5 reasons why the Pacers will let it fly more often from deep this season
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers were accurate 3-point shooters but didn’t let them fly very often. But with the new additions, there’s reason to believe that will change.
Darren Collison epitomized the Indiana Pacers 3-point shooting habits last season as he led the NBA in 3-point percentage (46.8) while only taking three of them a game. The Pacers 36.9 percent accuracy as a team put them 9th in the NBA but were ranked 25th in the NBA in total made 3-pointers according to Basketball-Reference.
For Collison and the team, they were smart and when and where to take their shots, but perhaps they were a little too conservative about that. The answer isn’t just chucking up more 3-pointers, but there’s certainly room to turn a few more shots from deep mid-range into possible 3-pointers.
The better question is how to do it without giving up something from their 11th ranked offense from last season.
It’s up to Nate McMillan to balance the equation out, but Kevin Pritchard and the front office have done their job of making the math work or at least made it easier to do in reality. Unlike the previous seasons where the idea was floated out but mid-range shooters were signed, this season’s roster put the right tools in the toolbox.
And that’s the first reason why the Pacers will let more shots go from deep this season.
Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott alone will increase the volume
Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott are all but guaranteed to put up more shots from deep than their predecessors.
Last season, Lance Stephenson served as a full-time replacement wing thanks to a preseason injury to Glenn Robinson III. Even if McMillan wanted to use Stephenson less, he had little choice.
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While Stephenson wasn’t afraid to put up 3-pointers, he was very streaky with a 28.9 percent field goal percentage from behind the arc.
With Tyreke and Doug, you get improved accuracy and quantity. Looking at their per 100 possession stats, McDermott shot slightly fewer than Stephenson but made 13.7 percent more of his attempts. Evans averaged almost 3 more attempts than Stephenson while shooting 11 percent better from deep.
Even if it was just McDermott replacing Stephenson’s minutes, you’d get roughly the same number of attempts while seeing a double-digit increase in percentage. But Evans will make sure the volume increases if he maintains the rate he shot last season.
They’ll be more accurate, too
For the sake of comparison and to remind you about the lack of wing depth the Pacers had last season, I’ve included T.J. Leaf, Damien Wilkins, and Glenn Robinson (2016-17) to the table below. As you can see, Evans and McDermott made more 3-pointers than Stephenson or most of the other options by a very large margin.
| Rk | Player | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyreke Evans | 1607 | 11.5 | 25.5 | .452 | 3.6 | 9.0 | .399 | 7.9 | 16.5 | .482 | .785 |
| 2 | T.J. Leaf | 459 | 7.0 | 14.8 | .471 | 2.0 | 4.6 | .429 | 5.0 | 10.2 | .489 | .625 |
| 3 | Doug McDermott | 1768 | 6.7 | 14.3 | .467 | 2.6 | 6.1 | .426 | 4.1 | 8.2 | .497 | .790 |
| 4 | Glenn Robinson | 1427 | 5.5 | 11.9 | .467 | 1.7 | 4.4 | .392 | 3.8 | 7.5 | .512 | .711 |
| 5 | Lance Stephenson | 1850 | 8.2 | 19.2 | .427 | 1.8 | 6.3 | .289 | 6.4 | 12.9 | .495 | .661 |
| 6 | Damien Wilkins | 152 | 4.3 | 12.8 | .333 | 1.3 | 5.9 | .222 | 3.0 | 6.9 | .429 | .750 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
To drive the point home, Doug took slightly fewer 3-pointers as Lance last season but made 25 more of them. He was 92 of 216 from beyond the arc while Stephenson was 67 of 232.
Evans and McDermott are two very different players and will play different roles as subs, but if they were to only replace Stephenson’s time on the court last season, Indiana would have seen a significant number of 3-pointers fly and, more importantly, go in.
Collectively, the new duo are 40.3 percent 3-point shooters. If they merely replaced Stephenson’s attempts, that would be 30 more made 3-pointers, or 90 more points scored for the Pacers. That likely means more games won by the Pacers, at least on paper.
They’ll be shooting more and making more than Stephenson did, even if they don’t have the same swagger. Hopefully, that alone will get them closer to the league average in 3-point attempts