Indiana Pacers Media Availability | February 7, 2024

Indiana Pacers Media Availability | February 7, 2024

You got got a chance to like get excited for allar weekend yet or anything or is it hard with the flow of the games coming every day no it’s not hard it’s not hard I’m excited about it uh excited that it’s you know in in uh you know my

City and that you everybody’s going to you know kind of come to Indie and you know get to experience that for that I’m excited and uh yeah I mean I have to be excited I have to plan all these things and I got a million appearances and uh

Just getting my All-Star schedule down uh has been hectic but yeah I mean you’re still doing that well on the flow of the Season skills challenge threep point the game am I missing anything that you’re doing uh no I don’t think so I think you’ll see me at every event

That goes on at Allstar week in some capacity to keep building on that I mean how does your week look like you said I mean like obviously for one thing it’s just a lot of your friends are coming to town I mean just like what all do you

Have planned beyond the stuff that you have to do just to hang out with all the friends you have coming in I mean it’s not really a ton of time to hang out with friends coming in I I wish you could see my calendar oh I wish you

Could see uh my calendar for for the week um it’s pretty it’s pretty hectic especially like Friday Saturday Sunday it’s kind of like start my day at 10:00 with whatever appearance Three-Point Contest practice another appearance another appearance another appearance and the game whatever it is you know

That’s just kind of it’s kind of how it goes but I’m not complaining I’m excited about it how many total do you have I mean like I guess tell me as much about that calendar as you can tell I me I really don’t know I really have to to

Get my phone to tell you everything I know I have uh Nike appearance on Thursday I know I got interview with Taylor on Thursday I got the W pod on Friday uh SAR Thursday Allstar ceremony tip off on Thursday celebrity game on Friday then the rookie or the The Rising

Stars game on Friday what am I missing what am I missing what am I missing it’s you’ve covered many of the big uh appearance at uh the 2K League showcase is that on Friday or Saturday yeah I’m not going to lie I don’t know a ton right now uh but you

Know I look at my calendar the days before and mentally prepare myself for everything it is called the All-Star break yeah it won’t be a break yeah yeah yeah I mean I’ve I’ve uh every a since I’ve been in the NBA I have I have been at all-star weekend which is pretty cool

Hopefully I can maintain that throughout my career um but yeah I mean I think that you get those kind of couple days after the All-Star festivities where you’re not touching a basketball and usually coaches understanding of that you know we probably practice on Tuesday for our game Thursday so it’ll probably

Give me that day off as well just a not touch of basketball I feel like that’s good for anybody mentally uh to kind of step away in the course of a crazy season but to be honest I’ve obviously been been uh been injured so I haven’t

You know those days that I I mean I was still trying to touch up basketball as much as possible but I think that break for my body for a couple days wouldn’t be a bad idea as well some teams and players struggle in this week before the

Break they have other things on their minds where is this team at mentally right now in these final four games well I think just approaching it the right way and uh understanding that we want to go into All-Star break strong um you know feeling good about where we’re at

Everybody get a break for themselves mentally and then coming back together finishing the season strong uh making playoff push so um I think that’s what we’re trying to look at it as I mean I guy you don’t even hear guys talking about their plans for break or anything

Like that just want to finish these last whatever it is now five games uh strong going into the break B unique question you probably been asked this already but you’ve been allar weekend in the past what do you think of having a court at the airport when people arrive I think

That’s fire I mean I I heard you can’t shoot on it that’s kind of trash but I do I do think the thought of getting on like an airplane was sweaty people from the court probably You’ seen all the memes the memes have me dying but uh no

I wish it was more you know I wish you could shoot on it or something or uh I think that’d be cool but um I think it’s cool I think like they say basketball is not just basketball and IND so uh the whole um you know court at the airport

And all the other activations they’re doing throughout the city uh I think is really cool they got my my my face on the side of the the Marriott I think that that’s pretty cool when did you have to kind of start planning this I

Mean to to get a sense of like what all it was going to take for you to get through the week like when when did you start thinking all right like this is what my weekend has to look like this is where I have to fit everything in I mean

How far back go uh probably like a few months before I guess I mean probably in like November December stuff starts getting planned uh I would assume that it’s like that for everybody uh just trying to figure out everything recently Rick said to us that he feels like the game is slowing down

