Two big things Bennedict Mathurin needs to work on for the Pacers

The Indiana Pacers drafted Bennedict Mathurin sixth overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. He was the first lottery pick for the Pacers since they drafted Myles Turner in 2015. Coming out of Arizona, he was expected to be a scorer for Indiana right away off the bench.

That's exactly what he was. As a rookie, he averaged 16.7 points per game on 43% shooting. Most of his action was seen coming from the bench. Coming into his second season, he was actually in the starting lineup for the first couple of weeks, starting over Andrew Nembhard.

That didn't last long. He was moved back to the bench and ended up tearing his labrum in his shooting shoulder midway through the season. He finished the year averaging 14.5 points per game on 45% shooting. His three-point shooting did get better as it rose from 32% in his first year up to 37%. Still, he has more to work on this year.

The Pacers need Bennedict Mathurin to improve these two things next year

Mathurin is a very deliberate player. He takes his time before he decides what he's going to do with the ball. That was a big issue in his rookie season. In his second year, he was tasked with speeding up his decision-making so that the ball didn't stick. He improved on that a little bit, but he still needs to get a little bit better with that.

Another big thing that Mathurin needs to improve is his defense. He was just a flat-out bad defender in his rookie season. This past year, he showed some signs of being a pretty good defender when his effort went up. He had a few stops on Giannis Antetokounmpo that showed what he's capable of.

Those two things are going to determine his playing time next year. We still aren't positive how he fits into the roster heading into next. year. Is he a piece to keep building with? Or is he someone to be packaged in a trade for someone more proven on the wing?

How well he improves on these two things might go a long way into determining that.