Post he’s running plays where Halbert and screening for him like all this stuff is evolving and then the very most recent game he only takes 12 shots the fewest of any starter they’re not hunting him as often as they do even though he was very effective with the

Ball so I think he’s getting more comfortable and playing well but there’s still some hiccups along the way how have you assessed the growth of siakam’s changing role with the Pacers and where do you feel like it is right now I think those two games that you brought up are

A really good place to start because if you go back to that home game against New Orleans they close out that game with Tyrese and seak playing off of each other a lot right a lot of that was coming with Tyrese being like I’m going to hunt Zion Williamson and whatever

Shakes out in the wash with SE yakum being pretty opportunistic with some off ball movement saw the two of them playing off of one another more than what we had been seeing up until that point there’s really only like three games that you can point to the win up

In Toronto we on the very last possession when seaka made that really big shot Tyrese was going to come set and in inverted empty side ball screen for seak RJ Barrett just starts to you know anticipate that screen turns his head seak is able to reject it and get

It to the rim then late in the game against Detroit like that wasn’t necessarily you know quote unquote crunch time but the starters did play the last seven minutes of that game and they were very aggressive not so much with inverted pick and roll but inverted spacing where they were giving the ball

To se yakum a lot at the elbow letting him go at fio and then putting nard in the dunker spot to open up a wider gap for seak to attack in too if he drew help from assar Thompson off of Tyrese then Tyrese was getting that gravity and

Being able to make shots or attack from there so those are kind of the three games where we’ve seen the two of them playing off of one another a lot and then when you talk about this Bulls game that’s where I don’t want to say the chemistry because I don’t think like

That’s not necessarily the right word but in terms of them being actively involved at the same time it gets trickier because when Tyrese is being guarded by Alex Caruso do you really want Tyrese going in screening for cakam and getting that switch no and like seak didn’t want it either because

There was one possession where Tyrese went to set that screen and Sak’s like okay I’m going to try to reject it I’m going to keep alive dribble and then there’s no necessary Advantage there and even late against the game against o OKC it didn’t really affect them but Tyrese

Was setting trying to set guards or screens for seak with dor guarding him and it was the same situation where seak one time even waved it off like I don’t want that screen like that’s not what mismatch I want so sometimes it can be a little bit tricky depending upon

Matchups like seaka comes a lot of times being guarded by the best Wing Defender is that what switch you want to get for Tyrese if Tyrese is being guarded by the right guy is that what you want so looking for what types of actions you

Can run between them I do think a lot of times it shakes out into like post mismatches where then if there’s a split action you can get it out to Tyrese that way maybe a slot to slot flip between the two of them which is really working

Between Pascal and TJ at the start of the fourth quarter last night because then it’s not directly involving a screen Pascal can get downhill with a strong hand like that I think is what’s most interesting to continue monitoring is different ways that you can use the

Two of them in combination it has been interest like you mentioned Caruso Wednesday night like the other game I felt like they were disconnected or a rhythmic since the All-Star break was was in New Orleans when herb Jones was just blowing up everything halberton was doing so I think that there is something

To that where a strong defender on halberton can kind of shake that things up because like you said with all the switching and the matchups it’s not so easy for them to just flow into what they want to do matchup wise and you na the other thing that I wanted to talk

About with sakam of late even Beyond his fit with Tyrese halberton and how he’s kind of grown with this team is they they keep tweaking this some of it is injury related some of it is based on the team they’re playing you know the

Flow of the game but he in the last two games has been the guy that’s been primarily the star with the bench right sometimes that’s Tyrese and TJ Rick likes that unit that was they were great in Orlando together the last two games it’s been Pascal as that second ball

Hend especially with maid now sidelined I think that’s more important and so not only is his chemistry growing in two m games with Tyrese but how it evolves with TJ and that second unit when he is going against some bench players but he’s still dramatically important it’s

Fascinating to me because I mean this is like the lazy way of looking at it but last night there were a lot of P I was like someone give Pascal sakam the ball like can we please pass him the ball because it was it it was like almost

Infuriating the level of they were trying so hard to get the shot they wanted and they couldn’t it’s like he he’s right there thaty like he he’s eight for 12 tonight get him the ball but it didn’t happen enough so I think that’s where you’re seeing it evolve is

As that I think it’s good how he’s played with second units has gone well but they’re kind of evolving where he fits into that rotation and finding him in those moments as well yeah I mean they’ been doing some of the Pascal plus bench lineups for a while I think that

They’ve had like 83 minutes where he’s on the floor without any other starters and they’re plus oh no 25 minutes and they’re plus 83 in that so they have they have uh yeah that’s not the right number sorry I’m looking at it yeah no that it’s been 25 minutes but like last night

It was quite good because like you said TJ did look for him a few times they ran that slot to slot action Pascal himself was active on the offensive glass getting some putbacks in that situation too and then the other aspect of it is

Is I will say that for the rest of the team because that was something I tweeted at the time I’m like Pascal has a mismatch almost every time down the floor because the Bulls are playing somewhat smaller lineups and he was either being guarded sometimes by IO

Dumo sometimes Tory Craig you know where he was gonna have clear clearer advantages but the issue with it was is I will give the Bulls credit even Kobe white like they were swimming the post pretty decently so then you were going to have to reverse it in order to enter

It or somebody was going to have to flash high low and they weren’t always super quick with those flashes and then also there were a few times where he did touch it and they were automatically doubling him where he was making the right reads out of the doubles but it’s

Not necessarily going to end up in a shot with him another thing that I had seen like a few people replied to me that and they’re like know that the coaching was a prevalent topic after that loss to the Bulls because of some of the stuff that happened down the

Stretch late and then like I have Raptors fans who follow me and they’re like is Darko the coach like why can’t Pascal get these touches like what’s going on and like I will say like you could very clearly hear Rick Carlile and the bench on several possessions yelling

For four down which if they yell four down typically that’s because Pascal’s getting a mismatch in transition the bench recognizes it or somebody else on the floor recognizes it it’s basically an early dive an early early work post for him to be able to get the ball in

Transition there were times where he called it and like quite frankly he just didn’t touch the ball in those situations where they went away from it or they saw other opportunities in different spots so I do think that there can still be times where he could

Probably touch it and get um involved a little bit more and the loss to Chicago was probably a pretty good Beacon of of that particular topic it’s happened a few okay also be confident with your numbers Kaylin it is 83 minutes plus 25 you had it on the first go okay I I

Apologize people my handwriting was not super clear and I’m like that doesn’t that doesn’t feel right to me so I didn’t want to St it was funny looking it up I was like I I don’t know if you use PBP stats or not but I was like I

Wonder how similar is this going to be to the number she just said oh exactly the same yes okay good yes you were right on it we have to take a quick break to talk about our partners at eBay Motors who have teamed up with locked on Fantasy

