Is Ty Lawson the Answer for the Indiana Pacers Bench?

Could Ty Lawson, waived by the Rockets after a poor season off-court struggles, step in and help salvage an Indiana Pacers season on the brink?

In a game of NBA basketball, two teams each consisting of a five-man starting lineup face off. Those five players are substituted for other players on each roster, and we like to call this a rotation. The rotation is important because, as it currently stands in the NBA, baskets are still worth two or three points regardless of whether the starters or reserves are in.

Maybe we should let the Pacers know about that rule.

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Jest aside, bench play has seemed to become the Achille’s heel of the blue and gold ever since the team made it back to the throne of playoff relevance. They were 29th in bench points per game in 2012-13 and 28th in 2013-14. In the mess that was the 2014-15 season bench play actually turned out to be a bright spot (3rd) but that was widely because there was very little difference in talent between the starters and reserves. And that trend didn’t continue into this year (23rd).

The resounding diagnosis for this lackluster group is touted by many fans to be a lack of a decent backup point guard. That argument certainly has some substance, because the assist numbers off the bench have been lacking as well. During each of their two Eastern Conference Finals seasons, the Pacers were dead last in assists per game off the bench with a measly 4.2 APG each year.

When you count down the list of backup floor generals for the Pacers over the past few years, those numbers start to make a lot of sense: C.J. Watson, D.J. Augustin, A.J. Price, T.J. Ford. In addition to fitting into the Pacers brand of having similar names, they unfortunately also shared a tendency for poor production on the floor. The bench as a whole has seemingly suffered a result.

The Pacers tried to remedy this last summer by using their second-round draft pick on (and offering a guaranteed deal to) Joe Young, a standout scorer from Oregon. Though he has showed signs of life during times of injury this season — mainly by scoring — a healthy Pacers roster leaves no room for a mistake-prone Joey Buckets, even with an unfair amount of nepotism on his side.

Enter Ty Lawson, who was waived by the Rockets after a poor season and struggles off the court that resulted in lost time on the court. Signing Lawson was a gamble by Larry Bird, a man whose gambles include the ever-so-entertaining Lance Stephenson but also the ever-so-Evan-Turnerian Evan Turner. Lawson brings baggage, but also a history of almost averaging a double-double in his peak years in Denver.

We only got a tease of his capabilities before an ankle injury sidelined him for a couple of weeks, but now that Lawson has a few full games under his belt the hype train has taken off. It’s hard not to be thrilled when you see him burst away in transition and nail a 3 or throw a crisp pass to an open man, and the box scores are also showing some promise.

.@TyLawson3 moving it up the court to @masfresco: https://t.co/p6BR7mNZ2F
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) March 27, 2016

In his very small sample size (he has played just 101 minutes with the Pacers), Lawson is averaging 11 points and 6.8 assists per 36 minutes. It’s probably not fair to use per-36 stats on a player that isn’t going to be a starter, but since half of the Pacers fandom is already at George Hill’s throat and on the T-Law Train, it’ll work for now.

Would these stats be sustainable with a larger sample size and increased minutes? Who knows. Are they fun to ogle at anyway? You bet they are.

Then again, the team overall has been worse with Ty on the floor. In his 101 minutes, the Pacers have been outscored by 5.3 points per 100 possessions, mainly due to the sad 94.7 points per 100 the team has put up with Lawson on the court. Since Lawson arrived in early March, the team hasn’t been great overall with George Hill on the court either. They have played opponents exactly to a draw in his past 381 minutes, but that is almost entirely due to bad defense since the Pacers have scored (and allowed) 103.6 points per 100 with Hill on the floor in this stretch.

Going back to the hype train and George Hill hate, the answer to the question that’s been flooding Twitter every time Lawson hits a jumper is “No.” Lawson, who has played 6 games, none of which he’s played more than 16 minutes, should not start over Hill, who’s been a rock for the Pacers during the Frank Vogel era (what happened to the Hometown Hero sentiment, guys?).

To even consider it at this point is crazy. The sample size of Lawson’s good personal stats, and bad teamwide production with him on the floor, is too small to make a drastic lineup change, and the numbers still support Hill.

Yes, Hill is frustratingly passive at times and has seemingly been to eager to relinquish scoring duties to Monta Ellis, but he’s good for consistent double-figure games, a few dimes, and a deadly corner-3. That’s just fine for a point guard on a team whose leading scorers are wings who can handle the ball.

Lawson could probably put up 6 or 7 assists as a starter on this team, but it wouldn’t flow well within the framework of the starting offense and a defense that looked awful against the Magic would likely only be more porous. The more time the ball is in Lawson’s hands, the less time it is in those of George or Ellis, which unless we’re in the final seconds of the game, is not good. Until some concrete proof that Lawson’s presence is more helpful with the starters, especially late in games, then there’s no reason his minutes should push past 20 a game.

Vogel said he's considered increasing Ty Lawson's role, "but that means someone else falls out of the rotation."
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) March 31, 2016

But within those 20 or so minutes he can still provide a sizable boost to the team and bench come playoff time. While Lawson’s playoff experience is limited to four first-round exits with the Nuggets, his own playing was commendable, elevating his game to around a 20 and 8 average in his peak postseason form. His Player Efficiency Rating remained above 20 for all 3 postseasons in which he started, a number that he’s never reached in a regular season.

Betting on him to duplicate this on the bench of a 7th or 8th seed squad is laughable, but it’s not like those numbers are impossible to come close to attaining again. His last playoff appearance was only two years ago, and Lance Stephenson is teaching us all a lesson about returning back to previous form with a change of scenery.

Beyond that, who knows what’s going to happen? We don’t know how Lawson feels about Indiana or the Pacers. He looks like he has a spring in his step out there, but that doesn’t mean he’s sold on the team long term. He needed a job, and the Pacers gave him one. That’s not saying that he shouldn’t be interested in the team looking into the future, but he hasn’t even changed his Twitter bio, for goodness sake.