Coach David Thorpe on the Current and Future of the Indiana Pacers

Coach David Thorpe on the Current and Future of the Indiana Pacers

This is Tyrese hurn and you’re listening to setting the pace Pacer Nation welcome back we are here with Coach David Thorp of true hoop he joined us last year we had a great time talking with Coach Thorp so coach uh thanks for coming back on how are you

Doing I’m doing great a great time of year to be a basketball coach and a basketball fan and an analyst between uh mostly Pro guys but uh I do I have some college guyses that I help too so I got four guys in the tournament and lots of

Coaching friends so I’ll be I’m very busy this week absolutely and we we’ve got a fun Pacers team here this season that’s really trying to take that next step from being a lottery team to making the playoffs and it looks like they’re going to make that they’ve had a lot of

Roster changes this year but you were in the building for Pacers Nets and you know that was a a pretty good showing by the Pacers defensively I’m kind of curious you know uh your early thoughts on what this team has looked like since they acquired Pascal

Seag you know it’s really been a bit of an unfair look because tonight not withstanding uh Tyrese just hasn’t been Tyrese he’s just been a dude but the Tyrese was magical before he hurt his hamstring really just a he was having a magical season I thought and that guy

With seak nard in the starting lineup you n Smith kind of solidified as the three well I I thought that group with the bench they have would be terrific and we just really haven’t seen it I’m not even tonight doesn’t count they beat the Pistons you know we uh I’m I’m

Rooting for Tyrese I’m a huge huge fan of his uh and um I think that if he gets himself going uh I think they can be a very Dynamic team um and I think Pascal was probably the best player they could possibly acquire via trade or even free agency so I think

That was a smart move by them just sticking on the Tyrese injury situation I mean obviously it started physical it was the hamstring issue and I think a lot of it also became a bit mental of just he’s taken on a lot this season he’s he’s blossomed onto the scene as a

Star super busy during All-Star break you know kind of rushing back trying to he’s got the all NBA money hanging over his head about $50 million on the line if he can make all NBA or not how much of his situation right now do you think is physical verse

Mental well so I’m glad you asked me that I’m not a doctor and a lot of a lot of people in the media of which I have a media company in true hoop uh people pretend that they have no F an idea what they’re talking about so I wouldn’t

Begin to tell you how much is physical I know what people are telling me but they’re not the doctors either so uh it looks like he’s moving okay not amazing I thought tonight was the best I’ve seen him get by people but again was Detroit so I thought those guys stopped

Competing whereas Indiana kind of sped sped up their Mojo Detroit was like a we’re done with this it’s not fun play against Indiana especially when you have nothing to play for I’ve talked to players around the league it is not fun playing at the pace the Pacers typically

Play so but I don’t think you’re wrong at all that uh I mean I think the point you made about the contract’s a big deal it is it’s just life generational changing money and it addition to the money he’s already guaranteed to make with his contract uh I he’s worn down

He’s been injured I don’t think he’s ever played more than 56 games in his career uh so that’s a factor um I will tell you you don’t have to have any of those things existing guys to get in slumps like one of the reasons why I

Have a business is I help players get through rough weeks games months or a month hopefully we don’t we don’t want to the last two months it’s a there’s a lot going on and they’re in their brains and well I thought Tyrese was great talking about the whole gambling thing

We just heard bicker staff talking about that issue with you know death threats for him or weird phone calls and texts anyway yeah there’s a lot on these players minds and uh I don’t know that I agree with how Tyrese is trying to solve the problem uh which is just keep

Chucking it and hope for the best um he gotta said that today before the game I thought but um uh it’s it’s absolutely changed I mean he’s just not the same player let’s hope if you’re a Pacers fan that tonight is the beginning of a a reemergence because he’s just a a really

Spectacular charismatic player when he’s going he’s talked a lot about how this team has changed since they did trade buddy Hill to the trade deadline and how it does kind of hurt the spacing a little bit for what the offense could have been but I’m I’m kind of curious