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Alive at ebaymotors.com eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply like obviously they know he’s good you know and it’s just there’s something along the way that made it not possible for the Pacers to get him as much as they they could and the Bulls did well

To to make him get it out but he’s passed well with this team too so I think it’s still evolving this is like a an in my brain theory that I want to bounce off of you like the Pacers are they they say paint are great right

That’s how they want to play get inside they are pretty high volume three team they like to get to the rim seum is very good at shots from not those spots and it’s not that it’s like unnatural for them to look to the Elbow or like where

He is a lot of the time but I almost wondered at first if it was like when they drive whoever’s driving with the ball they’re naturally looking like opposite corner OPP Wing you know where typically the Pacers have guys in their effective spots or it’s like oh yeah SE

Yakum somewhere else right and I think I don’t know if this is there’s anything to this but they just kind of had to work through like okay his spots are different than what we’re used to even though those are still efficient shots and now they’ve got that more ironed out

I think I think that there’s probably a fair element to that I mean the the number one place that he gets his mismatches they call it C so he comes up from the corner and just sets a quick touch screen for whoever the ball handler is and I think that one thing

That is different there is he tends to get a switch and he’s somebody who can do something against that switch Yeah in other cases like you know if that’s Bruce Brown setting it if it’s Benedict ma cominging up from the corner that isn’t always going to result in a switch

And sometimes if it does then it’s more so going to be like okay I’m Tyrese I got the the perimeter switch against you know whoever the weaker assignment was here now I’m going to attack that from the perimeter they didn’t really have somebody to look for that could do the

Types of things that seum can do so I think that sometimes like it was easier to just be like Oh The Next Step the next progression in this play is typically we reverse it to Miles Turner at the top of the key we flow into Chicago or Zoom action on the weak side

For the other guard to come get it and that’s what we’re used to running because we didn’t necessarily have this advantage to exploit in the past yeah so I don’t think it’s always like I think sometimes the default thing can be like oh they’re purposely looking him off

Like I don’t I don’t really think that’s the case I think sometimes you don’t you’re not as trained to look for where those things are because the other people that you were playing with didn’t have that same skill set yeah I naturally always gravitate towards like people aren’t dumb right it’s just

Something it’s not like they’re like don’t give Pascal like that know and I will say that like before buddy was traded and sometimes this can be the case with Benedict ma as well they can both be a little skittish throwing post entry passes you can see that they see

It but they just feel like that’s a dangerous pass like I’m just gon to reverse it maybe the person at the top of the key can throw it from that angle like if they go in front and they flip it that way rather than me trying to

Throw it and I get a turnover so I remember thinking for a while especially in the turbon days that Miles was a really good postentry passer and that has returned with yakam on the team so no like it does because they they they reverse it to Miles because they’re

Going to go into five out delay at the top of the key and because he has such soft touch and he also has more size for position like this is somewhat true up for the Raptors too like for a long time they didn’t have Fred throwing post injury passes into Pascal but Pascal

Would throw some post-entry passes into to Scotty or OG because when you just have more sides it’s easier for you to throw it over the top in those situations two more Pascal things I want to bring up one is just to note he is so good at putbacks like his offensive

Rebounding even on his own misses I didn’t realize how how talented he was as a second jumper like he is getting that ball a lot of the time and he getting a lot of those junk points I think has become really valuable for the Pacers as they kind of figure out what

They’re doing offensively as Tyrese kind of goes through this Hors shooting slump I I I know there’s a way to look this up I haven’t done it yet but I’d be curious what like he ranks in the league in terms of percentage of grabbing your own

Miss at The Rim it’s got to be among the top 10 or five Z bounds ZB yeah I think PBP stats has bounds it’s named after Zebo yeah they call it zbs like pretty sure it’s under miscellaneous I’m not I don’t I don’t know that off the top of

My head but I think that that’s available there I have a Zach Randolph Marian High School state championship shirt somewhere around my house so Zebo is I was in Maran over the summer and I actually was like I’m this is the home of Zach Randolph like I am I was there

The summer after they won the state championship with James Blackman Jr on their team and they had Zack Randolph shirt so I was like heck yeah I what that that’s sweet yeah okay Z bounds this is a new termine I have to work into my vernacular he’s got to be in the

Top 10 five% of every player in the league two i i f you were you know wrote about this a few times tweeted about it like I was actually surprised that his defense felt a little worse than I expected at first I still have kind of

It’s still kind of been below what I expected but I think he’s rounded into form a little more defensively with the Pacers of late what do you think about that I actually might say that I think that’s a little bit I might be a little bit the reverse on that wow you watched

If you watched the like the two or three weeks before both OG and Pascal got traded from the Raptors both of them were rough and I remember I was talking to Samson folet Raptor Republic and S barini on his podcast and I was like I think sometimes with these things as you

Will recall before the Pacers veered toward a rebuild when that core was looking real stale I refer to it as a soul tax like I just think that there’s an inevitability where people know like this this core isn’t staying together we’re getting moved and like the overall

Quality of the defense wasn’t there and I didn’t have I didn’t have um worries about that if OG got traded somewhere else and like lo and behold he bounced right back as soon as he got with the Knicks then the very first game the second game that Pascal played for the

Pacers against the Suns when he was logging quite a few minutes at the five in that game he was making really quick rotations and I made a joke with them and I was like the soul tax has been paid like because they had asked me they’re like oh we’re gonna be really

Curious to know what you think of his defense and I was like guys the last game that the Pacers played against the Jazz I was watching buddy hee and Andrew nard guard Lori Markin it like the bar is literally cheese you just have to step over it and when I was doing the

Pascal impact longer video where where Samson and I watched film he was like you know I’m gonna be curious to find out like can he step over cheese maybe he can leap way over cheese because I’ve seen you know he seen him at his Heights

Then as it it came on I was kind of wondering like what is exactly going on with SE yakum because if you go back and watch like the first quarter against Houston the first quarter against Charlotte like off ball wise he was having lot of issues where he was kind

Of in like an in between Zone against Houston like are you helping are you rotating as the secondary rim protector because you’re not on the shooter either then charlot his screen navigation had a lot of issues and I was kind of to the point where I did I wrote this a couple

Times where I’m like is this just a fatigue issue a long season going into the allstar break maybe he comes back and it looks better or do the Pacers need to tweak how they’re using him because if you look at that game down in New Orleans like obviously that’s just

Otherworldly shot making from the Pelicans in that first quarter when you only miss two shots and the Pati don’t get a single defensive rebound like that’s better than What teams do in warm-ups but the issue being is like it was telling to me that the Pacers started both of those games with Pascal

Guarding Jonas valent Tunis you finally have a big wing and he’s not guarding Zion and he’s not guarding Brandon Ingram and once they finally did flip flop that matchup and put Pascal on Brandon Ingram then he was just running into contact on like every screen every two-man action that was Brandon Ingram

