No NBA player is perfect, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. In this love/hate series, we will review those attributes for each player on the Indiana Pacers. In this installment, we will take a look at Cory Joseph.
Some players have a skill that is actually many skills: being gritty. Doing the little things that nobody else on the court wants to do is extremely helpful for a team trying to win games. The Indiana Pacers are lucky that they have a player like that in Cory Joseph.
CoJo opted into his player option back in May, signaling that he is eager to be returning to the Indiana Pacers. For the team, this is great news. Joseph quietly played the fourth most minutes on the team last year, more than starter Darren Collison. He fits well on the hardwood with various combinations of other players, and the skills he excels at aren’t reliant on his peers performing well. He is close to a perfect teammate.
Joseph has made the playoffs in every season of his career. He is a proven winner and an integral part of the Pacers success. But he isn’t perfect. Let’s go deep and look at what we love, and hate, about Cory Joseph.
What we love about Cory Joseph
Cory Joseph’s biggest asset to the Indiana Pacers is his ability to effectively play defense on the perimeter.
When CoJo is in the game, the Pacers team defense is just better. He gets up in the grill of his matchup, he scraps for loose balls, he forces opponents away from the middle of the court, and he has a terrific closeout that rarely gets blown by.
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He racked up his career-best defensive win shares this past season, showing that he put in work on that end of the floor over the course of the year. Being one of the teams most consistent defenders across 82 games and 2200+ minutes was probably Joseph’s biggest contribution.
Another terrific thing about Cory Joseph is that he compliments other players well with his skillset. The Pacers had a positive net rating when CoJo shared the court with:
- Victor Oladipo
- Domantas Sabonis
- Thaddeus Young
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Myles Turner
- Darren Collison
- Trevor Booker
Basically, every guy in the Pacers rotation was a positive playing alongside CoJo besides Lance Stephenson. His scrappy playstyle and ability to function within the offense makes him a great player to plug-and-play with any lineup.
The last thing to love about Cory Joseph? He’s an awesome guy. He’s always smiling, cheering on his teammates, and pumping up the young guys. He was a perfect fit in the Pacers locker room this past season, and he will continue to be a great influence this coming year.
What we don’t love about Cory Joseph
Cory Joseph’s limitations are positional. He is a point guard without a lot of offensive skills that his role typically has.
Most point guards can create shots for others, or themselves, in some way. For Rajon Rondo, it’s his passing. In the case of Kemba Walker, it’s getting his own shot. For Darren Collison, its the floor spacing he provides.
Joseph offers none of these. His 3.2 assists per game are fine, but it isn’t much for a point guard that plays as much as he does. He can’t really create his own shot. And he’s about a league average three-point shooter. He doesn’t hinder the offense by being on the court, but he isn’t making anyone’s life easier, either.
Speaking of dribbling, that is something else CoJo does problematically at times. He gets in these zones where he is focused on making something happen off the dribble, and it causes him to dribble the air out of the ball. It leads to a decent percentage of his turnovers. He just needs to give up the rock sometimes.
CoJo is good at running plays and cutting at the right time, though. All in all, he’s a fine offensive player, so it is hard to find something not to like about him besides his lack of shot creation.
Cory Joseph’s projected role this coming season
Joseph’s role doesn’t project to change much from last year, but it could be slightly different or reduced.
Cojo is the perfect backup point guard. Like already discussed, he can plug and play with just about anyone, and he isn’t a hindrance against any opposing group. He is a solid reserve and he will continue to be that next season as Darren Collison’s backup. But…
Two new players on the team threaten Joseph’s playing time. Tyreke Evans will likely play backup shooting guard, but he was excellent as a point guard in Memphis this past season and could nab a few moments away from CoJo this coming season.
In addition, the Pacers just drafted Aaron Holiday. Holiday is going to be a bad basketball player this season. Rookie point guards always are. But the Pacers will want to develop him at least somewhat, and he will get some playing time as a result. That will hurt Joseph’s amount of time on the floor, but not very much.
Next: Jahlil Okafor to the Pacers?
Even with the additions of Evans and Holiday, CoJo won’t lose much playing time. He will probably play somewhere in the 1750 minute range as the backup point guard (and even some at shooting guard). And that is good news. Cory Joseph is a great basketball player and a better guy. He is going to be a huge part of the Pacers success this coming season.