Your thoughts on how you’ve seen the offense change since buddy held left and was Delta Philadelphia and and if there’s a way the Pacers can kind of not maybe fix that issue but can kind of maybe replicate it a little bit with who else they have on the

Roster it’s my I’m sure it’s changed I mean they brought in an elite score that doesn’t really take bad shots very much in Pascal and um but he needs the ball some to score you know he does want to play with it some uh mostly has changed because Tyrese has pretty much been

Terrible for a long stretch with some exceptions and that’s a gigantic enormous contrast for what he was doing when he was playing the way he’s been playing more or less for a couple Seasons so um I think that they’ve added a real weapon that that has more of an

Arsenal a larger Arsenal than what buddy had I don’t think it’s a spacing issue at all I think there is a a bit of an issue in both n Smith and uh miles I think it felt like well you know we just brought in a guy that’s going to be paid

A bunch of money he’s going to shoot we’re going to get our shots too I I think both of them have been thirsty too much in games not every game not every possession but both those guys I thought had a tighter role a tighter role nus

Was catch shoot which is I mean shoot that all if V Guardia shoot it every time amazing shooter super proud of what he’s accomplished or straight line drive duck or finish strong when he starts playing with the ball I just to me he’s just not good enough for that I for what

This team can be they don’t they don’t need him to do that they’ve got other weapons they can use and Miles can’t wait to shoot it every time he gets it and and maybe he’s thinking about his contract situation up next season uh uh recognizing this is what happens a lot

When you’re bring in a player and people kind of know he’s going to get a big contract they start worrying about their dollars this is part of the NBA experience so I think I think they need a firmer hand uh starting with Tyrese and Pascal really kind of demanding in

The postseason we’ve got to do a better job of our best players taking the best shots or least controlling possessions and then if if you guys are wide open for a straight line drive or a catch and shoot three in the last five six dayses

Of the clock great um and so uh I think their offense can be spectacular guys again I also think their defense is much better and we probably should talk about that at some point it seems pretty clear uh it it’s not just Detroit or Brooklyn last you know this weekend it was OKC

And Orlando like there showing signs of being average which is what Denver did last year for much of the end of the season with their amazing offense of course they had joic but tyres is Denver’s joic if he can be that kind of offensive player and the team can be an

Average defensive team which I do think is possible they become a much more interesting team in the postseason and that that’s it’s a great point that you know I wanted to eventally make my way too but I think this is the perfect time to be able to do it is the Pacers were

Scoring at a historic rate for the a large part of know the first half of the season but everybody felt that it wasn’t sustainable because come playoff time if you can’t get stops you’re not gonna be able to get wins and it’s not realistic for this team to score 140 points a

Night and but give up maybe you know 135 or so we’ve now seen the Pacers scoring it has come down but defensively month after month they’ve also let up about four to five less points per game than the previous month starting at in November they were giving up 128 points

Per game right now in March they’re giving up about 112 points per game you know is it feel that hey you could sacrifice on the offensive side because you gotta get stops against the elite teams in this NBA yeah that’s a great question I think

That we we can’t listen guys I I I’ve done this for a long time I’ve coached a lot of amazing players and I’ve been analyzing the game since in the NBA since 2007 so I’ve seen I’ve seen this this kind of circus before we it’s easy

Easy to get her to take our eyes off the ball so to speak all right the ball is Tyrese helber guys if if Tyrese halberton can find the player that he was and there’s no reason why he can’t uh in terms of uh as long as he’s healthy like it wasn’t a flash

In the pan he didn’t do it for two weeks or even just two months I have no idea how good their offense can be and so if he can get back to that their offense I think can be incredibly potent and they’ll be better defense not because of Tyrese although I

Have noticed in competitive games because tonight wasn’t so competitive I think he’s trying more on defense and I give him credit knowing that his offense has been so bad he’s competing more in defense he is a competitive guy he’s all about winning I think I really I’m a

