On Jarace Walker and "hands-on" learning

Plus, other notes from a game that saw the Pacers sleepwalking (again) against Memphis 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

At Media Day, when Pascal Siakam was asked in what areas he had seen improvement from Jarace Walker during their summer workout sessions, he talked extensively about the long-term value that can come from being around winning teams and building winning habits.

"What I like to say to young players is, 'Continue to grow in your time.'" he said. "Everyone is going to have different opportunities. You can be in Washington or on a different team and play a lot more minutes, or you can be on a team in a situation where you can learn around great people and great teams."

As a toolsy, forward-turned-wing, who still needs to embrace playing through contact, Walker has quite possibly the most ideal tutor in Siakam; however, in leading by example, some of the two-time All-Star's potential teaching points haven't quite yet fully taken hold.

Take a look at this possession from the second quarter of Monday's preseason loss to Memphis. This is a common action, which the Pacers signal for with the letter "c" -- likely as a reference to what they call "chase" action, when the player in the corner comes up to meet the ball with a vertical screen. From there, that triggers a potential hi-low pass, along with an array of other dominoes, depending upon the coverage from the defense. It all starts with the screen, though, and that is where Walker could stand to take a lesson from Siakam.

On the approach, he needs to slow down and stay on the low side, using his hands without any grabbing or elbow-to-wrist extension to gently shift the weight of the on-ball defender. Then, if the defense switches, he can open his hips to create a pocket for the pass, staying below after screening below. Siakam has mastered this technique, which is why this action, along with the other other moving parts it incorporates as it progresses, was central to how the Pacers kept him posted last season, as a now freshly-signed, often-sealing max star.

Of course, Walker isn't new to this action. The Pacers ran this a bunch of times between him and Oscar Tshiebwe at Summer League, and Walker's way worked until, well, it didn't. Here, despite initially staying on the high-side of the switch, he's still able to establish position and hold off the smaller defender to catch the lob pass over the top.

Even so, there were other instances where, because he didn't screen below or stay below, he gave the defense the opportunity to switch back.

Granted, Enrique Freeman didn't exactly keep his eyes up before automatically flowing into the next action on the second side, but Walker could still stand to be a little more willing to get his hands dirty, subtly nudging the on-ball defender and playing physical like Siakam, with learned skill as his lesson perhaps even more so than brute force. As a whole, both forms were missing from the first half against the Grizzlies.

"The guys who started, pretty much eased into the game," Rick Carlisle said of the first unit that included Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Jarace Walker, Obi Toppin, and Myles Turner with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam sitting out for rest. "This is a Smashmouth team that puts physical hits on you both offensively and defensively, that's just how they play the game. They play a clean game, but it's a physical game, and we got smashed in the face in the first quarter."

On the night, Zach Edey made everyone look like a toddler, scoring 10 of his 19 points for the game out of the post as he methodically and repeatedly turned middle over his left shoulder for hook shots with his dominant hand. Turns out, the only center who successfully managed to sit on that hip, forcing the Purdue product to counter, was Isaiah Jackson, at just 6-foot-9.

And, well, this was the result.

In addition to basically doing the "too small" to defenders of all shapes and sizes, it helped that Memphis was meticulous with their spacing, parking the best shooter in the weak-side corner while also cutting the player from the wing. As such, in addition to still turning in his preferred direction against a double from the bottom of the defense, Edey also had passing options.

Meanwhile, just as Bennedict Mathurin did Bennedict Mathurin things in a good way against Cleveland, bringing the ruckus both with his ability to access late-clock shots and play loud even in the silence of when he didn't stay standing still, he also did Bennedict Mathurin things in a not-so-good way versus the Grizzlies, as his defense largely made noise for the wrong reasons.

Edey is a mammoth to get around as a screener, but there's really no excuse for giving up two-on-the-roller advantages with indecisiveness when the towering big man isn't even involved in the play, let alone allowing Desmond Bane to get all the way to the rim with his strong hand without putting even the slightest bend in his driving angle.

And none of that even mentions the inattentive back-cut he gave up the on the very first possession of the game. That said, he certainly wasn't alone in that department. Memphis has been an extremely opportunistic cutting team during preseason, averaging 20.3 points off cuts by comparison to 8.2 during this past regular season, but the fact that the somnambulating effect that was present against Cleveland also carried over defensively to this game is difficult to reconcile with a team that talked about the importance of FanJam as a fifth preseason game.

At times, they've seemed bored with the process of playing any preseason games -- or, at least, that's the "hope." If there's to be any silver lining from a game in which not much was gained or learned, it's that the reincorporation of zone continues to look like a viable wrinkle. Haliburton didn't play, so there's obviously nothing to evaluate as to his effectiveness at the bottom, but they manufactured multiple stops in a row with Freeman's high-motor manning the middle and on the glass during the fourth quarter.

Altogether, Memphis went scoreless on nine zone possessions. Otherwise, the other major takeaway from the battle of the benches is the ongoing progression of Jarace Walker's shot. His presence in the starting lineup more so led to the Pacers playing taller against the physicality of Memphis rather than bigger; however, the fact that he evaded a closeout with a lateral, one-dribble three, stepped into a transition three, and also was able to bail out non-penetration from deep with a three at least speaks well of his rapid growth in that area and reinforces his chances of making the switch to small forward when he's spacing around other advantage creators.

Remember, this is a player who shot 5-of-17 from behind the arc during preseason a year ago, after shooting 5-of-28 from three as a rookie at Summer League. Since then, he's hit on 39.7 percent of his 229 combined attempts with the Pacers, in the G League, at Vegas, and during preseason. In that sense, the fact that he knocked down this contested triple from above the break without an advantage being created for him is no small feat.

After all, that shot will get easier. Without Haliburton or McConnell, only 54.9 percent of Indiana's chances (in reference to the section of a possession before a shot occurs, there is a dead ball, or the ball changes teams) featured a touch inside the paint against Memphis. Last season, that number was 62.5 percent, which ranked second to only the Oklahoma City Thunder when including the playoffs. As such, if Walker is coming off the bench in lineups with McConnell at the helm, there's a greater likelihood of him being at the receiving end of paint-touch threes than what was the case with Quenton Jackson, Tristen Newton, Ben Sheppard, and, at times, even Bennedict Mathurin attempting to masquerade as point guards.

Overall, with certain areas of his game blossoming faster than others, Walker is continuing to grow, as Siakam noted, in his own time. As it pertains to letting the ball fly, he provided something positive to hang onto -- especially from a game that once again saw the Pacers sleepwalking. This time, against a physical Memphis team, reinforcing that which needs to be absorbed not only by Walker, but also for a team that, thus far, hasn't exactly demonstrated the winning habits that were mentioned by Siakam with any consistency, at least not defensively.