And Zion he was getting screened into Oblivion on so then I was very I was like I was jazzed Tony when they went down to Orlando that’s where I’m coming from with this but continue and he he’s guarding Paulo banero and I was like finally like we’re switching the four

Five actions like he wasn’t chasing over the top of those screens between B Carol and Wendell Carter Jr they were having him switch go underneath to protect against the slip and then miles was the person that was having to contain van Caro and fron Vagner and maybe they were

A little bit more comfortable with that because maybe they weren’t you know super bothered about B Caro or fron vogner making self-created threes but then last night against Chicago Pascal starts the game guarding dear D rozan and he’s going over on every pick between D rozan and vich last night and

Again he’s he’s having trouble with the screen navigation like most of the time and I don’t think that’s atypical for guys his size like there might have been a time in the past at the peak of his defensive Powers with the Raptors where they would literally put him on you know

Russell Westbrook or other Speedy guards and he could contain in those situations like there’s a reason why Giannis and Evan Mobley don’t get assigned permanently to a lot of on ball guys because it’s very hard for them to navigate screens and if they do they’re going to switch so last night for like

The first three quarters of that game they were having in situations they were having SE yakum Chase over the Bulls were getting pretty good points out of that and then in the fourth quarter they they went away from it they were switching those actions and then miles D

Rozan dzan drew a foul against Jaylen Smith once on those and then he scored over the top of miles from mid-range but still like for me I’d rather live with that or even better yet I would have done what the Bulls did to Tyrese and I

Would have been like okay we’re going to switch the four five actions miles is going to be on an island with the rozen we’re going to chance that and then we’re going to we’re going to hit that we’re going to switch to Blitz and force the ball out of his hands from there

Rather than letting him get downhill and walk into those mid-range spots so like I don’t think it’s necessarily even always about the quality of siakam’s Defense as sometimes I do have some qualms with like what assignments he might get how like I don’t think you really want him navigating against you

Know off ball Shooters through pin Downs through flare screens that type of stuff and then if he is going to be the on ball defend and is in a four five situation I would like to see them do just pretty much Universal switching and if it’s going to be a bad matchup for

Miles then maybe you need to go switch to Blitz but um yeah I think that overall I would say I I think his defense has probably been a little bit worse on the ho than I expected but I don’t think that’s completely because of him and I have seen some moments where

He’s been very impressive um in certain games like I said against that game against Phoenix he’s they’ve played him at the five and the minutes that with him at the five have been pretty solid they went to that against Orlando where like Isaiah Jackson did have a great

Game so by the end of the third quarter they’re like we’re just going to play Pascal at the five and it worked for them so he does have some versatility but the versatility has to be deployed in in the exact right settings I feel I think he’s very good at executing

Whatever the Pacers tell him to execute you know like you you called it out and I saw this too and I I immediately saw Lloyd Pierce do this so that in that magic game where they started switching four five in the second quarter they were me mounting a comeback and then

They messed one up Ben Carol hit a three um and seaka was immediately like where was Isaiah Jackson on that one Isaiah Jackson I mean he pushed Isaiah yeah he got they were all frustrated and you look over at Lloyd Pierce and he stands

Up at the bench and he goes yeah we had great seats right that’s how I could tell that seak was at least communicating well and defense doing what he’s supposed to and Lloyd’s like four five four five we’re switching four five and then they did well with that

The rest of the game it’s like that was at least to me like okay he he is taking the responsibility of what’s supposed to be happening on that end of the floor and what he’s supposed to be doing going over screens I just think of NP yorr even though has nothing to do

With this that whole season of it so we’ll see where that ends up let me add in there I do want to add in with that because the Pacers did go overboard with overs that season to the point of chasing Ben Simmons at the logo over the

Top of screens like last night again the Pacers bench you could hear like they wanted people to be going under against IO they wanted people to be going under against Caruso wasn’t always happening but those were the directions from the bench so it helps it hurts when Caruso

Makes five of six threes but those were catch and shoot Tony he wasn’t bombing those off of off of dribbling off a pick oh gosh that would have made it brutal and one more break here so we can talk about Stitch fix with Stitch fix you get a stylist who understands your

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Today at stitchfix.com loock done that’s stitchfix.com lockon one more time stitchfix.com lockon let’s pivot to thing number two that I want to talk about today buddy hee is not on the Pacers anymore um and it’s now been about a month they played their last game before the allstar break

A month ago so we’ll call that a month um and they’ve had to change things to figure it out most notably or at least where I want to start with this that same Pelicans game that we talked about earlier in gamebridge there was a lot of stuff where like Pacers would clear the

Wings and halberton was like screening for yakum and doing the ghost screens I asked him I asked Tyrese after the game like you’re you’re screening more right like this is the thing that’s happening and he said yeah and part of it is that

Or a lot of it is that he is now the best shooter on the team right with buy he not on the team and so they’re trying to sometimes because obviously Halbert with the ball in his hands is much better than he’s a screener work him in

As the guy who either sets a screen or does a ghost screen and he said he’s not nearly as good at the ghost screens as buddy is but he thinks he’s a better screener than buddy and of course he’s just being competitive Tyrese there but that is something they’ve had to work

Through is where they don’t have that action as much anymore and the best way to simulate it is with their best ball handler being the screener which having SE yakum helps with that but they don’t have that anymore obviously they don’t have his three-point shooting and with Halburn also not shooting well they’ve

Just not been that good of a shooting team since the All-Star break this season where have you seen them kind of transform what they’re doing what they’re trying to do now they don’t have buddy healed on the team right so I think that the best place that we could

Probably go to look for that is that I wrote a piece called the Pacers are missing their engine after the loss to San Antonio because I felt that was the most telling game so like for people who may not know before buddy got traded Tyrese was averaging 54.3 ball screens per 100 possessions

That’s a very high number after since buddy’s been traded that’s dropped by 10 and over five game stretch leading up to that loss to San Antonio he was in the low 30s in all of those games and it was actually 29 picks per 100 in San Antonio now some of that there’s mitigating

Factors here like it’s not just the loss of buddy it’s the fact that in that game you also didn’t have Ben Shepard Doug mcder isn’t even available like Doug hasn’t shot the ball great and obviously his defensive issues are similar to buddies though somewhat different in

Terms of why they a liability at times but you don’t have any movement Shooters in that game also wemi has a very you know he can be spooky around the rim it’s going to impact the types of stuff that you run and whether Tyrese is going

To be getting shots out of those picks but the fact that he only got 29 ball screens and I will say that I still don’t think that he’s moving a 100% correctly I’m not a doctor it’s not for me to say any of that stuff but knowing

Tyrese and knowing the types of spots that he will go to things he’s still not going to his righty side step three that much which is the normal look that he looks to because you have to be very explosive off that left hamstring in