Huge fan of that part of his game is he’s not just a charismatic stylish guy he he wants to win but uh listen nar’s in the starting lineer for a reason his name is in Ben who can’t really guard doesn’t want to guard you know fill in the blank but

He’s you know he’s an elite Defender nart is and only his second season I’m actually writing about Five Guys that I think all under 25 I’m publishing on troop tomorrow that I think have All-Star all defensive potential uh or even better than that like Jabar Smith

Jr is one of the guys I’m looking at but Andrew Nar is one of the guys we’re runting about because of what he’s done defensively and even tonight uh uh Kade Cunningham was cooking in the first first half he was giving nard more problems than like Shay gilis and Booker

Gave him in Phoenix but uh they were tough shots and in the second half they did he missed 10 in a row I I believe that was the number 10 in a row Andrew was very hard to guard and then cakam came in with bad defensive habits in my

Opinion in Toronto where they switch everything and have for years and quite frankly they just haven’t I think someone called it a soul tax I think cadly and coer called it a soul Tex when you’re just stuck on a bad franchise all of a sudden he’s you know now he’s on a

Team that’s trying to compete for a top six seed and siakam’s defense has gotten better and better uh I think that’s and N Smith I think’s a solid Defender so yeah they could be an average defensive team and their offense shouldn’t suffer when Tyrese gets back to being the guy

We know he is yeah you talk about Benedict Ma and this is a guy that’s really interesting because he has really just in my opinion had an up and down second season and you’ve seen those flashes of really good defense but then you’ve also seen a lot of he gets caught

Ball watch and isn’t that great defender now he’s out with the shoulder injury how different does this make the Pacers look without mathine in the in the rotation oh oh oh they’re much better let just T it’s not even close they were much worse when Ben mat was on the court

That doesn’t that isn’t anything alarming he’s a young second-year player Uh Kevin Durant uh was a second-year player for OKC that was the first year they went to OKC and they were better when he was off the court they were worse when he was on the

Court so at most I think there’s three second-year players right now whose teams are better when uh when they’re on the court one of them isn’t Paulo banero by the way one of them is Andrew nart another is Keegan Murray and the third one is Jaylen Williams who’s the best

Secondy year player in terms of on court off Court kind of stuff uh everyone else is your team’s better off when you’re out so uh uh between Ben’s shot selection uh and his just inability to guard consistently because it’s been pretty horrific they’re just they’re just

Better when he’s out now does he have potential of course I’ve always seen him as a sixthman Norman pal go get Buckets guy I don’t think he sees himself that way that’s a whole separate conversation to have but he ain’t playing now I don’t think he’s back this year so I think

They’re better and I’m a huge fan of Ben Shepard I I don’t know if ultimately he’ll make it like a lot of players like him you got to be able to make threes at you know 35% plus rate he doesn’t take bad shots he doesn’t dribble the ball

Too much and he really tries hard he’s not good at it yet but he competes that’s a big step in the right direction and so I think he’s got a chance as well as jerus Walker who I was I had him in my top eight in in kind of when I

Evaluate all the draft guys last summer uh he and I didn’t realize though he’s probably a three so so he I really think not that you guys are asking me down the road but but I get asked all the time about down the road what the Pacers

Might look like I think he’s your starting three in two years when you’re competing uh in the East for something super special if he can do that he he gives them something really interesting and you got a small ball lineup with yakum at five and jarus at four with his

Length and athleticism and feel for shop blocking but he’s a long way from that now so I think both those guys could play some three uh they’ll have to figure out what they’re going to do with TJ I think I think it makes sense to move him and get

A real player in the off season um he’s done incredibly well but you guys said something about I think uh uh uh Michael talked about um the how how How likely is that they can depend on that offense in the postseason without defense and I think the answer is yeah not very teams