For aony Smith a little bit I was playing with him these last couple years have you know Noti that and in what ways has he been kind of uplifting you guys recently for sure for sure I think obviously the more experience you get the better and the more minut he’s

Getting the better and I do think that Aaron is such a guy that plays balls of the wall at all times you know he plays there’s not many dudes play harder than Aaron E Smith you know so uh you can see him starting to you know when he catches

The ball it’s not just catching goal right away he’s working through his progressions of jab steps and moving the ball and kind of getting to the next action I I think that it’s been really good for him he’s really helped us a lot and I think that that the starting group

That we’re working with right now I think we got a good chemistry going I feel like we play all play well of each other you know our two of our best you know point of attack Defenders with Drew and Aaron and then you know playing with

Uh Mi miles and Pascal I think that it fits uh it fits pretty seamlessly and I’ve enjoyed it thus far what do you think playing with Pascal is done for him especially for one thing just the matchups the way they’ve changed I mean how do you think his game for one thing

He’s been allowed to do certain things or been in a position to be more successful because he has Pascal now they’re different guys that he can guard who guards him the fact that he and Pascal can kind of flip you know in transition and say okay you go here you

Go there what all you think has opened up in his game because he’s playing with Pascal now well I just think the year has been interesting for him just because last year he played so much small ball four for us and now going back to you know kind of his natural

Position of playing on the wing more um and that’s not just because of Pascal I mean Obie was starting early in the year uh we’ve you know jayen started for a little bit so it’s kind of just been uh changing throughout time but I think that him playing going to his natural

Fit has helped and I think last year of him getting that experience of guarding four men um I think that like you said it can seamlessly fit where you know if we’re playing a team um you know with two two wings and um you know one is

Kind of more you know aggressive more of the attack more of a score you can kind of put Aaron on on him and have Pascal guard the other uh I think that it just you know adds to our perimeter um you know our perimeter defensively question but Troy was pepper

He was telling me that he’s going to like doing an All-Star Game intros and all that he’s from Indie what does he mean like when you kind of hear him kind of come over a loudspeaker and kind of give you all the energy throughout the

Game I I think just the the the cool part about Allstar is just the comfortability that I’ll have within the arena you know I’m assuming that it’ll be the same people who work our games uh see Sylvia in the back and all the other security guards that uh throughout the

Arena um I plan to get to the arena the same way I do anyway I’m still planning on parking in my parking spot going down the hallway I’m not really changing anything so I think that’s the the cool part cool part about it and um you know

Just kind of have you know your team’s flare on it you know what your te what what is traditional to what we do and um having Troy and just all the other people throughout gamebridge and uh just seeing some familiar faces during the weekend I think is really cool tomorrow

We’re doing a segment all time all stars Pacers starting five and you made the cut what does it mean to you to kind of already be considered in this franchise as one of the best Pacers Allstars yeah I think that’s pretty cool um you know I

Think that’s not not for me to decide but um yeah it’s it’s cool to be somewhere and uh that’s something that that’s big for me being here is I feel like I have a chance to be not only a special player within myself but a special player for this organization

Moving forward and something that you know kids from from Indie when they’re adults can you know hopefully tell their kids about how I was as a player so I think that’s the cool part about being with an organization long term and uh that this is where I plan to be for for

The rest of my career so um you know I think that’s the exciting part about it how would a team of you Reggie Paul George dermaine O’Neal how would you fair who’s the fifth as of now Rick Smith okay well I think in a game of you know see they

We’re probably going to play some teams with some four wings so I don’t know I don’t know uh we might need to I love Rick but we might need to get like run our test or something in there to it was I don’t know we need to get somebody

Else you know to guard guard win but I think we’d be pretty good we’ be fun to watch get up and down Jermaine is a lob guy protecting the rim and and uh me Reggie spacing the floor with Paul attacking and I I think it I think it it

Fit well last night after the game there was a lot of Praise going around but Rick singled out you and and Buddy in that group at the end of the third quarter uh what was working in that stretch of the game yeah uh just playing hard really um to the to

The normal person I don’t think they realize how important buddy heeld is to what we do um even if he’s not shooting the ball the uh attention he brings and they can get messed up on defense is he’s the best in the league at it so

