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 Domantas Sabonis.
From “trade throw-in” to possible future starter, Domantas Sabonis first season with the Indiana Pacers was an undeniable success.
The notion that Sabonis was a throw-in was largely due to the fact that the Thunder played him out of position at the power forward in his rookie season. The Pacers had a roster better suited for Sabonis to play his natural position, center, and that allowed Domas to thrive in a new environment.
Instead of being a guy who played from 15 feet and out like in Oklahoma, Sabonis spent most of this past season playing 15 feet and in. It was essentially his rookie year as a center, and he flourished in such a situation, proving that he is as skilled as he is cerebral.
But like with many young players, there is a lot more to be desired from the big man. A breakdown of his skills should help us determine what is next for a man whose role could be in flux.
What we love about Domantas Sabonis
Sabonis presents a rare breed of NBA player in the modern era: he is a solid passing big man.
Only roughly 15 big men had an assist percentage greater than Domas’ 12.7 percent. He can see passing angles better than almost anyone of his stature and speed, and he has basketball smarts that go far beyond his age.
When Domas gets the ball in space, instead of immediately thinking of putting in on the floor or putting up a shot, Sabonis looks for a constructive pass. It keeps the bench units humming and promotes cutting from his teammates.
He shows off his basketball smarts when he whizzes around the perfect dime to a fellow Pacer. How many young bigs can do this?
That is a sensational read. As soon as Domas feels/sees the weakside help coming to stop him, he fires the ball to the weakside cutter, and Alex Poythress gets an easy dunk. Simply superb.
As we also saw in that clip, Sabonis is an excellent screener. His 280 screen assists put him at a tie for the 10th most in the league, and that figure was the best in the league for anybody who played under 2000 minutes.
Sabonis’ sets hard screens with his arms wider than his body (that’s probably illegal, but I won’t tell if you don’t). He frees up dudes for open lanes by just being in the way, and with his gravity as a roll man being as large as it is, he transforms the defense just by setting an emphatic pick. That skill is incredibly useful.
That feeds into another strength that Domas owns. He excels at two actions that every team frequently executes: the pick and roll and the dribble handoff. The pick and roll we’ve covered. He’s a strong screen-setting big and clean passer.
The dribble handoff he succeeds in because he is decisive. He never falters once he starts: he is going to get the on-the-move guard the ball in the perfect spot and at the perfect time:
Sabonis clearly has a good feel for the game. His high basketball IQ shows possession after possession. If he could grow in a few other key areas, he could become an excellent player for the Indiana Pacers.
What we don’t love about Domantas Sabonis
Fouls, fouls, fouls.
Remember that whole “Sabonis didn’t play 2000 minutes” thing from the previous slide? A lot of that can be attributed to the fact that he came off the bench. But some of the blame can be pointed at Sabonis penchant for fouling the opposing team.
Out of all the players who had as many minutes as Domas, Only Julius Randle committed more fouls per minute than Sabonis. He just struggled to stop guys from getting by him, and the only thing left for him to do was to foul.
He’s a step late returning to Nene here after a short roll, and all he can do to stop the floater is foul:
That also is the perfect segue of a clip to talk about another one of Sabonis’ weaknesses: defense in space. Around the basket, Domantas is solid enough. He keeps his hands straight up and is always in a decent position.
Away from the rim? He’s fairly useless. He’s flat footed and a step behind his matchup, regardless of who it is most of the time. Once he matures as a player – he has only played two seasons after all – he will improve in this area. As his pattern recognition and defensive positioning improve, he should grow somewhat as a perimeter defender. How much is up for debate, but as it stands now it is one of his greatest pitfalls.
Another department Sabonis needs to show some improvement in is turnovers. His 15.3 percent turnover rate was the worst on the roster last season – worse than Lance Stephenson. He coughs it up via poor passes, awkward dribbles, and charges more often than just about any big man – he had the 15th worst turnover percentage in the league amongst guys his height or taller. If he could take better care of the basketball, he would give himself more opportunities to make some of the passes and screens he excels at. Both he and the Pacers should want more of that.
Domantas Sabonis’ projected role this coming season
Can you feel that elephant in the room?
Domantas Sabonis’ role for the Pacers projects to be a lot like last years – he will start the season off as the backup center, but he will get small amounts of run at the power forward spot as well.
But unlike most players on the team, Sabonis’ role could change. Nate McMillan suggested during the end of season press conference that he is going to try and have Sabonis and Myles Turner share the court more often this season. Up to this point, that hasn’t worked according to a -8.8 net rating.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. With Turner and Sabonis sharing the court together and Lance Stephenson on the bench, the Pacers outscored their opponents by 12 points in 114 minutes. Lance is gone now. The Turner-Sabonis pairing could work, and that could make Sabonis transition from a backup at the 5 to a starter at the 4.
If I had to guess, though, that transition won’t happen this season. Thaddeus Young is a very very good basketball player, and he is a better power forward than Sabonis at present time. That means Sabonis will likely still come off the bench and push him for minutes. Either way, expect Domas to continue to polish his skills this season. As he matures, he could become one hell of a player for the Pacers. It should be fun to watch.