Can really lock in um and in the first round there is more days between games which helps it we all know how bad Indiana’s been on backto backs I think that’s a pace issue as much as anything else at least in the first round there’s more days in between so there’s some

Recovery period there and by by way their opponents have to go through that too so actually could play an Indiana’s Advantage a little bit but it’s it’s demoralizing to just not get stops and they’re I think they’re I just looked it up I think they’re 17th now in like the

Last uh you know 10 games in defensive EPM uh ear estimated plus minus on duckon 3.com which is what I normally use to evaluate it with metrics they were like 27th 28th 29th most of the season so and they played some good teams in that stretch so they’ve they’ve

Made some progress they have a long way to go but I I do think that uh they are not a team that that that I think can necessarily be counted on to lose in the first round just because they’re kind of new because of that style of play and

They’ve got three Playmakers with Nar being the third um and one of them with two of them are really dynamic in Pascal and Tyrese yeah I think there’s a lot to like about this team even even if they have gotten away from their identity of being you know all about you know an

Offensive team I think they needed to sacrifice a little bit of that to improve on the defensive side but I really liked what you said about Ben Shepard kind of vers jarus Walker both are very promising players but we saw that Ben Shepard while picked far later

In the first round down he had that experience coming out of college this is a four-year player and another guy you mentioned before andreww neard another four-year player do you think the NBA is is overlooking some of those players because we’re seeing Hai hakz Jr coming

For the heat another guy that was four years in college really being able to produce Ben Shepard I feel like there was low expectations uh coming into the season of would he even be able to get playing time now he’s really been part of this rotation and there’s been a lot

Of likes so do you think the NBA will ever get back to valuing maybe foure players a little bit more well I I wouldn’t speak of the NBA as a monolith you’ve got 30 competing franchises uh uh there’s at least one or two players in

The draft this year that is likely to be a lottery top 15 top 20 that are 22 23 I think I read one is 24 that’s not normal no you know uh uh the young man from Tennessee who’s a probably lottery pick I think is 22 23 I don’t follow the the

Draft too closely just yet we’re just in March when we get through the Nate tournament I’ll start locking in the draft in June but um I think the smarter teams I’ve always believed number one I’ve always believed trade down trade down trade down unless you unless you

You have that golden ticket in a spot as obviously there’s sometimes that is the case but uh most these players are much more similar Than People realize it’s just how long have they been you know playing college or in some cases International but I don’t think college has any Monopoly on Player Development

They don’t I think many NBA teams really struggle with Player Development and it comes at a cost because you just lose if you play that guy you lose the G league is supposed to to be an answer it’s not handled well as someone who has players

In the g-league some of them are really happy with their coaching and the overall structure some of them feel like I just can’t believe it’s professional basketball it’s embarrassing and um and so those teams don’t really take advantage of it very well those teams are probably better off drafting a

Player with some experience in college H because they’ve gone through lots of hours of shell defense and pick and roll coverages and all the things that colleges will do that some of these you know we can see in the G League a lot of these players coming out of the G leag

Night are not ready to play uh uh they may be used to good training uh and and plenty of reps and all that but they don’t really have a good foundation of how this game is played uh I think you’re going to see a change in in the

Gag ignite for example because of that and they might get rid of it I think they’re talking about it and with nil money I think kais will stay in college more and probably you’ll see a case where the most talented players come out and and we give them a lot of rope to

Learn and then the other guys will will stay in school nextt year long because they’ll make two three $400,000 and the NBA will get just a more a more Ready Player to understand how to win just remember this guys when it comes to the draft it’s always been

It’s never been about are they ready for the NBA it’s absurd they’re NE they almost never are almost no rookies ever Chad Chad probably was last year Victor clearly is now those are unicorns almost never it’s about as the NBA ready to draft you have they seen you enough have

They gone enough practices and watched enough film and talked to all these people and so I think if they stay in college longer uh if they’re at a good program they’ll benefit a lot more and be more ready to help an NBA team sooner uh and clearly it’s Ben’s proven I mean

