Can the Pacers bridge the gap? 2025-26 Season Outlook - w/ Caitlin & Samson

Answering mailbag questions about the upcoming season

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

The Pacers aren't taking a gap year (maybe?), so neither are we. As promised, I teamed up once again with Samson Folk to recap preseason and lookahead to the games that count while answering your patron-only mailbag questions.

For this installment, the center position was a central focus, along with how the Pacers can get to the point (or, rather the paint) more often in bench lineups without T.J. McConnell. Then, there's also some discussion on areas of improvement to watch for from Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, and Jarace Walker, as well as thoughts on what trends the rest of the league might look to take from the Pacers and what trends the Pacers might look to take from the rest of the league. Plus, some way-too-early brainstorming about the 2028 Olympics for both Team USA and Team Canada.

Enjoy!

Here are the relevant timestamps:

0:00 - Introductions

1:32 - Isaiah Jackson needing to build chemistry with the starters

9:29 - What Bennedict Mathurin can do to improve at screen navigation

15:07 - Jarace Walker being pressed into more primary and wing initiation

25:43 - Generating paint touches for the bench without T.J. McConnell (Also, saying farewell to Cam Payne and hello to Taelon Peter)

34:20 - Balancing rim-running vs. delay action/trailing with non-shooting bigs

36:59 - Biggest concern for Andrew Nembhard as primary initiator

44:56 - Where the Pacers need Jay Huff to improve on defense

50:28 - Predicting whether Mathurin will still be on the team post-trade deadline as well as which center will finish the season with the most minutes played

56:47 - Which teams are being overlooked in the Eastern Conference

1:01:25 - What tactics will the league take from the Pacers and what tactics should the Pacers take from the league

1:06:34 - Projecting potential league trends

1:11:46 - Picking rosters for Team USA/Team Canada + thinking ahead to what it would take for Canada to upset the US

1:21:17 - What convinced Samson to stay on for another season of Pacers coverage

1:23:06 - BREAKING POPSICLE NEWS!! (Unveiling the popsicle of the month)

1:25:29 - Thank you & Goodbye!