Order to get to it not going to it that much some of the times where he’ll use like a very low grab low crafty gather to be able to punch through help he’s not trying to do that to be able to Spring off that left leg with his long

Bounding strides to help him get to the rim those certain things I don’t think he’s moving um still quite to the degree that he was before that injury happened all those things being said it’s exactly what you just said in the starting lineup he’s now the best movement

Shooter on the floor so never in my life that Spurs game they run they they call a timeout out of the atto Tyrese is the player under the basket running off of the picks and choosing his own Adventure out of floppy and like he doesn’t have the same like weight fake Sprint element

To set up his man where like sometimes if that was Buddy setting those and he’s gonna set up his guy they might jump out to Buddy there’s gravity there and then a lot of times it wasn’t even get buddy a shot it was because now the person

Guarding the screener has jumped out to buddy that screener is now open for a look at the rim where then Tyrese could just pass it to them so the types of actions that he’s being used to do like they don’t even basically run like if you see a stack action you know where

The stack screener and the the paint setting a screen for the ball screener if people don’t know what that is like Spain if you see them run that like even once or twice for Ty Reese a game I would be surprised which like those are the two things that Tyrese would really

Generate advantages out of with his reads is either the ghost screen from Buddy if he had a switch out on an island or out of stack and now it’s more so the reverse of this where Tyrese is having to be the stack screener or they’re not even going to set a ghost

Screen so another number to give some context to this the Pacers before buddy was traded set 11.8 non- cont guard screens per 100 possessions that ranked third in the NBA that’s dropped down to 11th since buddy’s been moved they’re not generating as many points out of it

So like even last night when Tyrese is being faceu guarded by Caruso all season long like if he’s being faceu guarded they will use him as a screener to try to you know dislodge the person who’s top blocking him so I think it was with like two and a half minutes to go

Against the Bulls in regulation they used him as the stack screener n hard’s the ball handler Obi toppins the ball screener the blls late in that game decided they were going to switch everything so that was putting boich on the ball they didn’t get any advantage

Out of that out of the switch switch switch against the Bulls they didn’t they weren’t able to get it to Obi Topp and against the switch in the paint so Andrew then just gets off the ball gives it to Tyrese popping out to the wing then Andrew goes and screens for Tyrese

To get vich onto that pick and then Tyrese is just like spinning his tires where in the past you would have known that like right away in the past if they got a one5 switch with Tyrese against a big that was like a trigger point for

Buddy I’m going to run with momentum and then maybe this gets Tyrese the switch pocket maybe it just a little moment of hesitation so that he can get into the paint instead they wait nobody goes and does it and then for the rest of that game every time buich got a switch

Against Tyrese it was switched to Blitz and now we’re just forcing the ball of Tyrese’s hands and either Andrew shooting threes or somebody else is shooting threes in the case of miles that worked well because miles couldn’t miss anything late in the game Andrew wasn’t knocking down those shots at the

Time so offensively like yeah just by the Numbers he’s getting fewer on ball screens he’s running as the cutter of of off ball screens more he’s being used as the screener more and he’s getting more slightly more isolations because he’s not getting those on ball goost screens

Without buddy out there anymore and also the team’s transition frequency has dropped like when you don’t have buddy sprinting to the 45 and creating those you know two side fast breaks anymore their transition frequency I believe since that has dropped to 14th in the NBA so um the Buddy effect is real I

Think I don’t think it’s the only thing that’s caused all this I like I said there’s other mitigating factors here obviously you don’t have Benedict ma anymore other guys have been in and out of the lineup I think there was probably a fatigue aspect from the All-Star break

Certain matchups like wemi are going to alter the types of things that you do more teams are face guarding more teams are forcing Tyrese left that are impacting some of these numbers but I don’t think that you can say that there hasn’t been an impact on the Pacers by

Buddy being traded to the Sixers some other of those mitigating factors would be the Pascal scuff we just talked about right they do have another capable ball handler that makes it at least like palatable to have Tyrese be off the ball sometimes and like you’re even seeing

With Pascal on the floor TJ as the ball handler with Tyrese doing some stuff off the ball too right so that’s part of it um mitigating Factor number two is that Doug mcder has played six games and like mcder said right after the allstar break

When we talked to that he he spent a lot of his time in Phoenix like studying buddy heeld like what he do for the Pacers how can I do that I’m not saying they were going to play him nearly as much as they played buddy heel they’re

Even in the exact same way but at least some of what he would theoretically be able to do is a shooter could help execute some of those actions they Haven any chance of that and a guy who boosted his catch and shoot three point percentage by eight% this season is now

Out for the year and has missed their last four games in Benedict Mather and he’s not like a lights out set screens oh my gosh we have to close out hard to this guy’s shooter but he is a good three-point shooter this season and they don’t have that anymore either so a lot

Of that overlapping at least in the very immediate has changed things but certainly you can tell that it looks different uh the other thing that people would be curious about in the Sans budy held era is the defensive side of the ball where the Pacers have climbed to 26

25th at defensive rating out of the bottom five all right um not enough Improvement I think to justify the offensive loss which is what the extreme optimists take about the trade would be is that well maybe there will be enough addition by subtraction defensive to

Make up for but that has not happened in reality I will say that in certain key moments when people like I don’t want to say combative but like when people make that point like late in the game against Toronto and Ben Shepard gets that stop against RJ Barrett I don’t think that

Would have happened if Buddy was in the closing lineup I think you could probably say that buddy most likely wouldn’t have been guarding RJ Barrett in that situation but yeah and also what what the support that Tyrese and Andrew offered each other in that win against Orlando with what

Uh Andrew was very opportunistic and has great defensive feel so when the very few times where Tyrese did give up a switch because I will give Tyrese credit he’s been a lot more physical with his hedging with his hedging and his quick shows than what we’ve seen pretty much

The whole season these last few games he’s fought pretty hard not to be giving up mismatches to Shay d r rozan to ban Caro so but Shay did get a couple of those switches and when he did Andrew recognized it right away and was like look I’m pouncing those that’s going to

Be switched to Blitz we’re going to get the ball out of you know Shay’s hands and even sometimes when you know even if it was just giddy guarding again or driving against Tyrese a few times Andrew acted like a secondary room protector under the basket and was very good at helping

Laterally rather than stepping up and opening up those passing windows so those types of little things aren’t aren’t things that you’re going to get overall from buddy but yeah I mean I I remember even in that game to Houston before the trade deadline happened I’m

Like if this if this is how the defense is still going to look as a whole then I would think pretty long and hard about sacrificing the spacing and the gravity here but obviously there was other you know business aspects that went into why they made the decision to make that

Trade that they did and the defense overall in these last two games I do think is probably the best stretch that it’s looked all year but it’s still not you know a top tier defense and I don’t think it’s going to be quite frankly so um that’s where they find themselves

