The Indiana Pacers barely made some changes to their roster. While that has not panned out well for the team in the near-quarter potion of the season, only boasting a 7-11 record 18 games in, there has been some notable changes to the team’s profile in this campaign from the previous one.
With new head coach Rick Carlisle making a bevy of on-court tweaks to strike a better two-way balance than last season’s heavily skewed design, the Pacers are clearly still in the phase of adjusting.
Patience is still pretty much a viable reason to justify Indiana’s slow start, but the team can’t reasonably expect to make noise in the Eastern Conference if they’re still grasping the know-hows of the coaching staff’s clipboard as the season flirts with its midpoint. The Pacers have to speed things up to even have a chance in a much-improved pool of competitors.
Here are three stats that reflect the most dramatic changes for the Indiana Pacers compared to last season.
1. The Indiana Pacers’ pace has been heaven and earth compared to last season
2020-21: 102.05 (4th)
2021-22: 98.33 (19th)
The most observable change for the Pacers this season has been on the pace department. From their gargantuan jump in pace last season, Indiana is now among the most plodding squads offensively, thematic to Rick Carlisle’s preferred style of a deliberate scoring attack.
While the team is not as glacial as it was when Nate McMillan was at the helm, the Pacers are tactically playing slow to make use of their nightly size advantage and varied scoring profile. The team has been far from great on those areas, but their penchant for half court sets has given them a steadier ground to plant themselves better on defense.
Still, from the eye test, the Pacers could benefit from speeding things up on the court, primarily when they only have one big man on the floor. Indiana has been especially snail-like after garnering defensive boards, which has impacted their offensive output so far.
2. The Indiana Pacers have solved a seemingly eternal problem on the boards
2020-21: 47.6 Rebound Percentage (29th)
2021-22: 51.2 Rebound Percentage (8th)
In recent years, the Indiana Pacers have been among the cellar dwellers in the league in nearly every rebounding statistic. The team’s lack of acuity with the boards has doomed them on numerus occasions, particularly in close games. This season, however, despite their many struggles, rebounding has not been a cause for concern.
From being the second-worst rebounding team last season, the Pacers are now the eight-best. Domantas Sabonis continues to be a menace on the board, leading the team in the category with 11.1 boards per game, ninth-best in the league. Still, perhaps the biggest catalyst for their hump in rebounding is the improvement of Myles Turner corralling boards, averaging a career-best 7.4 rebounds per contest.
As long as the Pacers sustain this rebounding rate, they should have a better shot at playing better on both ends of the court with more consistency and win games even in off nights, a luxury they haven’t had in the past few years prior to this season.
3. The Indiana Pacers are not racking up assists at last season’s level
2020-21: 63.3 Assist Percentage (5th), 27.4 APG (2nd)
2021-22: 56.8 Assist Percentage (20th), 23.2 APG (15th)
After a dramatic improvement last season as a ball movement team, ranking second in assists per game and fifth in assist percentage, the Indiana Pacers have now deviated from such, now sitting at the bottom half of the league in both departments.
The Pacers’ decline in rebounding is perhaps a tradeoff of their more deliberate attack. With a substantial drop-off in pace, the team simply doesn’t have much room for rapid fire passing, unlike Nate Bjorkgren’s offense, which made passing cardinal. The absence of Doug McDermott, whose off-ball movement freed up ample opportunities for the team, as well as the high usage of isolation players such as Caris LeVert and Chris Duarte, have both contributed to the Blue and Gold’s more modest assist numbers.
Returning to last season’s degree in assists may not be tenable anymore given the Pacers’ shift in offense, but improving their passing in general could be what improves their middling and oftentimes stagnant scoring attack so far, which sunk them recently.