How the Pacers can problem-solve at center without one right answer

On what needs to change to find and develop the best of several options

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In a game that saw Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, and Pascal Siakam combine for 68 points on nearly 68 percent shooting, as Mathurin (in particular) found nearly nothing but net, going 11-of-12 from the field, the centers for the Pacers never converted a single shot attempt, with Tony Bradley leading all scorers at the position with three points, all coming from the charity stripe. To summarize the underwhelming play at the five spot, Isaiah Jackson struggled to get out of his own way, racking up needless fouls while also struggling to find his way in the offense. Jay Huff seemingly couldn't get in the way, whether boxing out or clearing out space around the basket, and James Wiseman and Bradley, neither of whom played in the first half, were kind of just there.

Altogether, none of them exactly looked the part of a starting center, especially when matched up against one of the best centers in the league in Victor Wembanyama. Based on this game alone, it's entirely possible that the Pacers don't have a definitively right answer at center, but they have options, who should reasonably be expected to provide better answers in the short-term - or at the very least whelm, even if they don't consistently overwhelm.

Here's some areas where each of the options on guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals can improve.

Jay Huff - Conditioning

As was intimated during training camp, there's been a learning curve for Jay Huff on the ramp up to playing the play-hard style of the Pacers. At times, the more he runs, the more he struggles to make an impact - both figuratively and literally. Just take a look at this sequence from the first quarter, after he had played a stretch of approximately three minutes, featuring plenty of up-and-down play. In running from rim-to-rim, rather than arc-to-arc, the opportunity is there for him to screen out the help at the basket, but he doesn't quite seem like he has the extra energy to make the extra effort -- especially in the wake of already being extra in picking up two quick fouls.

Then, when changing ends of the floor, this happened.

Granted, part of the problem is the fact that he loaded to the ball when he didn't really need to, but he also wasn't exactly speedy with his closing speed to the rim while continuing to manage foul trouble. In that respect, he and the Pacers may need to be more active in searching for spots where he can be (well) less active. For example, if he's going to defend this high against a screen at the logo, then maybe just have Jarace Walker as the low-man switch onto the screener with Obi Toppin rotating down to the corner and Huff peeling off to the wing, so as to trim down on the amount of required ground coverage.

If not for Walker's quick hands, Huff likely wouldn't have been quick enough to prevent the easy shot at the rim out of the corner crash. Meanwhile, just as he needed to screen for Payne in transition in the prior clip, he certainly didn't need to screen for Payne on defense, as there was very nearly a collision between the two of them at the point of attack while executing incongruent coverages. That said, while it's entirely possible that Huff won't need to cut as many corners or be as vulnerable to corner cuts once he's better up to speed, not everything that went wrong against the Spurs can solely be attributed to getting his legs under him, especially when holding his ground went about as well as his ground coverage.

After all, Victor Wembanayama almost didn't even have to leave the ground to get this rebound, despite not having inside position.

Then, in the third quarter, the same thing happened against Luke Kornet, within seconds of when Huff had entered the game.

After getting whistled for his fourth foul, he also went back to the bench within seconds and didn't return until there was 3:30 to play in the fourth quarter as part of a double-big lineup in tandem with Tony Bradley during garbage time. Last season, the Pacers gave up a total of 19 offensive rebounds on missed free throws in 82 games. This happened twice to Huff in the same game, including when he was fresh off the bench following halftime. He isn't always going to make shots, and it might take time for him to adapt to the rigors and rhythms of playing on a new team, but he also has to stay on the floor in order to run the floor.

Isaiah Jackson - Non-shooting fouls

As previously stated, where Huff struggled at times to get in the way, Jackson struggled to get out of his own way. Among the 226 players who have logged at least 30 minutes of action during preseason, Huff ranks second in fouls per 100 possessions (6.67) and Jackson ranks fifth (5.59). Of Jackson's nine fouls in 37 minutes played, only two have been shooting fouls, which is obviously positive as far as not sending opponents to the line. Not-so-positive, however, when he immediately gets pulled from the game for committing a transition take foul after needlessly pulling on his defender.

To be fair, Mathurin didn't exactly help the situation with his choice of pass (i.e. live-dribble passing reads still don't come easily to him when he's attacking left), but Jackson really isn't helping himself, either, by yanking on his defender's arm as though that somehow is going to result in vending the ball back to him. The same also applied on this back-to-back sequence in the third quarter, when he committed an unnecessary foul attempting to gamble for a steal while defending Wembanyama in the post.