19th on defensive rating since the trade deadline 20th since the allar break do it that what you will but their offense isn’t top whatever anymore it’s closer to e or whatever I could have looked that up at the same time so it’s an interesting Balancing Act I will be

Curious if McDermot can mitigate some of this I don’t have the highest of hopes for that but we’ll see that they can we talk about that briefly just can I bring can I jokingly bring it up and then we talk about it seriously yes something bad just happened to the Pacers they

Lost Doug McDermot when they had a stretch of six of seven on the road where we know Doug mcder is a way better shooter than gamebridge Fieldhouse that’s true long um amount of evidence of this but yeah I mean I think sometimes it can be easy to be like hey just take this

Movement shooter and plug him into those things and like even the day of the trade deadline I’m like this this will mitigate some of this like because you can at least plug Doug in as a stack screener or you know have him do other things off of movement Defenders do

Respect him right correct but the difference being is is Buddy and Doug are very different movement Shooters like if you think back we we mentioned Nate borin like how did Doug start like 80% of his possessions That season Corner yes almost always running up from

The left corner so that if he needed to put the ball on the floor he could do it with his right and be able to get to the rim and he did he did do better that season getting to the rim buddy comes out of the opposite corner a lot of the

Times he’s much more flexible in terms of which way he can run off of screens he’s not as good of a shooter coming off of screens but if he can come up out of the right corner in set of screen then TJ can attack with his strong right hand

Tyrese can attack with his strong right hand where you know one of the two of them is going to have to bend and a lot of times in the prior time when TJ and Doug were playing together it would end up with TJ having to attack going to his

Left where TJ can do that but he he can lose the handle a little bit sometimes and he doesn’t always get all the way underneath the basket to trigger the same cuts when he’s going left as when he’s going right and then also buddy is better in transition better with

Controlling his pacing and transition and knowing like should I slow down to meet the ball should I Sprint ahead and he’s not as good of a ghost screener as buddy is very few people in the NBA are quite frankly like even when Tyrese just

Said that like I’m not as good of a I’m not as good as you know leaking out into space and finding those spots but I’m a better screener like something that a lot of teams have been doing this year like and the Pacers have gone to this

Like if Steph’s getting top locked if Luca is getting top locked you’ll see these guys setting inverted picks at at the free throw line area so that it almost it it basically acts as a double ball screen because you’re just sandwiching your guy into the other guy’s guy and then you’re getting down

The hill past three bodies Steph is a super physical screener like he’s going to apply that he’s going to sandwich both those guys a lot of times Tyrese it’s it’s almost the reverse of that you can be physical with him and prevent him from actually hitting and holding on

Those types of picks so um that that’s another thing that you kind of don’t have the same Dynamic with between dudy and duddy Doug oh my gosh because because Doug’s more like we know what he did with sabonis like he’s really a guy who’s gonna have a wavelength and can

Rise up and fire out of a dho he’s going to fly off and be able to swing out off of a screen that’s not really the way buddy operates so it’s just it’s two different types of movement Shooters and as it turns out like a lot of the things

That buddy does well fit better with Tyrese and what the play style of this current Pacers team was if you go back to when sabonis was on the same team you might honestly lean towards Doug in certain situations because Doug is better in off ball screening actions and

In two-man actions especially when you run them out of the corner and being able to make some of the know those pin down passes and other stuff so it’s not a one forone swap something I think will be interesting or something that I’ll be curious about is I think a lot of the

Way the the players and and actions that mcder can be his best in he would be best if paired with Turner and sakam and halberton but the rotation might not warrant that a lot of the time so I’ll be curious how much they can play him or

If even when he returns which is the world’s easiest segue into the current guy occupying the 10th spot in the rotation jarus Walker played in Eight of the Pacers last 10 games Kaylin can you believe it given the state of the season that that has happened granted two of

Those games I think he played a total of like a minute um but still more time coming for the rookie and now a needed 10th guy in the rotation given mine’s injury given the trade away of Buddy Hill that we talked about given MC durman’s injury they need him to play

20 almost said the wrong number 23 minutes last night uh two nights ago for you listening against the Bulls on one hand I asked him straight off about this after the game he guarded demard roosen a fair amount he and I said you know how do you feel like you’ve made progress

With the stuff that Rick was talking about you earlier in terms of gambling and jumping and being too handsy he said I would have fouled out of this game early in the season Guardian D Rose and I would not have done nearly as well right I think that’s an accurate

Assessment he’s gotten much better at that still an occasional issue but still has games like in Orlando where he did not have a good first half stint and they never played him again after three minutes they didn’t play him a ton in OKC seven minutes in the win now I will

Say this they have said and their right to say they’re treating games more like playoff games now because of the standings and that naturally means tighter rotation where he can’t play as much it was a back toback in Chicago where they needed you know the legs in

The minutes but I I think it’s been clear the threes have been falling so maybe this is just too easy to say but that there’s been progress with him in terms of some ball handling stuff some defensive principles some shooting in a way that’s been significant and allowed

Him to be much more impactful when he plays yeah I mean I think it’s been up and down with what his minutes have been but as far as like his overall not standing out for the wrong reasons I think that was probably his strongest game that he’s played against

The Bulls the fact that he was playing minutes like we know Aaron nouth F out obviously no Benedict maen nobody healed like the list goes on and on he was playing during overtime of a game that the P surely wanted to win like and no one questioned it no right no and it

Made sense for him to be out there like I think that he was pretty opportunistic I like the lineup quite a bit at the start of the fourth with both rookies and TJ and Pascal and um who was the fifth person out there with them who am

I missing is that yeah both rookies Pascal and Jaylen yes correct because I like him being out there in minutes with Jaylen and then he’s he’s good playing off of Pascal because he showed twice that he could be pretty opportunistic with cutting situations like they ran that four down for pascow

To get a touch jarus heard that recognized it made the cut up out of the opposite side caught the pass there he cuts well off of T A lot of people cut well off of TJ’s action because TJ’s just so good at getting two foots two

Feet in the paint as soon as he does it just triggers a kill cut from the 45 jarus did that but he also didn’t spoil the sping spacing with how he was doing it and then like you said like there were two times where he stayed down against

Demard Ro and where I agree with him I think he probably would have jumped on that or left his feet because there was lots of times where even just in transition situations against guards where he wasn’t principled on the finishing moves and he was better a couple times there I guess there was

Probably only two times or I was like oh defensively you were in the wrong spot there so there was one time where um Tyrese was chasing over a pick from Caruso which like I said there was times where the bench really wanted them to be going under against IO because IO was

Just getting to his strong hand and getting to the rim pretty much whenever he wanted and with Caruso and jarus came all the way off of D rozan to help on Caruso dribbling off a pick at the nail and then D then droan just cut behind

