Indiana Pacers: How can the young players grow this offseason?
By Zach Pearson
The Indiana Pacers have a great deal of young talent on their roster for the 2022-23 NBA season. From Tyrese Haliburton to recent draftee Bennedict Mathurin, a young core of players has been set in place for the franchise to continue building on.
How these young players improve from year one to year two is going to be a big factor in the success of next year’s Indiana Pacers squad.
We have seen pictures of them at practice in Indiana this offseason working with coaches, but what are they working on? Pacers assistant coach Jenny Boucek explained exactly what they’re working on this offseason with those young players, the focus is mental.
"“We have got these young guys that are extremely hungry, high character, coachable and are really conscientious. They all have their own journeys that they’re on, but at the end of the day we are really trying to emphasize right now is the basketball IQ part and reading the game. It accentuates Tyrese’s strengths, and it is also coach Carlisle’s style of play as a coach – there is some structure but a lot of improvisation. It has been a ton of fun for us coaches because you have to teach differently to really grow in this exponentially. We are training vision, we are training decision making, we are training reads, so we are having a blast right now and we hope it translates to what you see in the stands.”"
The Pacers will see this offseason work pay off soon during the 2022 summer league games in early July. They will have a full roster of young, hungry talent ready to get next season started.
From early pictures of these players working out, it seems that this group has been practicing for months now. There is no question that Tyrese Haliburton can get the ball where it needs to go, the challenge for next season is getting these young players to find said ball. Getting everyone on the same page not only helps Haliburton complete the assist, but allows for greater on-court production.