On Tyrese Haliburton's progress with Team USA

And how it applies to the Pacers

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

After signing a max contract extension and covering the most recent addition of SLAM Magazine, the Summer of Tyrese Haliburton is about to stretch into late-August, as Team USA plays the first of three FIBA World Cup group games in the Philippines against New Zealand on August 26, followed by Greece (Aug. 28) and Jordan (Aug. 30). Of course, just because the red, white, and blue's 5-0 record from the friendlies counts for naught, doesn't mean that the tune-up schedule was meaningless as it pertains to gaining a peek at what's to come for the star guard, both in pursuit of a gold medal as well as during the upcoming regular season,

As such, here's what to watch for from the adventures of FIBABurton, with specific reference to areas of need that could apply to the Pacers, headed into the fourth year of his career.

Off-Ball Movement

Midway through the first quarter, when Haliburton enters the game to play with the bench, he occasionally shares the court for a brief spurt with Jalen Brunson, which means he also shares point guard duties with Jalen Brunson. This was especially the case in the match-up against Spain, when the opposition mixed in some extended ball pressure. During that stretch, the clash of play-styles, as far as how each of them move around the court, was evident. Whereas Haliburton pounces quickly, hitting the moving target, Brunson is more methodical, tunneling to his spot and waiting for the defense to commit before making the kick-out for the extra pass.

Last season, when considering total touch time as a function of touches multiplied by average touch length, Haliburton had the ball 36.9 percent of the time for the Pacers (sum of all touch time), compared to 38.8 percent for Brunson with the Knicks. Granted, Haliburton didn't shoot as often as Brunson, and those marks aren't as heliocentric as the ball-dominance of, say, Luka Doncic with the Mavericks (41.4 percent), but neither of them spent as much time authoring their own involvement away from the ball with their respective NBA teams as they have thus far for Team USA. Meanwhile, the second unit also runs offense through Paolo Banchero at the top of the key and plays with multiple ball-handlers in transition, so the whole off-ball thing applies even more so to Haliburton than Brunson, who predominantly steers the ship for the starters.

As can be seen from that swing-swing pass to the corner against Spain, Haliburton has found spots to keep the ball moving as a connector, but he could stand to be more active moving his body to find the open spot. Take this possession from the exhibition opener against Puerto Rico. When Cam Johnson drives baseline, Haliburton needs to make himself available by drifting to the corner. Instead, he stays hidden behind the weak-side zone, which leads to a turnover as Johnson attempts to contort himself into feeding Jaren Jackson Jr. as the only available option.

A similar outcome also played out against Greece, when Haliburton started to shake up from the corner as Austin Reaves was driving baseline, rather than staying put.

Likewise, although he came up firing during the third quarter against Germany, changing the complexion of the game with his hot shooting, as he rose up out of a dribble hand-off, walked into a shot in transition, and drained a step-back triple against the zone, there were still areas where he could be more opportunistic with his spacing, particularly around the gravity of Anthony Edwards. With Edwards driving down the lane and attracting a crowd, Haliburton has the option to punish the stunt by drifting to the corner, setting up the shortest and easiest pass for a player who doesn't always recognize the next read.

That said, when Haliburton is open, how about giving him a touch?

On the surface, given how often he plays out of ball-screens, all of this may seem insignificant with regard to the Pacers. After all, according to Second Spectrum, Haliburton ranked fourth in picks per 100 possessions last season, trailing only James Harden, Luka Doncic, and Chris Paul. Put simply, given his artistry as a creator, what circumstances would warrant displacing him from initiating offense, when, quite frankly, there aren't that many circumstances that warrant it with Team USA (i.e. there's a reason he closed the game against Germany!). Well, consider the match-up with the Heat last season. During his 43-point scoring outing, in which he hit a franchise-record 10 three-pointers, including the eventual game-winner, he mainly attacked Miami's switches by hunting the switch pocket, pulling-up from long-distance during the split-second -- or longer, if the switch isn't on point -- when one defender hands off the ball-handler to another. But, what about when the defense is watertight, connecting at the point of the screen and providing less space to stop and shoot? In the prior game, when he was held to only one point and never scored a field-goal, there were a few possessions where he got caught spinning his tires against Bam Adebayo while attempting to go right at the switch.

If and when the Pacers return to the playoffs, and opponents come ready with exaggerated game-plans to bottle up Haliburton and protect mismatches, there might be some merit to searching for ways that he can attack switches through closeouts. For example, look at what happens when he advances the ball to Andrew Nembhard on this possession following the switch. When Nembhard sends penetration toward the big, notice how Adebayo's natural tendency is to help, creating a guard versus big closeout for Haliburton.

Granted, that might not have been an intentional strategy nor will it necessarily be a frequent strategy, but the advantage that comes from driving the big with Haliburton getting off the ball goes to show that the experience he gains sliding into the eyeline of other ball-handlers at the World Cup could potentially turn out to be useful for the Pacers, as well as the long-term development of Andrew Nembhard.

Screen Navigation

At the end of the season, Haliburton offered up an honest self-assessment of his defense at the point of attack during exit interviews.

"I feel like I'm in the right spot a lot of times," he explained. "It's just about getting overpowered. There's a lot of guys who are just stronger than me."

There's also been several players who are just stronger than him in the run-up to the World Cup. When defending the pick-and-roll, he's still getting clipped frequently on screens, which forces the screener's defender to switch. Whether he also switches, though, running the seam in front of the screener after attempting to chase over the screen, has been hit (no pun intended) or miss. At times, he's gotten screened out of the play and stayed out of the play, relying on teammates to bump the roller and collect the rebound while outnumbered.

