Pacers’ Rick Carlisle Calls Out Bennedict Mathurin For Key Weakness In His Game

The Indiana Pacers will have a new starting lineup next season with both Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner gone. Turner is in Milwaukee, and Haliburton is recovering from a torn Achilles.

Bennedict Mathurin will be the guy who replaces Haliburton in the starting lineup. Rick Carlisle has already talked about how Mathurin will be the starting second shooting guard.

While Carlisle is excited that Mathurin has a chance to show what he can do as a firm starter all year, he wants him to still improve one key aspect of his game.

Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle wants Bennedict Mathurin to make better decisions

While speaking on the Fan Morning Show, Carlisle talked about what Mathurin needs to improve on as a starter next season.

"The situations when he gets in trouble a little bit, when he drives into crowds...that stuff has got to go away. And we're going to work with him hard on that. He's having a great summer. He's busting his butt."

Mathurin had such success drawing fouls for the three months of his career when he was driving into the paint that he was conditioned to automatically draw a foul when he drives into crowds.

Once the refs caught up to his game, Mathurin started turning the ball over and taking bad shots while he was recklessly driving into the paint. Carlisle wants him to fix that problem.

The Pacers need Mathurin to clean up his decision-making

Speeding up his decision-making is also something that he needs to work on. The Pacers like to play fast, and he needs to figure out what he wants to do with the ball once it hits his hands.

This is a key season for Mathurin because he's due for an extension on his rookie contract after this year. This is when the Pacers are going to make a firm decision on his future in Indiana.

If he grows his game and plays well, he could be handsomely rewarded by Kevin Pritchard. That's his goal this season as the starting two-guard.

Last season, Mathurin averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. He shot 45.8 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3.