Tyrese Haliburton names the most impressive Indiana Pacers player in training camp, ‘He lives in the gym’

Tyrese Haliburton praises 20-year-old Indiana Pacers forward

Haliburton has been particularly pleased with the development of one of the Pacers’ young players this offseason.

He told reporters during his media day interview that Australian forward Johnny Furphy has stood out in scrimmages.

“A lot of different guys have gotten better in so many different areas,” Haliburton said. “I think if I were to single out a guy, I would say Johnny Furphy has looked really good.

“I thought he looked really good in the Summer League, and then he’s just been a gym rat. Since then, he went to Australia right after Summer League, and he’s been back for a while. He was one of the first guys back with me.

“That’s just who Furphy is. He lives in the weight room. He lives in the gym, so it’s great to see him doing what he’s doing and growing into his own as an NBA player. I look forward to seeing what year two looks like for him.”

Tyrese Haliburton comments on six more Indiana Pacers players

Haliburton mentioned six other Pacers players who will all have different roles in his absence this season.

With the point guard set to spend the entire year on the sidelines, almost everyone will have extra “responsibilities” to make up the deficit.

“I look forward to seeing a lot of guys take on different roles,” Haliburton added. “I think that Jarace [Walker] and Ben [Sheppard] are two guys who are going to have an increased role.

“Drew [Nembhard] is going to have more on-ball responsibilities, so I look forward to seeing him balance doing more on the offensive end and still being who he is defensively.

“It’s going to be hard to guard the best player every night and handle the majority of on-ball responsibilities, so I see his defensive responsibilities maybe decrease a little bit. But because of who he is, I don’t see it being anything drastic.

“I look forward to everybody’s role changing a little bit. Obviously, we changed our big. Isaiah [Jackson], Jay Huff, and James Wiseman are going to take on new roles from what they had last year.”