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5 reasons why the Pacers will let it fly more often from deep this season

By Ben Gibson

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 04: Doug McDermott #20 of the New York Knicks drives against Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers during a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 4, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers won 115-97. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 04: Doug McDermott #20 of the New York Knicks drives against Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers during a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 4, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers won 115-97. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Aaron Holiday Indiana Pacers
TARRYTOWN, NY – AUGUST 12: Aaron Holiday #3 of the Indiana Pacers poses for a portrait during the 2018 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 12, 2018 at the Madison Square Garden Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Aaron Holiday can help as well

Last season’s third point guard was Joe Young, who played roughly for 10 minutes a game in the 53 games he appeared in. He never found his role as a distributor, but he started to find his stride as a shooter for Indiana.

However, rookie Aaron Holiday looks capable of being the playmaker Young wasn’t while still tossing up some shots from deep.

Going back to the per 100 possessions stats because they even out things no matter how many minutes were played, Young attempted 5.9 3-pointers a game while making 37.9 percent of them.

In his time at UCLA, Holiday averaged 7.2 attempts per 100 while making 42.2 percent of them. Last season that rate was 9.2 per a 100, a significant amount more than Young attempted.

You can’t just assume Holiday will fit perfectly into the NBA so those numbers are likely to come down. However, he looked good in Summer League, so even with a slight drop in rate and accuracy, he will still put Indiana on track to take and make more of them in the upcoming season.

On top of that, his playmaking ability could earn him more minutes on the floor and the chance to do even more damage from long-range than Young last season.

As a team, they’ll be more opportunities

Adding players who aren’t afraid to send it flying from deep will boost the numbers by themselves. The collective effect of all this will be even harder to quantify until we see it in action.

Even with non-shooters like Kyle O’Quinn, they can play a role in creating these long-range attempts. With the New York Knicks, we saw how his passing ability turned a post play into a 3-point attempt for McDermott.

When him, Domantas Sabonis or Myles Turner is in the game, the Pacers might find themselves in similar situations. In the post or not, the option to kick it out to McDermott or Evans will be often. If they kick it out this upcoming season, there’s a better chance of the play ending with the ball swishing through the net than a season ago.

It isn’t likely that McMillan and Popeye Jones will re-engineer the Pacers offensive schemes. However, the players that Indiana added to the squad can turn some of the previous scoring chances into more of the long-range variety.

While these new additions are enticing, it’s easy to forget they already were an accurate 3-point shooting team last season.

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