Cautiously Pessimistic: Looking Ahead at the Indiana Pacers Defense
By Ben Gibson
The numbers aren’t pretty for the Indiana Pacers on the defensive side of the ball.
The Indiana Pacers made plenty of changes this offseason, using trades, the draft, and free agency to rebuild the team on the fly.
While team president Larry Bird and general manager Kevin Pritchard have committed to the idea of more offense — though the addition of Al Jefferson doesn’t exactly yell “FAST BREAK!” — there has been something missing from all these additions.
Defense.
You can attach the phrase ‘defensive liability’ to Jeff Teague (and possibly Aaron Brooks) while Thaddeus Young plays an acceptable form of defense. Compounding the Pacers problem is the fact when you look at Monta Ellis’ career, his defense has rarely been a positive for him. In fact, last season was the first and only time in his career where he’s had a positive defensive box plus-minus.
The projected starting lineup — Teague, Ellis, Paul George, Thaddeus Young, and Myles Turner — has decent size in the frontcourt, but in the backcourt, both Monta and Jeff are shorter than 6’3″.
The front court of Turner, Young, and George are fine defensively. The only real question is can Turner pick up where he left off last year when he isn’t paired with Ian Mahinmi. The good news is he was actually a better on defense than he was on offense, so as long as he progresses normally as an NBA player, Indiana should be fine.
But the backcourt, as mentioned above, is a little small.
The size might be less of an issue if weren’t for the fact neither is known for their defense. That could be a very big problem as both have negative BPM in their careers.
| Rk | Player | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 | OBPM | DBPM | BPM | VORP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monta Ellis | 20.5 | 20.3 | 40.9 | .073 | 0.6 | -0.7 | -0.2 | 12.5 | |
| 2 | Paul George | 14.6 | 22.8 | 37.4 | .150 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 18.1 | |
| 3 | Jeff Teague | 17.8 | 15.3 | 33.1 | .118 | 0.7 | -0.9 | -0.2 | 6.2 | |
| 4 | Myles Turner | 0.8 | 2.3 | 3.1 | .109 | -3.7 | 1.4 | -2.3 | -0.1 | |
| 5 | Thaddeus Young | 21.6 | 21.1 | 42.6 | .101 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 11.7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/13/2016.
However, there is hope that Teague and Ellis won’t earn the nickname “Saloon Doors” this season.
Last year, Ellis had his best defensive season thanks to being in a Frank Vogel and Dan Burke coached system. Ellis was tied with PG with 1.9 steals per a game as he cut off passing lanes and rarely looked lost.
More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds
- 2 Studs, 1 dud from gut-wrenching Indiana Pacers loss to Charlotte Hornets
- Handing out early-season grades for Pacers’ Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin
- 3 positives, 2 negatives in Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. Cavaliers
- 2 positives, 3 negatives from first week of Indiana Pacers basketball
- Should Isaiah Jackson’s days with Indiana Pacers be numbered?
Vogel may be gone, but Bird has faith in Burke working his magic again this season according to the Indy Star’s Nate Taylor.
"When Bird decided not to retain Vogel in May, he said his biggest free agent target was Burke, who is known in the NBA as one the leading defensive gurus. Bird stressed it was essential that Burke return for his 20th season with the Pacers even before he promoted Nate McMillan to head coach. Bird said in May it was Burke and his defensive scheme – not Vogel – that was the main reason for the Pacers’ defensive success.Bird has faith Burke will orchestrate yet another top-10 defensive team with Teague and Ellis playing the majority of the minutes next season.“We will have a small backcourt because of the height of the two guys, but we do have a lot of speed, which should be able to get into the passing lanes,” Bird said. “I look forward to watching Dan Burke work with these guys. I think he’ll do an amazing job with them. You don’t have to be the fastest. You just have to be the smartest sometimes and be in the right positions. I think he’ll put the players in the positions to defend well.”"
The hope here is Teague can be like Ellis and cut off passing lanes and contribute defensively instead of being a complete liability.
Can Teague have the same sort of renaissance as Ellis? It is possible, and maybe we are overstating Teague’s defense or lack of. He’s had two seasons where he just barely came out in the positive, but that was four or five years ago. Importantly, in his last two seasons, he’s been an overall positive in the box plus/minus department.
Next: Glenn Robinson III Shows the Rest of the Pacers How to Fish
I do think Burke can make this happen, but I’m not expecting the defense to be anything like it was under Vogel. If the Pacers can replicate the success that Ellis showed last year with Teague this season, then the defense may not regress so badly that the new offensive contributions get washed away.