Um you know we love having him out there and um he was just great he he he spearheaded that whole thing and we all just kind of fed off him as a point guard you know as well as anyone that you got to sometimes get guys hot or get

Him a shot and if he’s been going through a little bit of a you know off shooting stretch how important is it to get his confidence going I he’s always confident you know what I mean I mean all he needs to see is one go in um so

We’re always trying to hunt to get him the ball and um he finds ways to you know mess up the defense and have them mess up switches and um you know I’ll get to the rim or Tyrese and Drew will get to the rim or we’ll get the ball

Moving and um you know the ball finds the way his the ball Finds Its way to a lot and um he’s one of the best Shooters in the game how about locker room chemistry personality what about him fits on a team and his valuable that maybe people like you said don’t realize

The guy never has a bad day ever um that’s an elite skill to have especially in this league people look at the money we make and say we can’t have a bad day um I mean that’s just not the case we’re human at the end of the day and the

Energy and Charisma he brings to the locker room is unmatched to delve into the just deeper in the concept of of gravity when somebody has I mean what’s why guess why does it have so much staying power I guess obviously even when a guy’s slumping that you still a

Defense still knows that it can’t give him any any space and like how particularly is important that just the way the game is played now to have somebody that attracts that kind of well I mean he’s been one of the best shooters in the NBA since he’s gotten

Into the league and um you know just the attention that you know teams bring cuz he’s a gifted gifted shooter and cutter and mover and passer um you know he’s a lot he’s underrated in a lot of those categories that I mentioned probably uh not just shooting but he’s not

Underrated in shooting but all those people don’t really understand what he what he does for an offense and you know as simply as being selfless as taking yourself out of the play and you know creating open gaps for the point guards he’s the lead at it I asked tyres about

This last night but it seems like Within game gam you’re always you know a little bit of trash t with your opponents and then after you guys high fives your buddies with everybody leue how are you able to do that like not make anybody so mad to still be tight with everybody and

Still make it a part of your competitive nature in a game I’m not going to reveal my SE sorry it’s okay other thing that happened last night is Rick said part of the pro of having Andrew in the starting five is that it’s easier to get you

Minutes after the start of the season when he to talk about you about your occasion spot how meaningful is it to you to have that be something he is saying now and playing every day yeah I mean I just try to do my job um the

Rotations in minutes are up to him um Drew has obviously played extremely well um Tyrese is who he is um just try to show up and when my numberers called just do my job it’s really that simple do you think it’s a skill to play hard

Like I don’t know you play hard Aaron plays hard do you think that’s a skill and if and if so how do you I guess cultivate that or get better at it and kind of spread throughout the team yeah I mean people seem to say you know you

Know these guys all they do is really play hard but if it were easy everybody would do it um you know it’s one of those things where having a a great motor and feel and just a will to outwork the other four guys in front of you and especially your matchup so I

Mean Aaron is he’s unbelievable um you know he’s diving all over the floor you know shooting the three great guarding the other team’s best player um you know we’re lucky to have him for sure how about the skill or the ability to get the crowd into the game I feel like you

Tyrese and Buddy might be sort of near the top of the list on on this team do you feel sometimes when you need to make a play or all make a play and then inight the crowd a little bit yeah I mean it’s just one of those feel things

You know you know I think we have a great home court so um anytime we can you know get a little a little extra juice in there you know it’s one of those feel things just got to do it think what was last week like to work through for you physically like where

Did you out have to go through to get you know how rough was it and that what you have to do to get back healthy yeah I mean it was tough um but that happens in 82 Game season you know just got to hydrate take care of yourself and um try

To get some sleep that’s really all that is I know you accept any challenge defensively but has there been any point in your career when you’ve matched up with Steph Curry and and really thought about that looked forward to that enjoyed that opportunity I mean anytime

You go against crates like that um you want to step up and accept the challenge and they’re obviously great great players in their own right but um you know it’s not you know one guy versus Steph it’s it’s 515 at the end of the day it’s going to be a group effort to

Try to contain him inity was something you wanted to be your community impact wanted to address uh there was um we did a lot of research as to what would be a good charitable effort in the Indianapolis Maran County area looked at a lot of different things but came back to food insecurity