Him and then that led to Jaylen getting a foul at the rim and I think that jarus came out pretty shortly after that one and then another one where he was just kind of standing in the paint where it still seems to me for him as the low man

Where like at Houston I really liked him as the low man because he had to be very proactive I felt like his off ball instincts were good where he could t and still get out and maybe intercept the skip pass in the Pacers scheme I feel like he’s still a little bit indecisive

With am I supposed to be tagging here should I stay home on the corner and there was one where like it it it didn’t cost the Pacers anything because the corner shooter didn’t make the shot but he was pretty far off with a foot in the paint in a situation where you wouldn’t

Want him to be but that’s like being overall kind of nitpicky because like I said overall like he didn’t take a lot of shots he made two threes which is what you want to see he was opportunistic and I think that for the most part the best compliment I can give

Him is that like there wasn’t things that I was constantly writing down and being like like up in Toronto when he only played like four minutes and it was necessary and I get why Rick tried to four minutes was almost too long because it was like you don’t need

To stunt off of Grady dick in the corner on a Kelly OIC pick and pop with Grady just cutting right behind you like there was that was some of the gambling issues but I like I think overall it was the best game he’s played against the Bulls

So yeah they it’s interesting that they kind of needed him to play well and that game and he stepped up but what I think will be fascinating with him going forward for me there’ll be one lazy thing to say is does he keep shooting well enough to stay on the floor because

As they push for seating postseason whatever right a lot of what they’re going to do is gonna rely on trust they’re gonna have to trust two rookies in a lot of games and that can be very fragile with a first year player so if

He has a couple games in a row where the shot’s not falling maybe they they just won’t play him again for a while because you know you never know what you’re going to get with rookies they’re inconsistent as a scheme changes game to game even minorly that can cause issues

Um but the other thing is I’ve watched a lot of mad ANS with jerus this season uh the ball handling growth he’s shown this season has been meaningful to me like he can get past guys now he’s making good decisions with the ball and handling and

Stuff like I’ll be curious if he goes through a stretch if they continue to have him as the 10th guy where he doesn’t shoot that much at all but can still play a lot because he can keep it moving he’s a good cutter he fits in

Well offensively in a way that can be additive even if the three isn’t falling so from a trust perspective to kind of put this Broad and lazy because they have a month left and they’re in seventh like I’ll be curious how he kind of evolves his game to fit what they need

For the last month of the Season whether that’s him trying to continue to improve as a shooter continue to try to make plays or if he just says you know what I’m going to fit in I’m going to make the right passes and reads and for Ben

Shepard it was big that the P like no keep shooting I’ll be cares if he gets the same level of trust and Confidence from the team but you know how he fits in offensively how he continues to occasionally dribble and make the right pass versus what he continues to do on

Defense and if they don’t trust him do they just immediately go you know what we’re making Doug mcder guy number 10 now and you’re you know gonna continue to develop in other ways the M only have one more home game right like his chances to do that are going down

Quickly and it’s helped that he’s been able to play in these games I don’t know where you stand on who the 10th player if they even need one should be when this team is fully healthy but I’ll be curious how he kind of evolves as trust becomes vital to his minutes and play

Time and success for the last month here yeah it’s kind of curious because Ben was actually a little bit gun shy in that game to the Bulls like even throwing a grenade to jarus that kind of put jarus in a bad spot on the one deep

Three that he had no choice but to put up his first shot of the game yeah yeah and jarus then you know he does the one of the catch and shoot threes that he made was because his guy came all the way off to collapse on a drive from

Pascal Pascal made the right read and he punished that nail help like that’s what you to see from him and he has shown growth in terms of his stands still shooting with the Mad Ants like if you I tracked all those like not in these last several games that he had played with

Them but like he’s not made a lot of like movement threes and not just in the sense of like what we were talking about with regard to Buddy and Doug but even like you know sliding into passing windows or like doing stuff out of the pick and pop coming off a middle pin

Down like you’re talking about probably less than 11 of his attempts at the time when I tracked that had come off of any type of movement but for jarus it’s overall important for him too for the rest of this season and next year because when you look at it depending

Upon what they do with Obi toppen unless he plays at the three it’s going to be hard for him to find minutes and crack the rotation and playing at the three means he’s going to need to be able to do the things that you were just referencing and more volume than what

Would have been necessary if he had played the four even as I anticipated I thought it was entirely possible that he might end up playing some at the five which isn’t something that we SE I thought he’d start this season it’s crazy how different it’s

Been than I yeah I me from the point when they when they drafted him we certainly didn’t know they were trading for Obi or later would be trading for Pascal or would still have multiple centers on the roster so for him to get minutes it does look like it’s going to

Need to come at the three spot and like to your point about the ball handling like obviously he has experience having played point guard in the past in high school but like there was a moment in that Bulls game where like nobody’s going to pay attention to it because

Obie didn’t make the shot but he brought the ball up in a grab and go situation and I was like oh geez like he’s dribbling right into the teeth of the defense what’s this going to turn out to be and he slowed himself down and made a

Live dribble pass with his left to Obie in the corner like he just does some things like are somewhat casually dominant with him and not in the sense of like overwhelming people but like he makes it look so easy and to when you’re saying like who should be the 10th Man

Or like can he find other ways to affect the game even if he’s not making threes at the exact same clip like there’s almost been times where I’m like you know maybe you could give him a little bit more trust in certain situations because when they were down in New

Orleans and the defense struggled to start the way that it did part of the reason that was compounded is because the the Pelicans played a ton of Zone against the Pacers in that game and not just any Zone because they were putting Trey Murphy and Herb Jones at the top of

It and putting CJ McCullum in the bottom to try to protect CJ and also just to put tons of length against Tyrese at the top and there was possessions where you know Pascal jarus and Andrew were on the floor with Tyrese and they were flashing

Jaylen Smith to the middle of it and it was like I I just I really wanted to see like let’s flash jarus to the middle of it and just see what type of pass he can make out of the middle of his Zone because he does he has such quick feel

As a passer so in those types of situations depending upon what the opponent’s doing what the defense is you know maybe there are other ways because that that was in part why I thought he might be able to play some minutes of the five just because what he can do

Right as a short roller and the types of passes that he can make out of the middle of the floor so I did think that that was one opportunity was like ah I’d like to see what he could do as a connective passer against that type of

Zone but I do think you know that obviously the reason he’s getting opportunity right now is because other guys aren’t available like I’m not sure he would be getting these minutes quite frankly you know if Ben wasn’t injured if Doug wasn’t injured I don’t think that they would probably be turning to

Jerus when they’re trying to climb up the standings and make a run for the playoffs but the doors open for him so if he can do what he did against Chicago consistently I think that the option is there where like you could situationally depending upon what’s happening in games

