Four aspects where Johnny Furphy can help the Pacers in the present and future

The 2024 NBA Draft is over, and the Indiana Pacers have three new prospects to gauge and decide if they can help the team, whether now or in the future. Chief among those prospects is Johnny Furphy, a 19-year-old 6-foot-9 guard/wing from the University of Kansas whom the Pacers traded up one spot with the San Antonio Spurs to select

From the outset, this looks like a home run pick, as Furphy was slated to be a first-round prospect by almost everyone and was even projected to go as high as the top 10 according to some. Sure enough, this pick came with an oddly hefty price tag, as Indiana sent the 36th pick, in addition to $6.90 million in cash considerations to the San Antonio Spurs to make the deal work. This was the last day Indiana could use that cash, and they decided to spend it on a draft prospect, and a rather good one at that.

History tells us that second-round picks don't usually amount to much and some don't even step foot on an NBA floor. However, Furphy is different. Rather than being a lifelong overseas player who gets spot minutes in the league, Furphy has a serious opportunity to contribute on an NBA floor as soon as this upcoming season.

There is a reason why he was projected to go so high in mock drafts and why people have been giving the Pacers props for trading to attain him. Johnny Furphy is a legitimate NBA prospect who can fit right in with what the Pacers are building and help fill in some holes from Day 1.

Here's a breakdown of what he can do on the floor and how he can help Indy in the near, or distant future.

Shooting

The Indiana Pacers were most known for one thing in the 2023-24 season, and that was putting the ball in the basket. Sure enough, they drafted the perfect young piece to keep that trend going in Johnny Furphy. Furphy can score in a variety of ways, but his strongest point has to be his shooting. In his freshman season at Kansas, over half of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, which he drained at an effective 35% clip.

One of the most important aspects of scoring is having a feel for the game, and that is something he provides in abundance. One look at Furphy shooting the ball shows an effortless jumper with a quick and high release point, which can easily translate to the NBA. Sure enough, the main thing people will tell you about him is his ability to shoot the ball and score from all three levels.

From the NBA level, Furphy took 77 threes and hit them at a 36.4% clip, however, 72 of them were from the corner and only five were from elsewhere, which boosted his shot percentage quite a bit. Admittedly, his shooting percentages off-the-dribble and off-screens are not very promising, as he only shot 1/6 off the dribble and 2/19 off-screens.

This was perhaps a big reason why he fell out of the first round, as his current potential is rooted in him being more of a standstill shooter, predominantly from the corner, rather than a movement shooter. This is something that can be worked on at the NBA level, however, as Tyrese Haliburton's movement shooting ability was also called into question before the 2020 NBA Draft, and he turned out fine.

Finishing and athleticism

Inside the arc, Furphy was even more impressive, as he shot 67% on two-pointers and made a name for himself in the Big 12 as an efficient scorer, registering a 64.4% true shooting, which ranked second in the conference, as well as a 126.3 offensive rating, good enough for fifth-best in the league.

Excluding the two games from the NCAA Tournament, Furphy took 55 shots at the rim and made 44 of them, good for 80%. Furphy also made 11/12 dunks in those games, good enough for fourth on the Jayhawks team and second among non-bigs behind KJ Adams Jr.

On the topic of dunks, Furphy makes his name as a scorer from his finishing. Despite being rather slight and slender, with a 6-foot-8 wingspan and only weighing in at 190 pounds, he drew contract rather easily at Kansas, especially for a late-bloomer freshman.

Speaking of drawing contact, free throws are another strong part of Furphy's game. Not so much his ability to make them, although 76.5% isn't awful, but rather his ability to earn them. Furphy's free throw rate of .393 ranked seventh in the Big 12. As a more slender player, Furphy's touch around the hoop is rather soft, and he has plenty of crafty below-the-rim finishes in addition to sneaky highlight reel dunks.

Furphy's athleticism is even more impressive because he has dealt with a weaker lower half since his growth spurt, which saw him go from 5-foot-8 to 6-foot-8 during the pandemic. Additionally, Furphy was not able to make major strength gains due to dealing with shin injuries before his Kansas career started.

Despite this, Furphy's explosion still stands out, and his load time off two feet is rather quick. This makes him one of the hardest players to stop in the open lane and at the rim. With his aforementioned physicality and welcoming of contact, along with his leaping ability, he possesses NBA-level play-finishing abilities that he puts on display rather often when defenses are scrambling.

Additionally, Furphy is a player who does not need the ball in his hands to be effective offensively. This fits right into Indiana's pass-happy, movement-friendly offense, as he can create gravity off the ball and get to his spots where playmakers like Tyrese Haliburton and T.J. McConnell can find him for jumpers or inside finishes.

Furphy's feel for the game comes into play here, as he knows when to leak out and get into transition, where he thrived at Kansas. His hard and fast-paced style of play seems to be right at home in Rick Carlisle's offense.

Rebounding

One of the two main focal points for the Pacers following the 2024 season was clearly rebounding. Especially on the defensive end, the Pacers often watched teams get multiple second, third, and sometimes even fourth-chance points because of their inability and sometimes unwillingness to grab boards and box out.

