Basketball, She Wrote Mailbag Road Trip

Answering post-draft questions about the Pacers

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

As you likely recall, I sent out a general call for mailbag questions following the NBA Draft on Thursday night. What follows is my answers to those questions, presented as a multi-media extravaganza, meshing the mailbag with the monthly patron-only popsicle content. While traveling to Frankfort, Indiana, I recorded responses to your inquiries about Jarace Walker, Ben Sheppard, Mojave King, Isaiah Wong and much more, but a few of the prompts just wouldn't be complete without additional film context. So, I also included some written analysis under the appropriate timestamps.

Intermingled with all of the super nerdy basketball stuff, you'll find my visit to Fresitas, where I tried paletas for the first time. Please enjoy! (Oh, by the way, make sure to stay tuned after the credits for an additional scene, wherein I reveal a secret).

Mailbag Timestamps:

0:00 - Hello!

0:38 - Demystifying the "move down for assets" trade with Washington

2:04 - General overview of Mojave King and Isaiah Wong

5:47 - What can we infer about Indiana's basketball philosophy for next season from the draft picks?

10:08 - Who should the starters be?

12:08 - Will Walker help solve the rebounding issues?

14:43 - What should the focus be for Walker over the summer?

18:24 - Plays for Draymond Green that the Pacers should steal for Walker

Like Draymond Green, Walker can facilitate from the elbows and has a sneaky knack for fake hand-offs and keeper plays. To trigger those types of actions, the Warriors will sometimes run what they call "quick" for Draymond. In the lexicon of the Pacers, "quick" is the same as "wide," which is a flat away screen set by the player at the top of the key for their teammate on the weak-side to cut toward the ball.

It looks like this.

Of course, in many cases, the catch for Buddy Hield isn't always that easy, which is why the Pacers will counter with "wide-stack." In that scenario, when he gets top-locked, he'll reject the "wide" portion of the action to become the stack-screener.

Here is an example.

So, what does this have to do with the Warriors? Well, Golden State is unique in that instead of always setting the wide screen for a shooter -- like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, or Jordan Poole (you know, back in the days of yore when Poole still played for the Warriors) -- they also call the play for Draymond. That's what happened in November when they were up 112-111 on the Kings with 45 seconds  left to play. Following the initial screen from Kevon Looney, look at how Draymond turns the ball downhill after faking as though he was going to pitch back to Steph.

Granted, Steph is arguably the greatest shooter of all-time, which opens up cracks in the defense that might not otherwise be there, but Draymond also deserves credit for the set-up, as well as the feel he can demonstrate when beating the timing of switches. There's reason to think those types of actions could grow to sit well on Haliburton with Walker as a playmaking four. After all, if Sabonis is going to stay attached to Looney at the wing, then why not Myles? Also, the Pacers can field lineups with any number of guards dotting the corners, which means the low-man responsible for helping at the rim is also going to be a guard.

It wasn't a regular occurrence in Houston's offense, but Walker would occasionally show a fake hand-off out of this baseline out of bounds play, either keeping the ball himself and finishing at the rim or dropping off for an assist.

For the season, Walker turned the ball over on almost 20 percent of his drives and nearly attempted more runners (50) than shots at the rim (53). Mastering the art of the fake hand-off out of "wide" action has the potential to provide him with more straight-line driving angles, while also meshing with both Haliburton and Turner.

21:40 - What are some possible pet plays the Pacers might run for Walker, Sheppard, King, and Wong?

In keeping with the "keeper" theme, the Summer League Pacers should consider getting Isaiah Wong involved with Walker. Miami started a lot of plays last season with Wong spaced in the left corner, waiting to come off a pindown into a dribble hand-off. That's one of the most common actions in the NBA, and the Pacers are no exclusion. That said, when I was doing my deep dive on Bobi Klintman, this play from the game Wake Forest played against Miami stood out. In essence, Wong and his ability to get buckets basically act like a decoy. With Wong standing near to the weak-side block (on the left side of the floor), he appears as though he is going to receive a pindown to turn the corner with the ball. Instead, Jordan Miller fakes and keeps the hand-off with Wong, which allows him to skate past Klintman.

The Pacers don't have a perfect facsimile for that in their current playbook; however, during the minutes when James Johnson got pressed into action, they would run a stagger for Buddy as false action, with the savvy, veteran forward flipping around as the first screener and keeping for a downhill slam. This could be a useful way to involve Wong, Walker, and Sheppard at the same time.

Of course, as a tough shot-maker, Wong is primarily wired to score-first, so perhaps the Pacers should flip back the pages in their playbook by a few years to those that were bookmarked for Caris LeVert. Think back to the tight game the Pacers played against the Warriors during the 2021-22 season. In order to tether Draymond outside the paint, the Pacers turned to horns twist, wherein LeVert would receive a screen from Turner at one elbow before turning back into a screen from Sabonis at the other. With Turner exiting to the ball-side corner, that meant Draymond wasn't available to tag on the back-side of the action -- although he did straddle the paint.

