With Andrew Nembhard running the point for a year, the Indiana Pacers need to change their offense to play to his strengths.
The Pacers have one of the best and most dynamic offensive units in the league, and it's because they have the right personnel for it. Rick Carlisle is one of the best offensive minds in the game, and with him leading the way as the head coach, Indiana will always have a good offense.
Additionally, the Pacers also have the right players to make their fast-paced, run-and-gun style work. Most notably, they have the perfect point guard in Tyrese Haliburton, whose efficiency and elite skill as a passer and playmaker make everything work well.
Unfortunately for Indiana, Haliburton will not be available next season after he suffered an Achilles injury during Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In his place, the Pacers will rely much more heavily on Nembhard to be the team's point guard.
There are reasons to believe this can work as the Canadian native is a natural point guard and has looked good as the primary ball-handler in smaller sample sizes. However, in order for the Pacers to ensure that they are still successful even with this change, they need to slow things down and run a more traditional offense instead of expecting Nembhard to be Haliburton 2.0.
The Pacers need to run a slower offense next season
Fans may not like it, but the Pacers need to switch things up with Nembhard running the offense for a season.
Despite Haliburton's injury and Myles Turner's departure, the Pacers have not given any indication that they are just going to tank next season. Instead, they will look to remain competitive and maybe even make some noise in the Eastern Conference. In order for them to be as successful as possible, though, they would be better off playing to Nembhard's strengths as a ball-handler.
Doing this would not just give the Gonzaga alum his best opportunity to shine in his new role, but it would also open up a lot of other opportunities. This is especially true for a player like Bennedict Mathurin, who would greatly benefit from this major shift to allow him to put the ball on the floor more and showcase even more of his scoring talents.
Perhaps most importantly, though, experimenting with a new offense would only add to Indiana's already elite repertoire, especially because they likely won't have another opportunity to do this. This way, they will be even better when they get their star guard back, and maybe the entire team learned a thing or two in the meantime.
The Pacers are not likely to make another deep playoff run next season. Even without Haliburton and Turner, they have a young and talented team, but it likely will not be good enough for them to be legitimate contenders. Even so, they still have a bright future and should be able to re-insert themselves in the title picture once Haliburton returns.
Next season, though the outlook is far from ideal, it still gives Indiana a unique opportunity to have some success, and it all starts with what Nembhard can do in his brand-new role.