Our latest player reviews for the season brings us to Jeff Teague, who had one of his best seasons in the NBA during his first (and hopefully not only) year as an Indiana Pacer. Here’s link to our reviews on CJ Miles and Lavoy Allen and Glenn Robinson III and Monta Ellis.

The Good:

82: Number of games started. The Pacers have sorely needed a playmaking point guard, but more importantly, they needed someone to show up to each game and produce. Teague’s durability is highly valuable, and the Pacers will need to open their checkbook to keep that. In the debate of George Hill vs. Jeff Teague, durability is one area that seems to tip the scales to Teague, because as valuable as Hill’s defense and shooting are, he’s also been prone to miss a lot of games.

150: Shooting fouls drawn. Teague’s ability to punish defenders accelerating over picks or sticking their hands “in the cookie jar” was one of the most enjoyable things to watch. If you grew up watching Reggie Miller kick his way to the free throw line, you enjoyed Teague exploiting the whistle this season. It was the most shooting fouls drawn in his career, but with so many players drawing those 3-point fouls, the NBA will likely make a rule that’s similar to the “rip-through” rule that makes those type of plays non-shooting fouls. It’s unlikely he’ll ever match his free throw numbers from this season again.

22.1%: Teague’s usage percentage was lower than his previous four seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. His last three seasons had all been over 25%. Even with less usage, Teague’s season was perhaps the best of his career. He averaged a career high in assists at 7.8 per game and rebounds at 4.0 per game. His scoring was only less than a point lower per game than the past two seasons.

The Bad:

154: Lost ball turnovers. Teague had the most turnovers of this variety in his career, and though his turnovers per game remained near his career average, he lost the ball when attempting to drive or reposition on the court too often.

.238: percentage of shots taken between 0-3 feet. Teague took the fewest shots of this type (read, driving lay-ups and short floaters) in his career. A larger percentage need to be taken closer to the rim since he does not have elite range to maximize his offensive value, but as he gets older, expect this percentage, more than 100 points lower than his previous season, to stay below thirty percent.

0: Years left on his contract. The Pacers will likely have to pay somewhere close to $20 million per season to retain Teague, unless he takes a hometown discount. The good news is that it seems both sides are interested in re-signing.

All stats courtesy of basketball-reference.