Pacers’ Rick Carlisle Says Bennedict Mathurin Will Have to Improve One Key Part of Game

The Indiana Pacers will have Bennedict Mathurin in the starting lineup next season. With Tyrese Haliburton out for the year, they need to have someone fill a role in the starting lineup.

Mathurin started almost half of the season a year ago while Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard were dealing with injuries early in the season. He moved back to the bench when they got healthy.

Next year, Rick Carlisle wants Mathurin to be the starting shooting guard. He also wants him to improve one key part of his game while he's given this opportunity.

Rick Carlisle wants Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin to improve his defense

While speaking on The Fan Morning Show, Carlisle revealed that he wants Mathurin to improve his defense next season.

"He's going to be guarding a lot of great players. With Tyrese being out this year and Nembhard moving to point, Andrew Nembhard guarded the best perimeter player almost always. It was either he or Nemsith. But with Tyrese out, that's going to put Andrew on different matchups, sort of organically. And now Benn is going to be guarding some better players, so it's going to be a great challenge."

Mathurin has shown flashes of playing great defense. His defense against Giannis Antetokounmpo late in the game during a regular-season battle comes to mind, as does his epic block against the Thunder in the Finals.

He has to have those kinds of moments all of the time next season with the starting lineup configured the way that it is. Carlisle is counting on him to get better.

Indiana Pacers player Bennedict Mathurin needs to make a leap next year

Defense isn't the only thing that Mathurin needs to improve on. He has to make some decisions quicker on the offensive end of the court, because the ball tends to stick with him.

If he is able to improve both of those aspects of his game, he has the chance to turn into a really good player. He's going to get every opportunity to do that next season.

This past season, Mathurin averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game.