Five takeaways from the Indiana Pacers’ first preseason game

The Indiana Pacers played their first preseason game of the new year on the road against the Houston Rockets, winning 110-100. As per usual, it’s now time to over-analyze every second of action and jump to conclusions after 48 minutes of unimportant court time.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

With three-point shots from Bogey

And Sabonis blocking and Leaf finally here!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

It’s the Pa-Pacerest season of all

With those Holiday greetings and Victor’s world-beatings

Nate give Myles the ball

It’s the Pa-Pacerest season of all

It feels good to say this: the Indiana Pacers are playing professional basketball again. And the special thing about pre-season game one? Pacers fans have the freedom to be as speculative as they possibly can be because this is the smallest amount of information we will have all season.  Game two of the pre-season will soon come, then three, then four… and eventually we’ll be watching games that count.

For now, though, all we have to go off of is a night in Houston, one in which the Pacers won 110-100, with some rather impressive (and a few not-so-impressive) performances all the way down the roster. That means it’s time to jump to conclusions!

Really, though, despite it only being 48 minutes of action, there are a few things to be learned from the Pacers’ first exhibition game, and there are definitely some things to watch out for over their final three pre-season contests. It’s too early to make a definitive call on anything yet, but there are a few key takeaways from last night – here are five to get you started.

TJ Leaf played serious minutes – and seriously looked good in them

With Thad Young mending a foot injury, Nate McMillan decided to boost TJ Leaf into the starting lineup for yesterday’s game, providing the sophomore some much-needed minutes as he attempts to carve out consistent minutes for himself this season. Last year didn’t bode as well as it could’ve for the No. 18 pick: while his shooting was fortunately on point (43% on 42 total three-point attempts), he couldn’t keep up with game speed on the court, especially on the defensive end. Eventually, he was phased out of the rotation.

His performance against the Rockets was a welcome change, and you don’t need to dig into any advanced analytics to make a case for him: 13 points on 6-12 from the field (1-3 from deep), 12 boards (7(!) offensive), 4 assists, a couple steals, and a block on the way to a team-high +25. And while regular season game speed is an entirely different beast from these exhibition contests, it did genuinely look like Leaf was able to keep up, at least on the offensive end.

Offensive awareness was huge for Leaf when he racked up 8 boards a game during his freshman year at UCLA. He has the size and pure instinct to get rebounds, but last season it just didn’t come together, finishing ninth on the Pacers in boards per 36 minutes. That won’t fly if Leaf wants to be a part of the Pacers future.

Luckily, we saw the exact change Leaf needs to make in full display last night:

It took one possession. Leaf is the only player on the court that seemed even halfway prepared for Myles to whiff that layup, and he was rewarded with an easy putback layup. Just having that awareness and being willing to put the extra effort in on plays like that will go a long way for Leaf, and we saw plenty of it on Thursday: that exact play happened three times throughout the night, and there were a couple other occasions where TJ got the offensive board but missed the second chance layup.

He showed a lot of growth offensively during the game, including one instance where he made a great read on a post-up early in the third quarter:

Leaf still probably shouldn’t be posting up in the first place. The play starts with him gaining little leverage on the smaller James Ennis III, with a right-shoulder move being blocked with little difficulty. That left Leaf stranded in the paint. Realizing Leaf is stuck, Marquesse Chriss comes in to apply some pressure with a double team, and last season, this almost assuredly would have resulted in Leaf turning the ball over.

Instead, he takes a second to assess the situation, recognizes that the double team has caused Chris Paul to switch onto Turner, and finds Bogdavonic wide open for an easy triple. If Leaf can continue his marksmanship along with that improved court awareness on the offensive end, he’s going to be a staple of the rotation this year.

Let the Turner vs Sabonis debate begin

As Sabonis grew into an absolute steal from last year’s trade and one of the most important members of the team, a debate that not many people expected to emerge became one of the most polarizing questions of 2018: is Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis the future of the Pacers frontcourt? And tangentially: could they co-exist?

While one pre-season game isn’t going to provide us with the answers to those questions, it certainly reminded us of why it has been such a contentious issue for the Pacers in the past year. Both players are young studs that will eventually need to get paid. The only way they both get paid by the Pacers is if they prove they can work together in the lineup consistently, which didn’t happen last season for a few reasons (health, experience, etc.). The alternative is that one gets paid and the other gets traded, or simply collects their bag from a different franchise come free agency.