The Pacers play Fast the decision making is quick he played at Belmont and he’s doing just fine I would say Dame Lillard didn’t go to a BigTime school he seems to be doing okay so um I think we’ll see uh more teams Rec recogniz don’t punish

A kid because he’s 2122 before he comes out if he’s going to be really good he’s going to be really good it shouldn’t matter if he stays in school or not I I wanted to go back to to the Andrew NIMH hard conversation because you know you

Talked about how good he is defensively how he’s going to be one of your top five players you’re talking about in your upcoming article yeah uh there’s been a lot of frustration I’ve seen from fans this year with Nim hard’s overall play I think sometimes if you look at a

Box score it might not be the sexiest thing and he was kind of you know labeled as the backup point guard this year in that kind of transition to into him starting now next to Tyrese and so maybe I know we talked before last year when you when you brought up how he

Reminds you a little bit of Drew holiday uh I’m just curious what you’ve seen from Andrew in year two besides uh just growing defensively in other ways he’s really kind of solidified himself as a starter for a playoff team I mean two years in a row we beat

Out two different lottery picks Chris Duarte is not even on the team anymore I don’t if he’s playing NBA basketball anymore I don’t know where Chris is I went to Sacramento but I don’t I haven’t seen him play much um not that recently anyway and then DTE got hurt of course

Uh but when he came back he couldn’t beat Andrew out and he beat maton out two years in a row this year they gave it to mathine and it helped that Andrew was was coming I think a kidney stone to start the year and had some injuries but

It it was matan’s job to lose in my opinion probably politically so like I think his agents complain how are you letting a second round pick who’s a point guard take our guy’s spot and they gave Ben plenty of rope and he just hung himself he just he just can’t guard

Again who knows what the future holds but uh listen I get my people that true upset with me when I say I don’t really care what fans think uh I really care what coaches think if they’re the ones paying attention uh uh you can’t start a bad defensive player at two when Tyrese

Hbr’s your one not not in the NBA you can play in a different league and do it maybe in the ACB or something but in this league to have two got back cour guys that can’t guard you can’t can’t win that way they they tried that and

They were 30th or 29th in defense so you’re talking about an elite Defender who is having to really adjust because he has usage rate I looked it up the other day is like 16% like he does not have the ball very much in his hands uh I think I think the

Coaching staff’s got a lot of work to do in the offseason they have to dramatically change what they’re running uh number one I think it’ll be better for Tyrese to get off the ball more early I think uh he’ll last longer not having to do as much and he’s certainly

Capable of doing it but cakam is one of the more gifted passing forwards in the league n hard’s an unbelievable passer as a as a guard and um I think Andrew’s three-point shooting has come around like 36% or so I haven’t looked recently uh but uh that’s you know they totally

Changed his shot uh the Pacers did and that’s just that’s a work in progress but in the postseason who do he guarding all those guys on the other team that can really score it won’t be Tyrese and certainly not Ben Shepard not anytime soon um I think it’s going to be him and

I I I said Drew holiday and the latest guy been talking about is Derrick White Dereck white who I think is having a phenomenal season all-nba level season for the Celtics but you never pay attention to him because of all the other stars they have Andrew Andrew

Makes winning plays like I said there’s only three secondy year players that have a positive impact when they’re on the game compared to and and he’s one of them and there’s lots of little things he does that I promise you Rick notices that’s why he’s starting you overall you know bigger

Picture of this Pacers team uh you know Tyrese hir will be looked at as the franchise player but also Pascal seak is a guy who’s been all NBA before you been a multiple time Allstar do you think the Pacers are better off being able to say

Hey SE yakum is our go-to scoring option on this team obviously hurn is more of a pass first guy but sometimes we’re seeing that siakam’s not leading the Pacers in shots sometimes he’s second or even third which feels kind of a little bit criminal but do you think that the

