Frank Vogel Says Spread Offense Will Make Ian Mahinmi a Better Player

The Indiana Pacers have no hope to be a title contender this season. The team went 38-44 last year and lost both its starting big men. So given the degraded short-term expectations for success, many fans would like to see Myles Turner get the nod at starting center on game one and struggle through his learning curve into the professional ranks as quickly as possible.

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On the other hand, the Eastern Conference is a cess pool outside of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Frank Vogel is an ambitious coach who never lacks for positivity. So Ian Mahinmi can and will have a large role in the rotation. It makes sense — he is top-tier rim protector and gives a new-look front court some semblance of philosophical continuity to the past.

And Vogel thinks that playing small with more floor spacers on he court will help out the big man from France, as reported by C. Cooper of Indy Cornrows.

"“Everybody’s talking about Paul George and what the 4-spot looks like for him,” Vogel explained, following the team’s preseason victory over the Orlando Magic. “Playing with space is good for all of these guys. It’s not good just for Paul George’s match-up, but the space that we’re creating on the perimeter and opening up in the lane is great for Monta Ellis and George Hill to attack the basket with the balance, it’s great for Chase Budinger, Solomon Hill, and C.J. Miles to curl on pin downs, and it’s great for a guy like Ian Mahinmi to be able to have space to operate…”Having space to operate is a must for Indiana’s new starting center. During the 2014-15 regular season, Ian Mahinmi averaged a team-worst 16.9 turnovers per 100 of his own possessions, per NBA.com. Of the 59 total turnovers he committed, only 22 were offensive fouls. Working on his hands might cut down on some of those unneeded change of possessions, but head coach Frank Vogel thinks a change of system will lessen the root problem.“…Those difficult catches and strips in the past were a lot of times because of traffic in the lane. It’s just tougher to make basketball plays with traffic in there,” said Vogel. “And with the lane opened up, it just gives him (Ian Mahinmi) a little more time and a little more space to operate.”"

Per usual, Vogel is being very complimentary of his player in public.

Sure, a few of those turnovers could be attributed to a congested lane. But Mahinmi also just has awful hands.

That doesn’t mean Frank is wrong though — just that he’s spinning this a bit. Mahimni is an athletic, agile big man who, when he can catch a pass, is a capable finisher at the rim. He really can’t benefit from having “space to operate” in a way that, say, Hakeem Olajuwon could. You really don’t want to giving him the ball almost ever unless it can lead to a direct finish.

That, however, is what he can do. The offense will often feature 3-point shooters like George Hill, C.J. Miles, and Paul George on the arc while someone like Monta Ellis or Rodney Stuckey penetrates to force defensives rotations. This will open up passing lanes for dump offs and drive-and-kicks. The pick-and-roll, too, can create mismatches when Indiana is playing small against teams less adept at doing so.

In this faster, more-movement-heavy scheme, Mahinmi will find himself free a lot. He will be, by far, the Pacer player the defense cares about the least, so when a breakdown occurs, expect plenty of dunks and easy putbacks by the big man. He knows how to maintain position well on the baseline and Vogel is right: Ian will get a ton of easy buckets if this offensive system works as expected.

He just needs to be able to catch the ball and dunk it.