Is the Indiana Pacers Defense Terrible? Good Luck Trying To Figure That Out With Stats

The Indiana Pacers defense doesn’t pass the eye-test but looking at the statistics isn’t very helpful either.

Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan wasn’t happy with his team’s defense a week ago.

You know a coach is upset when he starts using gimmicky drills to drive home a point, much less when he hammers the point home when talking to the press.

Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports reported that McMillan was unhappy with the fouls the Pacers were racking up in the first few preseason games and had the players working on something called “The Towel Drill” to improve on that.

"“We got to get a lot better,” he said after practice on Monday.On Tuesday, he plans to use a Gatorade towel for one drill. Players will have a towel around their neck and must hold on to either end. That’s how they will have to guard.The Towel Drill requires players to guard without using their hands, as coach McMillan is tired of seeing his players reach or slap down at the ball while defending.“That’s an automatic call in this league now,” he said.“Fouling is a problem that we’re having right now. Way too many out of position plays, where we’re not moving our feet, staying in front of the ball, and we’re getting beat to the basket and we’re reaching.”"

The drill emphasizes using positioning and footwork to defend to avoid getting called for reaching in on opponents.

So is Indiana’s defense that bad?

That isn’t the easiest question to answer in the preseason when players aren’t playing with the type of intensity we’ll see in a few weeks. With the caveat that this all might be pointless because it is preseason statistics we’re using, let’s try to answer that question.

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McMillan’s eye-test for the team gives them a low to failing grade it seems, but maybe the grade should be closer to average. Through five preseasons games, they stand at 104.4 points allowed per a game, which ranks them 18th among NBA teams in the preseason. Some of the other numbers worth looking at are showing the Pacers are 14th in opponents’ field goal percentage,13th in opponents’ 3-point field goal percentage, and 13th in defensive rating.

There are certainly moments where the Pacers defense has looked awful, but at the same time, we’ve seen them force 17.6 turnovers a game while outrebounding their opponents. And for what it is worth, the starters all have positive net ratings and strong defensive ratings.

The faster pace has led to more points being allowed but the defensive rating is lower during this preseason compared to last season. More possessions have led to more points for Indiana’s opposition, but they’ve come less efficiently.

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Perhaps looking at the preseason stats is a bit of a fool’s errand, but from we can tell right now, the defense isn’t an absolute trainwreck.