There are plenty of reasons to be excited for theĀ Indiana Pacers. They have as bright of a future as any team in the NBA, thanks in large part to the impressive core they have built with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam at the forefront. They evenĀ made it all the wayĀ to the Eastern Conference Finals last season and went toe-to-toe with the eventual champion Boston Celtics. It’s easy to forget that the Pacers achieved all of that despite not havingĀ Bennedict MathurinĀ in the playoffs.
Mathurin underwent a season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, leaving the Pacers short a wing player who can create his own offense. Nevertheless, it seems as though the 22-year-old wing is hell-bent on making people remember him. In a video of a pre-season session posted by Siakam, MathurinĀ hammered down a nasty jam over the outstretched arms of teammate Myles Turner in a dunk reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s full-extension game-winning dunk on Space Jam.
That, indeed, is a slam dunk; a dunk is defined as āshooting the ball down through the basket with the hands above the rimā. That is certainly what Bennedict Mathurin did in the video above. There have been a few iconic dunks involving those kinds of throwdowns, with Blake Griffin being one of the most popular players to pull off that feat in a live game.
This should only provide more reasons for Pacers fans to be hyped up for next season. Their roster is stacked with young players who are only getting better, and Mathurin only serves toĀ give Indiana more weaponsĀ to feature as they look to become a more dangerous team.
Last season, Mathurin averaged 14.5 points on 44.6 percent shooting from the field and 37.4 percent from beyond the arc. The next step to his improvement as a player is to up his three-point volume, since he’ll be working alongside high-level playmakers such as Tyrese Haliburton and TJ McConnell, and he also has to get to the foul line as frequently, or perhaps even more often than he did during his rookie campaign.
Tyrese Haliburton will be carrying with him the lessons he learned during his stint with Team USA this offseason. Pascal Siakam should be more at ease with the Pacers, as he will have a full training camp with the team. Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin, the Pacers’ Canadian shooting guards, are only getting better as they get more experience under their belt.
The major question mark surrounding the Pacers remains their perimeter defense. Aaron Nesmith is solid, but the team doesn’t have a lockdown perimeter defender in the mold of an OG Anunoby or Herb Jones.
Nonetheless, theĀ Pacers have plenty of playersĀ who could very well perform much better next season, in addition to Nembhard and Mathurin. Perhaps Jarace Walker or Ben Sheppard emerge as solid two-way wings. Maybe Johnny Furphy could play meaningful minutes in his rookie campaign. The Pacers have stacked their deck with cards that will make it hard for them to lose moving forward.
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