Indiana Pacers: 3 players that disappointed in 2020-21
By Luke Parrish
The Indiana Pacers needed more from Jeremy Lamb
Jeremy Lamb missed the start of the season due to an injury that ended his 2019-20 season. He was expected to be a veteran scoring threat for a team in need of exactly that. A bench unit with Lamb and Doug McDermott had the potential to be pretty exciting offensively.
Lamb got off to a hot start once he was cleared to play, scoring 22 points in two of his first four appearances. He even joined the starting lineup for a brief stretch in late January. His initial run this season was promising but things quickly fell apart.
Back in March, Lamb had a two-game stretch that witnessed him shoot just 1-for-12 for six total points before he hit the inactive list for three games. That became a theme for the rest of his season. A few games with mixed results followed by a handful of games missed due to injury.
His last appearance for the Pacers came on April 18 in which he scored seven points on 3-of-9 shooting. He missed the final 16 games of the season with Oshae Brissett taking his minutes. Brissett was a massive upgrade defensively and shot the ball much more consistently than Lamb did on the season.
Lamb finished his season with just 10 points per game on .435/.406/.947 splits. His shooting numbers were pretty solid. In fact, Lamb posted a career-best in three-point and free-throw shooting percentages but could not stay healthy enough to make a positive impact.
His 10.1 points per game were the lowest he has posted since the 2016-17 season with the Hornets.