Even if Doug is healthy be like hey maybe jarus does make a little bit more sense here because maybe he will stay down against Demar D rozan in an overtime period where dog’s just going to get hunted over and over again in those types of situations so I think I

Probably see what their situation is in terms of who the actual 10th man will be probably shaking out based on some matchups and what they need in the current game because that’s just what this coaching stuff does but also I think I’m almost more curious to know

How deep will they will they be willing to play in general in a playoff series because in part what the Pacer strength has been has not only been their depth and how many players have averaged in double figures and other stuff like that but because of how overwhelming their

Pace is and part of the reason their Pace can be overwhelming is because they’re playing a deeper rotation and having lots of guys that they can bring in and out are you going to be willing to be like hey we’re going to prioritize our Pace in the playoffs and play deeper

Or are you g to be like we don’t trust enough of these guys and does that affect our Pace I think that’s going to be interesting to monitor those two sides of that I agree I I think I lean towards when mcder is healthy put him

Back in as the 10th guy see how it goes and if he doesn’t look more effective or he continues to be a four for 23 point shooter which no one expects that not even me then maybe you you’d be more willing to go with jerus there but if if

They were like firmly playing or firmly play off I think I’ll play jerus the rest of the season but they can’t afford that given their current goals can tell you the other thing that the Pacers have done that I’m very intrigued by that’s jerus adjacent only because he’s been in

The lineups a lot they’ve done it two games in a row now a point guard and then n Smith Walker a four and a five I think that is a fascinating group given how they’re playing to get size on the floor and I’ll be curious if they

Continue to go to that going forward as kind of a change up unit because I think that is just endlessly fascinating there might have been an argument for that to them to look at that a little bit earlier against the Pelicans because of what Brandon Ingram was doing in that

First quarter because n Smith like obviously Brandon Ingram is making tough shots but like it’s kind of like what we brought up before we got on the podcast about you know TJ can do whatever he wants but Demar D rozan is still going to be rise up over him in mid-range like

Aaron neith wasn’t necessarily playing poor defense but Brandon Ingram still going to be able to rise up over him and they were playing Pascal and Jonas to start that game because they liked what miles can do against Zion sagging off and then building that wall in the way

That they did that they I guess like after halftime they did what I would have done which is they just put n Smith onto onto yonas and we’re like you know what if if Jonas beats us on post UPS I guess we can go double the post that’s

Probably what I would have done earlier but if they wanted to keep the arrangement that they were if they had played even bigger then Smith wouldn’t have had to necessarily be guarding Brandon Ingram to start that game so it is it is interesting that like from where this team started and them you

Know last year playing eight guard lineups that they can potentially put lineups out there with that much size at the same time so last night two nights ago for people listening they had a minute and 37 seconds of Walker nemith Halbert and top and Turner plus two in that four

Possession stretch a huge very telling sample size that I’m going going to base my entire argument off of for the rest of the time they had another stretch with Halbert and N Smith Walker cakam Turner so the starters except jarus Walker in for Andre Mard not as

Successful there uh minus three in a little over a minute but clearly something that they’re looking at you know they had topping at the four with that group uh but instead of sakam with Turner in there at one point like it’s just interesting to me that they’re

Going to that and having and relying on jerus in in situations like that I will be curious what that looks like going forward if anything do you have anything else jarus related Caitlin if not is this the shortest we’ve ever gone 49 minutes on three topics I don’t think I have anything

Jarus a Jason other than when you made that point about Doug like obviously if Doug just to bring it back to the Buddy thing he probably he’s GNA give you a better chance of replicating some of those buddy things and be able to get Tyrese playing more out of ball screens

Be able to do at least have a chance at setting more of the ghost screens with having some degree of gravity leaking out and doing it with moment than what the other options are so I kind of do lean toward you my guess is that they at

Least look at that but I I think that they’ll be open situationally as well to seeing you know how things go obviously they’ve been giving jarus chances I think that it’s been like we said very up and down four minutes almost felt like too many up in Toronto last night I

Had no calms with the fact that he played over 20 and was out there during the overtime given what the circumstances were so game by game game by game the the favorite way of analyzing things game by game that’s very tough for a person like me with numbers brand I’m glad I didn’t

Have to break out the calculator today Caitlyn and do okay D rozan mid-range percentage times defensive rebound percentage times missed free throw times made free throw equals okay 12% chance of overtime that was not a fun thing this was much more enjoyable this was great uh thank you very much for the

Time as usual uh we talked about it with the shirts at the beginning if you would like to become uh for those who don’t know the reference if there’s any non- Pacers fan listening I’m going to botch it a little bit but Rick Carlile talking about his team being top in offense and

I think last in defense at the time said even dating a pretty girl gets boring after a while if she can’t guard anybody and now we are here with the hot girl basketball and pretty girls can guard two shirts that you can get from Caitlyn’s Tu public page which you can

Find on her patreon it’s saying Caitlin where can people find everything you do about the Pacers right so my handle on X is C2 Cooper if you go there the link to the patreons there patreon.com basketball she wrote one of the pin posts is about the original t-shirts that I made that

Are like jump passes are good now there’s one about being a lifelong fan of Indiana that’s a longtime Twitter bit that I had there’s an explanation there’s my logo and then yes these ones Tony is wearing the hot girl basketball one which is a reference to just me kind

Of playing homage to the fact that the Pacers for a long portion of this season had just such a you know the offense was an Unstoppable machine in of itself that they could go go to Atlanta and win a game when both teams score over 150 points and then pretty girls can guard

Too is just me thinking that you know if if you have an alltime quote like that and you don’t make a t-shirt based on it what are we even doing here now and like they couldn’t really guard Demar de rozan but you know for two games against

The Orlando Magic in the OKC the pretty girls were guarding they were guarding they were hooping as they if you look on the internet you can even find a picture of me recreating the GQ photo with two of my that was so those were so

Epic what a day how long did you plan that whole release like with you you had photo shoots ready you had design like yeah like I had to schedule it with the two people that that were doing it with me and I had to tell them who they were

Going to be I had to track down a Gatorade T Tony I had to make sure I had the bracelets on the right hand so I could I had like my what the person on the left who was George Hill went and thrifted the black buttonup shirt had to

Had to go and look for that had to make sure like that the the Beanie was clinging into her head at the right angle and as people will know it was so detailed that we didn’t have David West and Roy Hibert because pretty girls who can guard don’t have to rely on rim

Protection they’re locking down the perimeter they’re guarding the yard Tony I didn’t know that part of the lore this is I I TW that I wish George was the Pacers just so I could show him this and say what do you think of [Laughter] this I just want everybody to know we

Did not take ourselves seriously it took a very long time to take that picture because like having a serious space while doing that is very hard like we were just laughing pretty much incessantly where did you get the green background ah so my sister who wishes to remain anonymous has a room that’s

