Pacers System Faces One Big Test This Season

The Indiana Pacers made the NBA Finals last season in part due to how good their offense was. Over the last couple of years, they have created an identity of being a very fast team.

In 2023-24, they were the fastest team in the league in terms of their offense. They didn't play quite that quickly last season, but they were arguably better because they had Pascal Siakam for the entire year.

This season, they won't have the luxury of Tyrese Haliburton running the team because of his torn Achilles. One pundit questions if the Pacers can play with the same speed without him.

Pundit Questions if The Pacers Can Still Play With Speed

John Schuhmann of NBA.com has questions about whether or not the Pacers will be able to play with the same kind of tempo that they did last season without Haliburton running the show.

"The ball should be able to continue moving without the Pacers’ star, but he was the main ball-mover. Pascal Siakam should be able to take on a larger load offensively, but his transition game will miss the guy who led the league with 9.2 pass-ahead passes per game."

Schuhmann is unsure that the rest of the lineup will be able to pick up the playmaking slack, but he believes Jay Huff will help with that if he's the starter.

"Huff will allow them to play five-out offense, but doesn’t give them as much inside as Turner. (Only 31% of Huff’s shots came in the paint last season.)"

The Pacers Will Have to Lean More on Pascal Siakam

Siakam now becomes the best player that the Pacers have on the roster, and Schuhmann believes the Pacers will have to rely heavily on him, alongside Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith.

"Over the regular season and playoffs, the Pacers played just 140 minutes with Siakam, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith on the floor without Haliburton, and they were outscored by four points over those 140 minutes, scoring just 105.3 per 100 possessions. This is still a solid team, but the ceiling appears pretty low without their star."

This lineup is still good enough to make the playoffs. Anything after that should be considered gravy without Haliburton in the lineup.