Because it’s something that affects everyone in all walks of life um in Indiana it’s it’s not that there’s not enough food it’s it’s about logistics and getting the food delivered and so largely what we do is um we get the food to the right people that need it and so

Uh we’re very proud of it um we’ve raised over a half a million for this year and look forward to um a bigger effort next year but uh big thanks to Cory Wilson from our community uh U relations department Mike Preston and course clay for for all

Their help and Steve Simon is a major U donator uh Mark Bole is uh is is a substantial donator Joe Sunderman from Penn Station Subs um Jim mer and the Colts are a major Don and we uh we appreciate all of them how I mean how did you kind of get

From you what was step one I guess figuring out what you wanted to do to getting it underway well you know during during the bubble um with all the emphasis and attention on social justice the the coaches um formed coaches for racial Justice and all of us formed um bonds with local organizations

And we also had connections to the Obama Obama Foundation um and the equal uh justice initiative so you know when I went from Dallas to here um what you learn is that every Market is different um every city has different characteristics different personality different needs in Dallas I

Partnered with uh with an amazing lady named colet Lanigan um from mothers against police brutality and it was it was a beautiful two years I spent working with her and so here U with Cory’s help um we’ve got with L 93 Logistics cleaners and we’ve we’ve done

Something here that that is uh that we’re proud of that that is helping a lot of people and so um it’s going to be it’s going to be a lot of work and a lot of but it’s going to be well worth it how much do you think it matters to just

Maintain that perspective we’ve been in NBA for a long time a lot of guys are very successful women as well work in this space but to keep that perspective of okay there’s always somebody who could use our efforts well what what I’ve learned in life and what um most people do as they

Are around for a while is that um you know success is one thing being successful your job is something that’s obviously very important but real meaning in life comes from contribution and and finding ways to help others and so um I’ve learned I’ve learned that over the years and so this

Is another example of that and just you know if you’re lucky you run into people like Klay South in the airport you know and and it turns into this kind of a of a relationship and so um just very very very fortunate you know to have uh have

A relationship with him and and the Simon family and and the Colts and and Bole and and and uh Joe from uh from Penn Station so you know just want to just want to keep this thing going at at the highest level possible and this is

Not just a one-year thing this is going to this is going to go as long as I’m coaching here so so hard to Pivot to this but you guys did practice today was there specific Focus or anything you wanted to uh you know cleaning up some things from last

Night and getting a hit start on Golden State gold State plays a different style than any team in the league presents some very unique challenges you know with with curry Thompson and now kaminga playing at a at an Allstar level and uh and they’ve got they’ve got they’ve

Added some guys to their roster that a lot of people you know wouldn’t see his household names would playing very well so got to get acquainted with that um do the work that we need to do today and and get ready for tomorrow you mention you mentioned kaminga I mean

Just what’s you obviously had to know he’s a really great talent to start with but where where has he taken another level in the last couple we last six games he’s averaging 26 points a game right a bunch of rebounds um he plays the whole game he

You know he’s just uh he’s aggressive he creates possessions with rebounding he shoot the ball he’s scoring the ball scores at all three levels um and so it’s a major problem and uh you know hats off to Steve and their Organization for for developing him the way they have

Um we’re going to have to deal with them your reserves have been as good as about any team in the league what’s impressed you most about those guys and how consistently they’ve performed well yeah again I I you know Steve does a great job of developing

Young players I mean you know the year that they um Steph was out you know they had they played like eight or nine guys they had a bunch of young guys out of that group came Jordan pool who developed into a a hell of an NBA scorer

And a guy that was an in integral guy of their championship team two years ago and um you know and when young players have a chance to play with guys like Curry and Thompson and green they’re going to play better so they’re doing they’re doing a great job of utilizing their

Veterans to develop their young guys bit of a unique question but I’ve been asking the different players what do you think of the court at the airport to kind of intro Allstar Weekend people get here it’s awesome I mean I mean it’s and you got to one thing you got to say

About Indianapolis is that when they host events here I mean it’s it’s an allout effort they do it absolutely at the highest possible level and there’s there’s an element of of hospitality here that is uh I don’t know it’s it’s just at at at at the highest possible

Level what’s impressed you most about the second unit of this group the reserves and how well that they have consistently been able to put up some numbers when they’re call um I think the biggest thing for me personally is just uh like just what you said there’s a lot