Painted like a dark teal color and I was I asked her I’m like can we come take this photo at your house if you move the stuff at your wall and she’s my employed photographer graphic designer everything she’s like yeah we can take it here so

Then we just tinted it to look slightly more the green color like I told you Tony the tension to detail here that is incredible the behind the scenes that I have been dying for and I hope at least one other person I mean there was a slight video because like we

Were laughing pretty hard and at one point my sister was like come on like we need to get this and then she made a quip because I was like do we look like are our faces right like when you’re looking at the screen she’s like well

Paul George’s shirt is pulled over and I was like I’m not doing that like I was like I think that would to be a higher patreon tier wow wow I have I can’t respond to that I don’t think I’m supposed to respond to that that’s awesome that is

Fantastic uh anyway if you’d like to check out all these things that we are currently going behind the scenes on check out the link in Caitlyn’s bio I now own two basketball sheer wrot shirts uh and I believe that should be climbing fairly soon klin once again thank you

For the time we’ll be back Monday talking about the Pacers Nets game unless something epic happens in that game in which case I’ll just do it for a Sunday show uh we will see and of course their upcoming game against the Cavs and their very very very very very now

Important five game Road Trip coming up starting next week uh and of course covering that via riding along the way thank you everybody for the time catch you soon

The Indiana Pacers have undergone some changes in the last few months, including the addition of Pascal Siakam and loss of Buddy Hield. How has that changed the way they play? What is and isn’t working? And what has Jarace Walker shown of late? Host Tony East is joined by Caitlin Cooper from Basketball She Wrote to break it all down.

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12 Comments

  1. You can talk about ghost screening and this and that all You want. Pacers have a WINNING record since Buddy trade and when Buddy wasnt A starter and A LOSING record when He was A starter.

    Funny how that absolute fact is never discussed when the Buddy subject comes up.

    All i know is we are a 6th seed after ANOTHER 76er loss. We are currently a 6th seed.

    Thanks Buddy!! We knew You could do it. Keep that never made the playoffs in his entire career streak going. Longest tenure in the NBA without ever making the playoffs.

    Hes never even played on a team with a winning record his entire career. That streak might continue as well.

    Thanks Buddy!!!

  2. Here you are Pacer fans since Tony refuses to say it.

    Buddy took over starting job from Mathurin after Orlando loss on 11/21

    He was removed from the starting lineup on after the 2nd orlando loss on 12/23

    They went 7-10. 7 wins with ten losses. And he started some games after that too and they lost all of them except two. Ill get the exact number later since this podcast refuses to.

    7-10 with buddy as a starter and they lost 6/7 when Carlisle finally made the switch and removed him.

    Those are FACTS. It actually angers me that He refuses to acknowledge that since Hes a math guy allegedly

    Only thing fans care about is win/loss record. Not how many ghost screens he sets.

    Nesmith, Jalen Smith and Mathurin had a higher 3 point shooting percentage then Hield did with Pacers.

  3. I've yet to find a person, aside from Indiana truthers, that has this weird boner for Hield. Not mainstream nor non-mainstream analitics, not players, not anchors – Nobody gives a flying f**k about Budward "Gravity" Hield aside from Cooper (and some other Indiana geeks). A guy who got lucky to get into Carlisle system with Tyrese Haliburton, making him look more important than he really is. He's been a losing player before that and now, what a shocker, he gets his non-defending arse kicked in Philly. And Nurse already benched him. Is this a conspiracy? Another head coach + the rest of the world don't know how truly great Buddy is?
    These taint-massaging comments about LOLHield from Caitlin are getting less annoying and more absurd as well as funny, so I'll give her that.

  4. P.S. It's Vucevic (Vuchevich), not 'Vusevich'. Why do Americans keep fuking up European surnames? Is it really hard to make a 5 min. research?

  5. Why do we continue to discuss hield when he is off the team? Why can’t we talk about the actual team now? Buddy has never contributed to a winning team how is he so important? He got benched in philly already

  6. Caitlin Cooper is awesome, one smart woman. You can see they've went to Myles and said we need you to play your best. We're going to go to you a lot more now. Since Mathurin went down, he's really stepped up and they're looking for him. As team's adjusted, everyone will need to keep stepping up. Aaron Nesmith is phenomenal to me and Mathurin's not exactly guaranteed a Starter over Nesmith imo. I said before the year started that Nesmith could start and that I thought he even earned that chance last year. If Nesmith continues to ball out, make his shots. Drive the basketball and do what's asked. He's already our best two way player imo.. That said they could play them both at the same time also. I don't necessarily like to think as either one as a SF.. But both can play it, Nesmith is better at it. Even though both Nesmith and Mathurin should be able to play a lot of their minutes at the SG. If we could ever get a big wing. There are a lot of guy's that aren't great player's coming in FA. But a lot of really good rotation guy's. Not all of them the bigger SF I'd like.. but there will be a lot of different guy's we can pick up come FA. I was hoping last year we would have picked up Oubre. Not big, but he plays hard which I like. Jones Jr. was another one. I'll have to break out my list of guy's for this year FA lol. I have them marked.

    I like that Caitlin pointed out what I saw a lot of the time with Pascal before ORL. Idk if some of our issue's were getting familiar with a new system. We had a lot of injuries and needed to develop a new chemistry.

    Whatever it was, it's been nice to see Pascal and Myles most importantly step it up a lot. We need them more than anyone right now. They have been gaining my respect by their recent play. That chase down block from Pascal really gained some massive props from me. I absolutely loved to see that. I wish Nembhard would have hit one of his dang shots… but at least he had the awareness to save the ball from going out of bounds. He really needs to step it up Offensively. He's not been the same player at all from last year. Right now would be the time for Nembhard to Showcase himself and work on getting himself those touches. If he can make them. We need all the shooting and different Offensive options we can get right now. Myles has been fantastic. 👏 It was obvious to me that after the tournament ended. It was as if Myles took his foot off the gas. Started coasting a bit too much for awhile. But now that we're getting later into the season he's trying to step it up. A lot of the other Vets will be also. So it's extremely important that ours do too.. Pascal as well, if we're going to work our way back into the standings. I know what it feels like to get old. 😂 but we need that effort and those hard closeouts/rotations. Effort on blocks/rebounds down the stretch. Two thing's we need Myles and Pascal to both work on a lot. If Myles is going to stretch the floor a lot for Pascal like he wants. We need him to be the best rebounding PF on the floor. Myles needs to not die on the play once the ball goes up. Follow it with your eye's and set a solid boxout. Get elevated and go straight up for the ball. Time that jump on some Dennis Rodman type sh!t.

  7. Not securing that rebound at the end of the Bulls game had to be the most frustrating part. Outside of 2 missed wide open 3's by Nembhard. He should have went inside on the 2nd. After clanking the 1st. We have to be better.

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