For reference, after Jackson got knocked off his spot guarding Wembanyama on a drive in the first half, the Pacers had mostly moved to doubling the towering, yet agile big man, at least on post touches. All Jackson needed to do there was stay solid and wait for the double from Siakam. Instead, he doubled-down on committing another needless foul. Not even a second later, after he had repositioned himself to front Wembanyama, he barreled through San Antonio's down-screen counter from Stephon Castle, resulting in a timeout from Indiana.

To his credit, he immediately blocked a shot coming out of the timeout, and he's less than a year removed from Achilles surgery, but he can't get in his own way when he already has to find his way, both on offense as well as against much bigger bigs.

In that regard, he's oftentimes seemed unsure of where he should move when the ball moves, especially when fewer ball-handlers are on the floor. Here, for example, on these guard-to-guard screening actions with the ball moving toward the sideline, the big is ideally supposed to stay high and set a flare screen for the shooter to filter out to the top of the key.

Then, if T.J. McConnell is at the controls with his unpredictable driving angles, one of three things normally develops. Either he attacks baseline, generating a paint touch that triggers a 45-cut from the opposite wing or, if he can't worm his way back middle into a shot, he waits around the short corner for the big to come set a screen and flow into snug pick-and-roll.

Here, with Wembanyama tracking the ball in almost a one-man zone, Jackson doesn't set the flare screen and then just kind of floats in the same space as Nembhard, before ultimately grappling with how to manufacture a passing angle while circumventing the French phenom's sprawling length despite hovering in and around the paint.

Granted, part of the reason why that possession was so disjointed is because the bring-up ball-handler was Nesmith, who obviously isn't going to push the downhill out of push action with the same verve as McConnell. That said, the fact that the Pacers don't have McConnell for the next month, nor even Quenton Jackson for the time being, means that more onus is going to be shifted onto the bigs to keep the ball moving, as well as themselves.

James Wiseman - Standing in the dunker spot without standing still

This is an old subject with regard to Wiseman, but given that he doesn't have quite the same passing feel as Jackson or Huff to run hand-offs or make plays for others out of split actions, it's even more imperative that he recognizes how he can make himself available while putting more stress on the defense, especially with this cast of guards. Take this possession from the end of the third quarter, for example. When the Spurs start to trap Obi Toppin, Wiseman needs to flash to the middle of the floor so it isn't so easy for the defense to guard 3-on-2.

Tellingly, with Jarace Walker and Obi Toppin both having to fill in at times as makeshift ball-handlers in the absence of McConnell, the Pacers only reached the paint on 16.7 percent of their touches when Andrew Nembhard wasn't on the floor in this game. Last season, the Phoenix Suns ranked 30th in paint-touch frequency, at 18.1 percent. There, Cameron Payne actually accessed the paint, but he missed spraying the ball out to Taelon Peter when the second help cracked down against Wiseman. Rather than expecting Payne (or whoever else fills in at point guard) to see over defenders the size of Wembanyama and/or Kornet to deliver passes in tight spaces, there might be something to asking more of the bigs in order to require less of the guards. As in, maybe Wiseman seals out or screens in the rim protector to create a scoring opportunity for Payne instead of waiting at a standstill for Payne to create a scoring opportunity for him?

Likewise, this type of stagger away entry normally presents an opportunity for McConnell to isolate and attack the rim, but opposing bigs aren't going to guard Wiseman above the break, and Payne doesn't have the same kick as T.J. McConnell.

Consequently, the end result is a step-back two from Wiseman. It's possible the Pacers could toy around with moving Taelon Peter out of the corner during the stagger away action to open up more driving room, but that isn't going to improve Wiseman's gravity or Payne's burst. On that front, if Wiseman can't hold space on the perimeter and is still going to hold this spot on the roster (which arguably shouldn't be a guarantee despite his partial guarantee), then he arguably needs to carve out space for the guards.

All of which is to say that, in many respects, along with some very questionable transition defense to start the game, the bigs were the problem against the Spurs; however, with a limited supply of guards, both in skill as well as number, they also arguably need to be a bigger part of the solution. The Pacers may not have a right answer at starting center, but the options that they have can all stand to be better, as they search for the best version of themselves, as potentials stand-ins.