It’s a modern-day Twilight: you have your Team Sabonis, Team Myles, and a few people on the side who write fanfictions about Kyle O’Quinn or whatever. And even better, a mere pre-season game was loads better than any of the four books or five movies that your middle school girlfriend made you sit through.

Sabonis looked as rock-solid as ever in the post against Houston, putting up a clean 15 points and 12 boards, a stat line we’ve grown accustomed to. He also put up one of the highlights of the night with this monstrous block:

Turner’s stat line sagged behind a bit, but he had his moments as well, reaching 11 points on the night and making a highlight play himself:

Overall, both players were able to get theirs, which is a good sign, but it’s going to be a long season ahead of us with these two. Noticeably absent from Myles’ stat line was a three-point attempt. Now in his fourth season, it’s time for him to show that he’s elite in that category – just “good” won’t cut it. With Sabonis as the more poised option in the paint, Turner is going to have to prove why he deserves a big contract at the end of the year, and that includes becoming a consistent threat from deep.

Edmond Sumner is a good basketball player

Yeah, so Edmond Sumner is probably going to be a fan favorite this year. Still technically on a two-way deal with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Sumner has Exhibit 10 eligibility, meaning his contract could be converted into a regular NBA deal at any time. And given his performance last night, he may put some pressure on the Pacers to make that decision.

In his 19 minutes, Sumner put up 13 points along with 2 boards, 2 steals, and a block, finishing +18 on the night. That was the second-best mark on the Pacers, just behind TJ Leaf. He also happened to be one of the most exciting players on the court, executing the highlights shown above. His performance prompted an announcer to even liken him to a young Paul George, which means next to nothing, but still – the hype is real.

He was definitely going all out, and at times may have gotten a bit ahead of himself, with his night ending with a 6th foul and not the final buzzer. But he was still one of the standout players of the game. His role on this Indiana Pacers roster isn’t carved out yet, but Thursday showed promise and puts him on alert as one of the most interesting players to watch out for during the rest of the pre-season.

The good, the bad, and the Dougly

Thursday was also the first opportunity to see the Indiana Pacers first major acquisition of free agency in action, Doug McDermott. He led the team in minutes with 36 but converted it into 2 points on 1-8 shooting, including 0-4 from deep. Which is, as Shakespeare would put it, bad.

It wasn’t necessarily all on Dougie, though. He didn’t force it from three, and got a few good looks, they just weren’t hitting. He also grabbed 6 boards, which was highest on the team after Leaf and Sabonis. He made an excellent back-cut for two that was negated by an off-ball foul. The effort was there, and he definitely fit into his role well. But the shots weren’t falling.

And when the shots aren’t falling, McDermott really struggles on an NBA court. The key to him being a productive part of the bench this year is tied completely to his ability to make three-point shots. For most of his career, McDermott has done that, and that’s why he’s still in the NBA and received a three-year deal from the Pacers.

But he will inevitably have bad games, and as Thursday showed, the consequences of those bad games are hefty. Hopefully, there is enough firepower on the bench to make up for tough nights for McDermott, but recent history has shown that that isn’t likely.

Ugh, that felt kinda gross. Here’s a highlight package of McDermott’s best buckets last season to remind us that they won’t always be bad days:

Victor Oladipo is still Victor Oladipo

Feathery, thy name is Oladipo.

Not that anyone needed a reminder, but Victor Oladipo is still the best player on the Pacers, one of the best players in the league, and an absolute stud (and I don’t just mean on the court).

He was back to his usual form on Thursday: 24 points on 9-18 shooting (4-10 from deep), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a block and only one turnover. His usage rate clocked in at 30.9%, on par with his 30.1% average last season.

He also put up an abundance of highlight plays, as always, between his three-point prayers and his explosiveness in transition. Get ready for another season of this:

And (to a widely lesser extent) this:

There really isn’t much to take away from Vic’s evening other than the fact that he’s back, he looks amazing, and he’s probably gunning for a trophy a letter off from MIP this season. There are going to be so many nights that are made better just by some spectacular play, clutch shot, or feathery post-game comment that Oladipo makes.

Buckle in, sit back, and enjoy the ride, folks. Pacers basketball is back. They play again tomorrow. Hope you are ready.