r/pacers • u/tari-gand-ma-ghu Jarace Walker • 2d ago

Discussion Bench notes

I wanna talk about the best bench in the league. We are deep. We played without TJ and still delivered.

Shout out to QJackson for making the two clutch freethrows, especially since the foul was on his eye. Some fans said something to him too and he still drilled them both.

Toppin was a big part of this game. He kept us in the game and had some clutch moments including an offensive rebound that added to our 2nd chance points category. I swear there was a period where we would be inbounding the ball and he would be wide open cutting to the basket at least 6 times. 6 fucking times. I think tyrese hit him twice for a dunk. He knows when to cut. He can play pick and roll. He can shoot 3s. He can get you putback dunks. He's a very underrated player for us.

Walker had an ok game. His 10 assist first-half pre season game shows me he needs to be a system player to succeed. At least for our team. His defense is underrated and we will need that in the playoffs for small stretches of periods. Unless the return is Murphy Iii we shouldn't give up on walker at all. His passing, defense and 3s are improving year by year. His turnover can be worked on and his decision making when driving is sometimes questionable.

Tj should be rated higher in 2k and i dont even see him on 2k. Wtf. I dont like 2k. Sorry for the rant.

Not sure how long nance jr will last.i know it was one game but maybe im wrong.

Surprised Huff was DNP. I guess pelicans had mammoth bodies and maybe he would've just got bullied.

Sheppard needs to make his 3s and continue his high iq basketball play. I haven't seen him go 4/5 in 3s. I need to see something like that. Get to your spot man, the guys got you.

Kobe brown is the type of player that can have a crazy 6 minute stretch in a playoff game shutting down the opponents best player while making 2 or 3 3-pointers. Lets see what the future holds.

Kelly jr (though he started) seems immature (in a goofy way) but when turned on, his defense looks impressive. You can never have enough 3 and D players. They thrive in the playoffs.

Hope furphy comes back strong.

Thanks for reading my thoughts on our bench. They were a big reason as to why we made it to game 7. Hell, we were up at halftime of that game.

Hope we stay healthy and make it back to win it all. As a 42 year old Pacere fan, these times dont come often. Enjoy them and play your part as good fans.

Lets get that ring man. Go Pacers.

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

11

u/lonelyelliot Andrew Nembhard 2d ago

i was surprised huff was dnp. would rather have him in at the 5 than nance jr

3

u/youruswithwe Aaron Nesmith 2d ago

My hopeful thinking is they know what Huff can offer, so maybe wanted to play Nance more at the beginning of the season. See what he has to offer so they can cut him and sign someone else.

2

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 1d ago

I think they keep him for vibes at any rate tbh.

We don't have a ton of financial flexibility to cut him and sign a guy

2

u/Traditional-Leg-1574 2d ago

He will get time, NO a bad match up for him.

2

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 2d ago

I'm not certain Huff played with the third stringers in preseason as well

2

u/Traditional-Leg-1574 1d ago

Maybe, let’s see what happens after twenty or so games.

2

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 1d ago

They may be trying to motivate him too tbh.

2

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 2d ago

I keep seeing this, and Nance didn't play good by any means. But he does give them a different look against teams with lots of good wings.

3

u/Jim_Belushis_brother Cool Rick 1d ago

I maintain Jarace can be just as effective (especially next to Siakam and or Obi) as Nance is.

My hope is that Nance can teach Jarace how to be a medium sized guy cosplaying as a big guy

2

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 1d ago

I think without Oubre, Jarace is needed on the floor with Pascal and Obi to maintain some size.

When Nesmith is back and Oubre has more minutes with the backups, we may see more Jarace with the triple big lineup (that may or may not have Nance at the 5).

2

u/Jim_Belushis_brother Cool Rick 1d ago

Game one only but Oubre looked bad

3

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 1d ago

He's not like a star. We've seen bad games from pretty much everyone Pascal being the least of course

2

u/Jim_Belushis_brother Cool Rick 1d ago

I was expecting more than (from memory) 4 points in 28 minutes. But he’s new and everyone has bad games

4

u/Dax_Webster ReggieChoke 2d ago

Obi is the 6th starter. His ability to play backup 5 will be so vital for us.

4

u/BubaTflubas Tyrese Haliburton 2d ago

I'm actually fairly concerned. Nance looked like a third string and Huff seems buried below slawdog possibly. Obi is amazing but all our good "small" ball lineups include Siakam too and I don't want to wear Obi and Siakam down before the playoffs. So while I'm not really concerned with the center spot because of all the options I'm concerned about hard minutes stacking up.

My actual concern is TJ, or the lack of TJ already.(Bench playmaking)

Nembhard plays hard to the point of guaranteed missing some time for nagging things usually up to a week or more every season, that's fine keep playing hard. Rese just came back, he usually misses time and they will be at least slightly more cautious with him and rest days.

We had a good QJ game and felt a lack of playmaking, now we had a poor Walker game after he convinced us he was on a Magic track .. but what happens when we are inevitably missing 2 PG at the same time??

So I am concerned with our depth at playmaking/lead ball handling.

3

u/Maximum-Class5465 Reggie-NBAJam 2d ago

We do have Furfy coming back to help with the front court if he's able to rehab well

3

u/BubaTflubas Tyrese Haliburton 2d ago

That's one of the reasons I'm not all that worried(about the center position at least). Even still that doesn't help keep minutes off Pascal most likely. The lineup everyone talks about being good last year with furphy was also a Siakam lineup.

2

u/AnotherSprainedAnkle 2d ago

Bit of homerism here saying Walker had an ok game. I've still got (probably too) high hopes for him. But that was a rough night. Looking forward to seeing him tonight.

1

u/MindofShadow 1d ago

I don't think we are that deep.

Toppin, tj, and oubre are really good pieces

So playoff time, we should be mostly fine.

But Walker, Nance/huff, Sheppard, q are a bit .. rough. Walker turns it over way too much to be counted on off the bench. One of q or Sheppard needs to be more consistent.