To be fair, that was during the third quarter of an exhibition game in which Slovenia was without Luka Doncic and Team USA was up by 20+ points. Here, the score is considerably closer, and he still gets knocked off the scent, requiring a kick-out switch, with him peeling off to the perimeter, Banchero switching onto the ball, and Josh Hart sliding over from the weak-side corner to take the screener while committing the foul as an undersized rim protector.

None of that is particularly atypical from last season, except for the fact that he's also exhibited some trouble getting around pindowns and off-ball actions. For example, the overall process on this possession, with Bobby Portis switching the curl, Banchero rotating over to help on the mismatch, and Johnson helping the helper and closing out to the corner, papers over how he ran into contact on the screen and then ended up caught on the high side of the post-up.

Still, he's had some standout moments on that end of the floor; it's just that most of them have come when screens aren't involved. He stopped a 2-on-1 fast-break entirely by himself, bluffing to create indecision and then stripping the ball on the way up. His closeouts, in which he can run a shooter off the line and still recover to contest with his length, remain menacing, and his sense for sniffing out passing lanes continues to be as keen as ever.

In that regard, this is when he's at his best. With Mikal Bridges impacting the passing angle with his sprawling limbs at the point of attack, Haliburton tracks the ball while also maintaining awareness of his man sinking to the corner, nabbing the interception.

Bruce Brown isn't quite as sticky as Bridges, nor does he have the same measure of wingspan to weaponize like rotating blades in a fan, but that's the type of relationship the Pacers need to be able to replicate in the starting lineup with more effectiveness: cashing in on Haliburton's instincts defending in the gaps while keeping him out of ball screens as much as possible.

Defensive Rebounding

Of course, in order for him to defend away from the ball, he has to be able to hold up his end of the bargain on the glass. Last season, according to Second Spectrum, Haliburton's total rebound percentage (6.3 percent), ranked in the 18th percentile. For the most part, he doesn't stand and watch or zone out on box-outs. He finds a body. The problem is, those bodies, by virtue of the fact that he's generally cross-matched onto lower usage wings, are bigger than his.

For example, look at this possession from the end of the first quarter against Spain and notice how the player who Haliburton is guarding motions for the ball-handler to let the ball fly with the clock winding down before crashing hard from the corner.

There's two takeaways, there. On the one hand, Haliburton face-guards on the box-out, rather than turning his body, and he still gets outmuscled. On the other hand, however, that technique of going chest-to-chest, as a means of compensating for what he gives up in size and strength, can make it more difficult to jump and spot the ball on the ricochet.

Meanwhile, those types of mismatches have also existed on possessions featuring wing-initiated offense. As a wrinkle, especially when the team plays small with Banchero at the five, Team USA has tried to defend baseline plays with 1-3-1 zone. In that scheme, Haliburton operates like a cornerback and is responsible for taking any pass entered above the free throw line. Once that pass happens, everybody is supposed to match up and find a man, which has come with a bit of a learning curve. In this instance, switching from zone to man goes to plan, but when the ball gets swung to the player with whom Haliburton matched-up, he once again requires a kick-out switch and never manages to gain the upper hand while attempting to peel off to the corner.

As a result, Spain gets another chance, just like the many chances that opponents of the Pacers got last season. That's not all on Haliburton, obviously; however, for a team that ranked dead-last in opponent offensive rebounding rate last season, it does pose an interesting conundrum as to how the Pacers can improve at finishing stops with rebounds while also optimizing him as an aerial ace in passing lanes. Similar to his role with Team USA, the answer might still have to exist on the other end of the floor, fighting the possession war not with strength but with even more added speed. In the meantime, he's being pressed to match the physicality of a more physical game, which will perhaps condition him into a meaner-streak headed into next season.

Hey, it's possible! It may not have been as flashy as his flurry of made threes, but he went to battle late in the game against Germany. During crunch-time, when he re-entered to replace Bobby Portis for the final three minutes, he was effectively defending at nominal four in order to keep Mikal Bridges attached to Dennis Schroder, with Edwards taking the assignment against Franz Wagner. Just to emphasize, this isn't a switch. Haliburton is deliberately matched up with Daniel Theis on this possession, which means he has to swim the post and keep his current Pacers teammate off the glass. In the end, he accomplished both -- without requiring help.

It wouldn't be realistic to expect him to do that for an entire game, but the the fact that he held up that sturdily for a possession is a step forward from where he started during exhibition play, not to mention where he finished last season.

To that point, this sequence is a perfect summary, both in execution and as an encapsulation of what he could add to the Pacers that isn't always seen with the Pacers. This time, when Haliburton switches the ball screen and Josh Hart kicks him out to the corner as the screener is rolling, Indiana's star guard purposefully backpedals to find a body. Then, with his usual exuberance, he skips down the floor with scissor steps in search of moving targets. When Banchero passes up the open shot, Haliburton spaces to the corner. That's a departure from what typically happens for him in the NBA, when he has to finish possessions pounding the ball out of the pick-and-roll if the first action goes nowhere. In the end, he still salvages the possession -- just in a spot-up role, staying shot ready and using a slick move to set up Banchero for the easy score. In essence, it's an amalgamation of what he already does mixed with the areas of his game he still needs to build out, physically as well as metaphorically.

For the Pacers, he's an All-Star and many of those traits, with the most prominent being his sublime passing, have translated to international play while surrounded by more talent. When the games start to count, it will be worth monitoring whether the same can be said in the reverse, with what he learns while at times playing a role for Team USA potentially molding him into, quite possibly, an even more complete star.