Why Bennedict Mathurin needs to master the art of rejecting rejections

On a potential major point of emphasis at the point of attack

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Turns out, Bennedict Mathurin won't just be starting alongside Andrew Nembhard in the backcourt this season; he'll also have his back in terms of taking on more of the load defending at the point of attack.

"The challenges might be greater defensively," Rick Carlisle told reporters at Media Day, when speaking about what will likely be needed from Mathurin as a starter. "There's a very good chance that he'll be asked to guard the ball in a lot of situations."

As was written repeatedly here at Basketball, She Wrote during the offseason, the Pacers don't exactly have an Andrew Nembhard for Andrew Nembhard when it comes to playing someone next to him who can both operate as a secondary ball-handler while also guarding the other team's best perimeter player the full-length of the floor. Now that Nembhard is the team's starting point guard, wheeling and dealing in the absence of Tyrese Haliburton's gravity, it would be nearly, let's say, un(press)cedented for him to still apply that much pressure on the defensive end, even as he is also under increased pressure to spearhead the offense, and potentially manipulate plenty of unders, as the team's primary ball-handler. That's why, when the Pacers played the second of two back-to-back games in Atlanta without Haliburton this past March, it wasn't Nembhard who started opposite from Trae Young; it was Ben Sheppard.

Moving forward, the player assuming more of the brunt of that responsibility in the starting lineup will be a different Ben(n): Mathurin. Of course, this won't be Mathurin's first foray guarding at the point of attack or as a starter. In games against opponents with elite off-ball movers, such as the Golden State Warriors, Mathurin could often be seen defending the ball so that Nembhard or Sheppard could chase around the likes of Steph Curry.

All too often, what stood out from that flip-flopped arrangement, is that Mathurin still needs to master the art of rejecting screen rejections.

Last season, the league as a whole gave up 0.973 points per chance defending ball-screens. When the ball-handler rejected the screen, that number increased to 0.989 points per chance. For the most part, pick-and-roll coverages are built around and most effective when the ballhandler is forced to use the screen. Every team rehearses situations or rotations that may arise out of the guard accepting the screen, but very few are as prepared to recover out of a complete tactical breakdown. Credit Thomas Bryant for making the emergency rotation to the rim for the block in the above clip against the Warriors, but an emergency rotation to the rim was still very much needed. In that way, blocks are somewhat like mousetraps, you're happy when they work, but you don't really want to need them. In order to avoid putting the defense in those unfamiliar scramble situations, the on-ball defender has to force the pick-and-roll creator to actually dribble off the pick.

Part of the problem for Mathurin in giving up rejections is that he's isn't always ready to guard.

Notably, in a dead ball situation out of a sideline out of bounds play, he willingly conceded way too much space to the ball-handler, resulting in a rejection. There can be a similar effect in transition, where if he doesn't pick up the ball-handler higher up the floor, he can get caught backpedaling or flat-footed, without any opportunity to direct or connect with the ball.

"For sure," Mathurin answered at Media Day, when asked by reporters if defending on-ball gets him more engaged. "You know, 100 percent -- especially when you guard the best players, you want to go out there make sure that you get to make it tough for them, and I feel like my competitive aspect of the game definitely helps me when I get to guard the ball full-court and we get to set our defense."

For that reason, this role change could prove to be to the benefit of both him and the team. Granted, a screen is never involved in the back-court on this possession, as the Pacers go from pressuring the ball to dropping back into a 2-3 zone; however, it's still demonstrative as to why an engaged, ball-hawking defender is much less likely to get beat on a reject. Put simply, when Mathurin is up defending the ball against top assignments, he's actually up defending the ball against top assignments, rather than giving up space before the screen.

Furthermore, if he does give up a rejection while staying within literal arm's reach of his assignment, then at least the rejection will most likely be used to set up another ball-screen at a better angle, as opposed to leading directly to paint penetration as seen in the prior clips.

According to Genius Sports, the Pacers ranked 30th in opponent field-goal attempts allowed at the rim resulting from drives last season, including when those drives, specifically, originated from the middle-third of the floor. Of those middle-third drives, Mathurin was the highest volume on-ball defender, with rejections serving as a recurrent theme.

To provide a visual, the Pacers need Mathurin to pretend as though there is a magnet in the ball-handler's hip that he has to activate with his forearm, so as not only to avoid the rejection but also to force wider angle drives. If he's a more engaged version of himself on defense when he's pressuring the ball, then it's possible he'll be in position to, ahem, put himself in better position at the point of attack by virtue of what other changes might be necessary without Haliburton.

Remember, as was pointed out in this month's mailbag, Haliburton is the immaculate exception when it comes to keeping the ball safe without playing it safe as a playmaker. Last season, his on/off swing with regard to turnover rate ranked in the 97th percentile. If the Pacers turn the ball over more frequently next season in his absence and without the ability to play as many minutes with two point guards at once, they're going to have to find another means by which to make up the difference in possessions. As the saying goes, "the basketball is the most important part of basketball." In the event that they end up crashing the offensive glass more heavily (i.e. Indiana ranked 26th in possessions per game with at least three offensive players crashing last season), Mathurin won't just be critical to generating extra possessions, the fact that he's actively moving toward the basket at the end of possessions will mean that he'll already be in (oh, hey) position to start pressuring the ball.

Plus, if nothing else, the fact that he's guarding the ball more often with the starters means that other, better team defenders, will potentially be insulating him away from the ball, as is evidenced here by Nembhard pointing for Mathurin to load up at the nail on the isolation from Trae Young against Siakam.

Also, in lineups with Nembhard, Nesmith, and Siakam, there's more leeway for the Pacers to switch 1-4, minimizing some of Mathurin's screen navigation flaws, provided (once again) that he rejects the rejections. Tellingly, the Pacers allowed just 0.920 points per chance with Mathurin as the ball-handler defender on drives last season when Nembhard was on the floor, compared to 1.110 with Nembhard off the floor. For context, the Sacramento Kings gave up 1.063 points per chance defending drives last season, which ranked 30th in the league.

All of which is to say that, Andrew Nembhard isn't the only player poised to take on more responsibility without Haliburton. From Pascal Siakam potentially handling the ball more often to Mathurin joining the starting lineup and defending more frequently at the point of attack, more is going to be asked of everyone, and those two in particular, largely because of the larger ask that is going to be expected of Nembhard. When it comes to Mathurin, a major point of emphasis, which might be activated just by virtue of him being more engaged, will be not giving up rejections at the point of attack. In that regard, a big part of him growing into a bigger role, will be the degree to which he focuses on and executes the little things.