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Domantas Sabonis – please stop fouling!

By Tony East

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 09: Domantas Sabonis #11 of the Indiana Pacers talks with referee Zach Zarba after being called for a foul against the Atlanta Hawks during a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 9, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers won 112-87. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 09: Domantas Sabonis #11 of the Indiana Pacers talks with referee Zach Zarba after being called for a foul against the Atlanta Hawks during a game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 9, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers won 112-87. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Domantas Sabonis has been incredible for the Indiana Pacers this season. His biggest pitfall, though, has been that he cannot stop fouling.

Domantas Sabonis has been talked about a lot his season, and yet it still seems like it isn’t enough. He has been sensational this year, and he could be both a Most Improved Player of the year and Sixth Man of the Year candidate for the Indiana Pacers.

Sabonis has been either the second or third best player on the Pacers this year (I’m a big Thaddeus Young guy myself but I understand having Domas at 2). His 6.1 BPM is absurd, his skill development has been the most interesting thing to watch this year, and he’s consistently been the best part of one of the best second units in basketball. Night in and night out, he helps the Pacers win games.

But a quick glance at the team’s stat sheet to this point shows the Domantas Sabonis only plays 24.7 minutes per game, barely over half. It seems like, with how effective he has been, he should be playing more. Why isn’t he?

Because he can’t stop fouling.

After the Charlotte game in which Sabonis fouled out in 18:39 of playing time, his fouls per 100 possessions jumped to over 6 a game, the number required to foul out. He currently is fourth in the league at 6.3 personal fouls per 100 possessions amongst players with at least his minutes total. He simply can’t keep his hands off of guys:

Sabonis has the problem you just saw there quite a bit. He takes one step too far away from the paint and it causes him to have a late help-side rotation. The root cause of most of his fouls is being out of position or having a late rotation on defense (or in this case, both).

I heard a while ago that some NBA coaches like to grade out players defensive skills into three buckets – “can’t”, “won’t”, and “doesn’t know how”. For Sabonis, with his defensive rotations, I think he’s in the “can’t” category at the moment. He’s willing, and he knows how. He is just young and learning the patterns of opposing NBA offenses. He can’t quite be in the right place at the right time all the time, and his only option to make the stop is to foul:

On that one, Sabonis is closer to getting the timing correct. He recognizes that John Collins has a free roll to the rim right after Collins catches the ball at the free throw line. He tries to step over and stop the shot, but he is too late and can’t get out of the restricted area. Foul.

As he develops into a veteran, he will get better at this. But the sooner the better. Nate McMillan is forced to go to the bench and replace Sabonis when he is playing with foul trouble. It makes him a worse defender, too, since he plays afraid of contact.

Another challenge for Sabonis is when he plays with Myles Turner. One of them has to play the 4, which means they have to guard a 4. Neither of them is astute at defending away from the rim. For Sabonis, that leads to fouls like this:

Sabonis averages 3.9 fouls per 36 minutes when playing with Turner. One would think that being away from the rim would help his foul rate, and it does, but not by a ton. He has trouble staying in front of guys or handling guards on switches. It’s a tough ask of him.

I think he will get better at this skills, so getting reps is important. But Sabonis needs to occasionally just let the man score and not foul. It seems counter-intuitive to give the other team free points. But if Sabonis letting the team score two easy points means he can play five extra minutes, perhaps that is still a win overall on the scoreboard for the Indiana Pacers since Sabonis has such a positive impact.

Next. The Pacers free throw struggles go beyond makes and misses. dark

It may be hard to ingrain this into Domantas Sabonis’ head. It’s probably better for his long-term development to continue to play the same way he is now so that he can better learn defensive rotations. But if he could just avoid contact when he is late on a switch or not lean in when he has a minuscule chance of stopping the shot, that would go a long way in making the Indiana Pacers better. With him on the court, the team is very good. They need him, and the fouling is preventing that from happening.

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