For Wong, this will be like the equivalent of curling up with a good book, as Miami would also spam this action for the shifty guard at the end of games. When teams dropped, he got downhill. If they ducked under, he would pull-up. And when they switched the first screen and chased over the on second, allowing him to attack with the four-man as the on-ball defender, he would do this: going to work 1-on-1 and making it seem as though he could get to his spot in his sleep.

As for Sheppard, he never gets tired. He posted a usage rate over 25 percent at Belmont; and yet, he's always making quick-decisions and re-spacing the floor, whether screening, or cutting. Granted, some of that is a function of Belmont's fast-paced, motion offense, but he also squeezes every last drop out of actions that are called for him. Starting off with what looks like a UCLA cut, this play is designed for him to intentionally fake and reject the high-post backscreen after passing to the wing. From there, he normally gets the ball back and flows into high pick-and-roll. But, with his defender denying the throw back, watch what happens next. Rather than just circling out of the play, he curls the high-post backscreen, stops on a dime, and then cuts back to the ball, effectively writing his own alternative ending.

Taken altogether, that's like a combination of early last season when the Pacers would have Andrew Nembhard feign and abort a UCLA cut before circling back behind the basketball mixed with the off-ball screen and rescreen by the same screener for the same cutter that they run for Buddy Hield.

Put simply, Sheppard is going to fit right in. In part, because the better answer to this question for him is that plays don't have to be run for him to fit right in. He's going to slide and loop into the eyeline of his teammates, and as a juxtaposition to that advantage, wherein he kept playing through the breakdown, he can find the advantage and continue it, including when he isn't directly involved.

Turning now to Mojave King, he's very resourceful. When he sees a back, he back-cuts. The G League Ignite took advantage of that trait by scheming for it, entering the ball to the elbow and then setting consecutive pindowns like a façade -- especially against top-locking defenses.

The Pacers already have that in their wheelhouse, and when the basket cut isn't available, they get to the next action, with the cutter ghosting a flexing screen for the player in the opposite corner, flowing into empty-side pick-and-roll.

Those types of play progressions weren't always in play for the Ignite with a roster full of young teenagers, but maybe all of these examples can coalesce in Las Vegas for the Summer League Pacers. Who knows, maybe there will be Wong and Walker fake hand-offs, with Mojave cutting in and around the action and Sheppard sliding into passing windows along the three-point line? We can dream!

26:44 - How to maximize Walker, Turner, and the offense overall

30:54 - Managing development and minutes with Buddy Hield and T.J. McConnell still on the roster

35:08 - Do the Pacers have too many guards?

38:50 - My arrival at Frankfort, Indiana

39:38 - Introducing Fresitas (aka my new favorite paleta hang)

40:40 - Level of surprise at who the Pacers drafted (namely, more guards)

42:06 - Will the Pacers lead the league in poster dunks next season?

43:51 - Improvement areas for the Pacers, other than defense and rebounding + the strangest popsicle flavor I've ever heard of or tried

48:01 - Will Cash Considerations develop into a star for the Pacers?

49:31 - Will the Pacers run inverted PnR with Walker-Haliburton?

Here's the thing: Myles Turner had some intriguing moments as a driver last season. He almost exclusively drives to his right, and he can't really change angles, but this is just so elegant. After Haliburton throws the ball to Turner popping out of stack pick-and-roll, look at how he greases the wheels by setting a short-angled, inverted screen at the elbow. In addition to evading the dig down with an around the back dribble, Turner finishes over Gobert at the rim, thanks in part to the snag at the elbow from Haliburton.

Additionally, there was also once this intriguing, and perhaps unplanned, wrinkle out of "wide-stack," where McConnell, who teams tend to duck under against, skipped the ball screen for Turner to continue on what became inverted pick-and-roll.

To my recollection, there aren't many, if any, other instances of possessions like this, where Turner became the ball-handler out of either a set play or an improvisation. As such, given that Turner also made strides stepping out of his stride-stop and staying on balance, it doesn't seem likely this will be regularly incorporated for Walker, if it wasn't for Turner. That said, the Pacers are very active at ghosting the switch and/or reigniting possessions with ghost screens. In that sense, in situations where the ball comes to rest in his hands against an unfavorable match-up, it's possible he might receive some screen help to create a moment of hesitation.

Of course, he'll have to be less hesitant in the reverse, either pulling-up to combat the under or demonstrating a mean streak with a shoulder bump, which means using his physical strength rather than just being physically strong.

51:33 - Walker's lesser-discussed attributes

52:49 - What popsicle flavor best represents Jarace Walker?

53:51 - Thank you and Goodbye

54:33 - But wait, I have a secret to share!