Furphy's explosiveness comes into play big-time when looking at his rebounding ability, especially on the offensive end. His feel for the game and ability to explode off of his back foot helps him cut into spaces for offensive rebounds the same way it helps him finish at the basket. Furphy's advanced knowledge of spacing helps him relocate off the ball and get to spots where he can get loose balls and make life tough for opposing players trying to grab rebounds.

His impressive height at 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-9 is enough to pull down certain rebounds, while his intuitiveness and ability to fight on the glass and willingness to get under the rim and box out emphatically can get him the rest, leading to about five boards per game at Kansas, which is pretty impressive for a wing player, especially one who only started 19 out of 33 games.

However, this is where Furphy's lack of strength factors in. At only 190 pounds, he should look to add on some muscle if he wants to intimidate his opponents even more on the glass, and even with finishing at the rim. Regardless, his awareness of what's going on and his willingness to get down and dirty make him not only a capable rebounder but an effective one.

Defensive potential

The second focal point and easily the most important one for the Pacers is their sheer lack of defense. Indiana was a laughably bad defensive team for the first half of the season, and, while they picked it up after trading for Pascal Siakam and tightened up on defense when it mattered in the first two rounds of the playoffs, it always came back to haunt them and was still not up to par, especially in the Celtics series where they gave up multiple late-game runs en route to getting swept.

To tell you the truth, Johnny Furphy's defense is a work in progress. Despite his explosion, he can be a bit slow-footed and upright on defense, which leads to him getting beaten by quicker players quite a lot. Despite his high stamina, Furphy has rather slow feet in inbounds and while navigating screens, making him a mismatch on that end at times.

College teams consistently attacked him in space since he was very inconsistent when it came to containing drives. A lot of this has to do with his lack of lower body strength. He cannot get low enough in defensive positioning and move laterally with certain players.

He is not good at turning the corner and getting back into plays while navigating screens either. This is to say, that he is not a finished product on defense, and nowhere near that in fact. If anything, Johnny Furphy's defense may be considered the weakest part of his game, and easily the part where his young age and past injuries show.

However, that is not to say that Furphy is a lost cause on defense. Far from that, in fact. I would go as far as to say that Furphy has a very intriguing defensive upside, and can be a fantastic defender if he puts the work in. This is where his hustle and feel for the game will come in.

He is very active with his hands and was very good at picking his opponent's pockets by keeping his hands up high and striking when they least expected it, which led to him averaging almost a steal per game in college. His instinct of keeping his hands up also led to him getting some timely blocks due to players frequently underestimating him at the rim.

Furphy can also contribute with help defense, always being willing to help on a double-team and still keeping focus on his main defensive assignment. Additionally, his size gives him an advantage going for blocks, as he was taller than most of the swingmen he guarded in college.

This size and instinct led to him being a pest at times, forcing turnovers after stripping his opponents due to his high ball IQ. Furphy has shown some solid potential defending at the point of attack, in gaps, and at the rim, but he is not particularly exceptional at any of those spots just yet. His lower half development has allowed him to be more stable on closeouts and his lateral quickness is improving, but his defensive ceiling will rely a lot on his strength and foot speed.

Conclusion

With all this being said, the question remains. Can Johnny Furphy contribute to the Indiana Pacers right away?

I think he can. Like most prospects, Furphy's potential as a creator will need an optimal development environment, and the Pacers may be the best fit. He would work best in a team with cemented creators and a DHO big, and Indiana has exactly that.

Creators like Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Matuhrin will help mask his clear limitations as a ball handler, while DHO bigs like Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam can find him on cuts and in handoffs as a shooter, both of which he excels at. After Furphy becomes comfortable as an off-ball scorer and shooter, his self-creation and movement shooting may improve, and he can be more confident attacking defenses with his explosiveness and finishing ability.

Furphy's shooting, finishing, explosiveness, and hustle will fit right in with Indiana's culture offensively, while his defense can get a chance to improve in an NBA environment and strength trainers at his disposal. His ability to play on and off the ball, and his current development curve give Furphy a chance to contribute to most NBA teams with the ability to develop as a creator slowly but surely.

He will not have to handle the ball much, if at all in Indiana, with playmakers like Tyrese Haliburton and T.J. McConnell doing the work for him and limiting his sloppy ball handling and turnovers as much as they can. This will let him play to his strengths more and give his weaknesses time to improve. The best part about Furphy coming to Indiana is that he has teammates to mask his offensive weaknesses.

As for the defensive end, that comes down to improved lateral quickness, a stronger lower half, and better stability in general. It is important to note that Furphy suffered shin splits before his season at Kansas started, and Pacers fans saw shin splits hamper Aaron Nesmith's movement and shooting ability during the season and playoffs as well. The main thing the Pacers need to work on with Furphy is his strength, lateral quickness, and screen navigation. The awareness and hustle are there, everything just needs to be polished.

All in all, you can't ask for a better pick with Indiana's circumstances than Johnny Furphy. It is not often that a player projected to go top-10 by some lands in the lap of a team with the 36th pick, and the Pacers should take advantage of this.

With Indiana's wing rotation being more or less set for this upcoming season, Jarace Walker getting more playing time, and Rick Carlisle's mindset of bringing rookies along slowly, we may not see Johnny Furphy getting serious minutes this season, but he can certainly make an impact when called upon, and especially in the future.