Pacers would be best being able to say hey SE yakum you’re our go-to guy you know lead us in shots each night yeah well first of all he’s not a guard and so I’ve coached guys that play with people like Joel embiid and Shaq and these great scorers you got to throw

Them the ball sometimes now Pascal of course can rebound and push this is where I think one of the biggest changes will come in the off season is these guys have never played with this a post player like seaka I someone wrote an article a few months ago that you know

10 years ago seaka is a Hall of Famer because of his ability to score in the pain he’s so Slinky and hard to guard uh for the Pacers he’s been shooting nearly 40% from three his free throw has been struggling but he’s making threes he didn’t I think he took a couple

Tonight hadn’t taken many recently but uh they just don’t know how to utilize him he they’re getting better at it he’s he’s sealing his guys more around the rim you you saw tonight uh uh he can he loves to drive and kick I noticed that

When he was in Toronto a lot and uh I don’t think they have to announce you’re the guy I think in clunch time especially it’s read the game so if Tyrese has but let’s say they’re playing the Celtics in the second round which would be amazing for Indiana

Because it means they’re a four5 seed or not so amazing if play the eight seed you know if they lose that seven eight game um uh if if Derek white or Drew is on tyres and he wants to try to create his own shot that’s not very smart so

They’ve got to go I think they have to be more deliberate at least a little bit because they’re very big with their Randomness move blur screens running around they it works for them in the postseason it won’t work nearly as much there’s a reason why some of these guys

Get more money than the others they can find ways to score or create better for teammates than guys like NE Smith and Turner and so forth so they’ve got to they’ve got to get actions with Tyrese and Pascal in my opinion with Andrew nard being the third tier of playmaking

On the weak side maybe come off a second ball screen or a third ball screen when those first you guys have so much gravity that can really distort the defense and then it’s a matter of hey uh they played I think it was the Bulls who have no one that can guard seak

Except for maybe kuso some to be fair he’s an extraordinary defensive player but not inside he can’t I mean I’ve seen sakam both for the Raptors and the pa the Pacers just kill Drew holiday I’ve never seen anyone embarrass Drew holiday he can’t guard Pascal he probably won’t

In the postseason they play because he really struggles with it uh and yet the Pacers didn’t really look for that very much I also think sometimes Miles Turner has advantages inside and needs to learn from Pascal just get big at the rim and then the Pacers guards have to find them

So the answer your question is they’ve got to do a better job of recognizing where’s our best matchup that can break the defense down and the case of sakam he’s a very willing passer and so maybe sometimes he overpasses not too often though but uh they’ve got to get that

Gravity working uh Steve K says you got to get the first Domino to drop I really like that Tyrese get it to drop with ball screen actions or quick attacks uh uh Pascal can do it a variety of ways and one of those two they both need to

Work together a lot and uh and that is g that’ll really I think enhance their offense overall in the postseason yeah I definitely felt like that game against Cleveland on Monday night that that was a a classic example of Tyrese halberton trying to take over there he did have

Some nice baskets but there was a couple different times when Carris Levert was switched on to Pascal or Miles Turner and they didn’t go to that and he was trying to take Jared out on the perimeter and it was like okay he’s trying to show he’s the guy instead of

Just taking advantage of the better matchup which is a big versus a small in the paint it’s easier two points so I I do definitely understand that and that Nets game too I thought one thing one aspect of of Pascal’s game that I did like when he came back in with the

Second unit after getting two early fouls you kind of saw him bringing the ball up to court more after a rebound and that doesn’t always seem to be the case when he’s playing with Tyrese but maybe more at that second unit he feels a little bit more freedom to be that guy

So how how do you think they can kind of find that balance or maybe it’s like you talked about playing Tyrese off balore could that be another way they Institute that yeah well you make a good point too about Tyrese’s disposition of you know I