Of guys that probably start on other teams and when the numbers called you know they’re ready and they’re ready just to um you know just play at a high level you know not even just offensive but defensively they’re flying around they’re making up for our mistakes at

Times you know if we start games slow um and they just run the system very well you know in its entirety what do you think I ask tyres what do you think of having a court at the airport people get here for Allstar Weekend oh what airport I’m sorry what

Do you think of having a court at the airport yeah I mean it’d be sick but it’s kind of a tease you know you don’t really have to actually you know hoop on it or what not i’ seen the Liz is on it reminded me like you know as a kid you

Go to like dick sports or Academy whatever want to shoot around they got the Liz and stuff but I think it’s um the ideology behind it sick you know just kind of encompassing what the city’s about uh as far as the hoop State and whatnot but um you know if you got

To like delay flight being on to hoop a little bit would couldn’t be too bad right you’ve talked more this season about how ind’s a big part of your life now being here so long now seeing Allstar here what does that mean to you and how excited are you for all those

I’m just really excited you know you know just for the city I mean I feel like they create so much buzz you hosting Super Bowl hosting um you know events hosting um you know final fours and countless conventions that come into town I mean it really is a sports town

And uh people to be able to actually embrace and feel it when they’re here is what I’m looking forward to the most just you know you can talk about any y you want to but people actually get experience for themselves I mean I feel like that’s going to be you know the

Dopest part about it how does the week look for you I mean like what are you planning on doing to start me like you got a bunch of impes like what’s what’s yeah I’m a busy man I I’ll be all around this city man I got some stuff going on

On my Foundation um you know doing some stuff I’m obviously doing the the skills challenge you know on um um Saturday or whatever that is and um um like I’m I’m running bro like every every single day like every hour on the hour I’m doing something you know just around the city

Just trying to be the city’s Ambassador you know just kinding to be the one of the representatives you know of our community in the city while and the team while I’m here so uh yeah I’ll be I’ll be all around you TI and Ben going to practice for the skills challenge is

There even a way to do that I don’t know I mean I think I might just you can watch film I mean I think that what was it was in Utah last year right you can watch film like how the how they had a setup there but there’s no really real

Real way to practice all about Instinct I think Golden State games have always been a little bit of buzz in the building when they’ve come to town what are you looking forward to this match up tomorrow night um they they play different than any other team in the

League you know so they obviously present their challenges um I think that they have obviously their syst has been you know working the click for you know for years now so it’s just being able to adjust to that system being able to uh uh adjust on the Fly realize that you

Know there’s some great players in team they’re going to make some good shots and um you got to tip your cap move on just get ready for the next play you know just uh really absorb the moment you’ve had a little over two weeks now playing alongside Pascal what’s that

Dynamic like and how more much more comfortable do you get each game you play um I think bascal presents challenges for just for the other team in so many different ways I mean he’s ISO scorer somebody who can fit right in with our system and defends at a high

Level you know was capable of getting other guys involved as well I mean he had a triple double know sometime last week whenever that was and um I personally enjoyed it you know he uh obviously presents more hype for us so defensively we’re in a better way and

Just watch them go to work at times it’s it’s just dope I mean he’s just really there’s not a lot of that guys can do with him I think Ty said last week I think after the the I think it was the king’s loss that he said you pascow

Hasn’t seen how fun this can be yet and it seemed like you guys took a step in that direction last night how how close or how far you think you guys are from sort of fully integrating him or or fully kind of showing him what you guys can be when you’re fully operational

Obviously Tai is a big part of that getting him healthy but we haven’t hit our strides yet I think that guys still have to get healthy you know I think guys are um we haven’t really played with our full roster yet and um haven’t really uh had a chance to really

Integrate our entire offense you know with him here just been glimpses and everything’s been on the Fly and on the run you know what I mean so um once we actually get to that point where we’re you know firing all cylinders you know he’ll be able to see um kind of what

Indie Bas Bas all about like he’s only got a mere taste one

Tyrese Haliburton, T.J. McConnell, Rick Carlisle, and Myles Turner speak with the media following practice on Wednesday.

0:00 – Tyrese Haliburton
9:10 – T.J. McConnell
14:42 – Rick Carlisle
21:45 – Myles Turner