Indiana Pacers: New Year’s resolutions

The Indiana Pacers have exceeded expectations going into the new year, but they do have some issues that need to be resolved if they are to continue on an upward trajectory.

The Indiana Pacers have been one of the surprise teams in the NBA as we near the halfway point of the regular season. They’ve done many things right to get to this point, but they certainly have deficiencies as well.

Indiana’s strength has primarily been on one end of the floor, where they are a top 10 team in most offensive categories including a No. 2 ranking in 3-point percentage as a team (38.6 percent).

Despite being one of the better offensive clubs in the league, the Pacers have spent most of the season floating just above the .500 mark due to their struggles in other areas.

As we enter 2018, here are a few New Year’s resolutions the Indiana Pacers should make if they want to contend for a spot that will give them home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The first set of numbers we’re going to look at can be summarized in one word: rebounding. Indiana is 20th in the league in rebounding average with 42.0 per game, and looking at advanced rebounding statistics doesn’t make this picture look any brighter.

The Pacers are 23rd in rebound percentage (49.2 percent) and their defensive rebound percentage is particularly poor — coming in at 75.6 — which ranks 28th out of 30 NBA teams.

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Defense has been an issue for the Blue and Gold all year, although they have proven themselves capable of playing well in stretches. However, the consistency simply hasn’t been there.

Indiana’s defensive rating is 107.0, which places them 22nd in the league at this point in the season. The Pacers’ offense has been very good overall, but their erratic and sometimes non-existent defensive play just won’t get it done.

Much has been made of the team’s pace in recent years, and their effort to play at a higher tempo continues to be a work in progress. Indiana has played very fast at times, but is incrementally slowing down as the year wears on.

Indiana’s pace is currently sitting at 99.1, good for 15th in the NBA. The Pacers want to be one of the highest-tempo clubs in the league, but after a good start in that regard they’ve dropped to the middle of the pack and they’re trending downward.

Despite having one the NBA’s premier shot-blockers in Myles Turner, Indiana is only 19th in the league in blocks per game (4.6). This isn’t necessarily a major problem, but it does point to the fact that the team has very little rim protection when Turner isn’t on the court.

On a related note, the Pacers are also one of the worst teams in the NBA when it comes to blocks against, averaging 5.3 per contest (23rd in the league).

Indiana endeavors to play with a great deal of player and ball movement, but their assist percentage is only 24th in the NBA at 55.3 — not ideal, but this is mostly mitigated by the team’s assist-to-turnover ratio, which is eighth in the league at 1.65.

Now that it’s 2018 and it’s time for those infamous New Year’s resolutions, the Pacers’ primary goals should be to rebound better, defend at a higher level and pick up the pace.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft: End of 2017 edition

Improved rebounding may be the most difficult resolution to keep, but the club has shown that it is capable of playing excellent defense and playing at a very fast tempo — it simply hasn’t done it with enough regularity.