Have to be the guy and and I’ll give you hopefully a 30 second story but I was working as an analyst for ESPN when the Warriors played the Cavs the first time so maybe 20 2015 that might have been ises that sound right guys I’m an old

Man so I think it’s 2015 and and Cleveland took a 2-1 lead and towards the end of game three and in Cleveland after splitting it in Golden State I texted our editor who’s now my partner Henry Abbott and said the series is over uh and he wrote back oh my God you’re

Predicting the Cavs an upside I said oh my God no I’m sorry the Warriors gonna win this from now on he said what are you talking about they’re down two1 I said yeah but Steph finally realized he have to be he doesn’t have to be the man

They’re blitzing they have no other way to guard him but to really Blitz and release hard hedge and he kept thinking to too often not every time that he had to be the guy and he finally just kept hitting the short roller initially was David Lee a couple possessions normally

It’s Draymond and uh I think you just realized I don’t care from finals MVP I just want to win well they blew him out in game four I think and game five and game six was close and nadala was the MVP was laughable because everything revolved on stopping Steph but Steph was

Not 24 years old so we have to understand Tyrese is so new to this super super starred him which he really is I was at I was at the Indie airport there’s Halbert jerseys nothing else wasn’t any Reggie Milli Jersey I said Halbert jerseys this is a it’s a headyy

Thing and he’s 24 my twins are turning 23 in two months I promise you my I love my children they are mature smart loving people they are not ready to be superstars in anything so we have to give Tyrese a chance to grow into this a

Little bit but I think Alex I think you’re exactly right as he realizes wait a second and I can just throw a b number 43 and go take my normally 42% from three rear end to some on the court and draw two guys with me sometimes or I can

Set the blur screen or the other kind of screens like and I can still get a good shot and also nard is happy to pass the ball um I think that when Tyrese uncovers that which may not be this spring and summer but I think he’ll

Figure it out he’s super smart and uh he just needs to study his Steph Curry and watch that series and realize I can I can just be like him because he does play a lot like him guys when he’s rolling he really does and he’s a better

Passer so it’s just going to be a bit and then once they figures that out again I think I really think their offense could be amazing last one for you here as we kind of wrap this up I I am kind of curious what you think this

Pacers team stealing could be come the postseason obviously they want to avoid the play in I think the six matchup would be good to kind of avoid Boston potentially until the until the finals of the East but uh what do you think the ceiling is for this Pacers te yeah I’ve

Been talking a lot about this uh on the one hand boy it’d be great to see them as a four and host those first two games imagine I was really that’s the I had never been to Indiana’s arena for an NBA game until last weekend I I think I’ve

Got five or four more Arenas to visit I’ve seen them all because there’s a couple new ones um and so imagine imagine that first game four five versus Knicks or Miami or whomever that’d be pretty cool but even if you get by that and we saw Cleveland last year didn’t

Get by the five seed in New York um even they did then they have Boston and they’ve done well against Boston but I think Boston would kicked their ass personally I just they’re just a much better more experienced team Boston’s charting five is just incredible them and Denver their charting fives are

Amazing um I think that uh they’re capable of winning anywhere at the six spot H uh so four five six they’re capable of winning round um Tyrese has to get back to be in Tyrese or they’ll be smoked out fast they won’t even make it that far they’ll be out in the play

In they need Tyrese to play much better uh and and and tonight I hope is the first step for that for him he’s made a couple of good games before and that’s okay too he was just bad bad bad bad bad and then it’s been bad bad good bad good

Like he’s moving up maybe we’ll see um uh but no there it’s their future in the next three four years I think they can be really Dynamic uh uh Boston may break a if theya win a championship this year they may decide to move jayen after all

At that point uh uh we’ve seen Milwaukee I think I think they can beat Milwaukee personally they have already before obviously I think they’re four and one against them so um I I listen they’re there’s such there’s such a crowd if Philly loses in Phoenix tonight I think

I think Indiana moves up a spot because I think they’re they’re half game behind Philly going into the game so by the time this theair is you know the next day you you’ll know um yeah think that uh they’re probably a one series and done team uh uh the postseason

Experience does matter in a sense of not necessarily just making mistakes but dealing with emotions I don’t I think veterans make mistakes all the time guys there’s no there’s no such thing as a rookie mistake they’re just mistakes but the intensity and emotion and stress take some time to get used to I

Speaking as a parent the way my kids first got sick was a lot more stressful than the second a third and fourth time uh and postseason is kind of similar it’s just hard to deal with you’ve never done it before in that kind of intensity the crowds in the regular season are so

Average compared to the postseason so I think the Pacers I I cover the whole league uh they’re one of the teams that are that I think they’re the most fun team to watch in League Pass when they were rolling I think that’s going to be in their future again they’ll be one of

Those teams like OKC that’s really got a chance to be special in the next four five four or five years or so yeah absolutely I think it’s going to be a fun ride to kind of see how those how this team grows in the next couple of

Years and this is just kind of phase one of of what they’re trying to get to but coach we want to thank you so much for your time for joining us today and we love to get you back on here you know during the offseason for sure to kind of

Talk about this team in the future you gave us a lot of good nuggets there about how they could go about trying to rebuild this team and just continue to try to grow it but uh I know you got a lot of stuff going on so I want to let

You uh spend this time now to kind of talk about what you have going on and maybe promote anything you’d like to promote oh sure thank you yeah I’ll be quick so uh every week we do two podcasts at true whoop.com and we’re a substack newsletter uh we write normally

Two articles a week at minimum Henry Abbott covers super smart stuff around basketball and I just do basic analysis of the game as best I can sometimes the game sometimes players sometimes trends that kind of thing but um uh uh that’s what we do every week at true hoop and

Then uh we started a business called the prot training center which is based on what I do my NBA players PTC recruiting where if you’ve got a right now we’re just doing guys in high school that you think can play in college we help evaluate their their projection for that

If we think they can play in college we assist you in finding a scholarship opportunity we’ve had a ton of really great success stories in the the year we’ve been doing this and then we also have players in the transfer portal uh I think there’s our I think they’re

Expecting 4,000 players in the transfer portal we we had four guys last year we helped three of them transfer one we told them to stay it worked out for all of them very well we’re happy to say and uh this year we’ll probably take a lot

More so if you have a right now again just a son and just basketball eventually we’ll probably do all the women’s sports and all the guys sports that are team oriented but right now we’re just focused on men’s hoop so uh you can find me on uh really the best

Way to contact me is uh uh Pro Training Center you know BTC D recruiting on Twitter um and they can find your show and ask I get my number too if they want yeah uh we can talk about that but I appreciate the opportunity to talk uh

About the Pacer is one of the teams I enjoy watching a lot hey we’re happy to hear that we’re really happy to have you back on like like Alex said awesome Insight coach we look forward to having that opportunity to do it again great PE be well guys

Alex Golden and Facci are joined by Coach David Thorpe of True Hoop. Coach Thorpe trains with players at all different levels, but specializes with NBA players. He was at the Pacers-Nets game Saturday evening and has been watching them closely all season long. In today’s episode, we discuss multiple things about this Pacers team:

-Indiana’s look since trading for Pascal
-What to make of this version of Tyrese
-An honest conversation about Mathurin…his fit with Tyrese
-The importance of Nembhard & how he landed the starting 2 guard
-Can this Pacers offense thrive in a playoff setting
-What Coach Thopre thinks of the Pacers rookies
-Ceiling for this Pacers team come postseason
-Growth from Indy defensively, specifically Siakam
-The importance of playmaking
-Player Development inconsistencies in the G-League
-Playing Tyrese off the ball more
-A Steph Curry story that could help Tyrese

#bluewirevideo #indianapacers #pascalsiakam #tyresehaliburton