The Indiana Pacers were rebuilding in the previous two seasons and then made a sudden leap to the Eastern Conference Finals without the help of either of their prized lottery picks they received as a reward for a moderate level of tanking.
But don’t be fooled, both Bennedict Mathurin, who was out with a torn labrum, and Jarace Walker, stuck at the end of the bench as a rookie, are still major factors in the Pacers hopes of what they want to achieve in the future.
“Benn Mathurin has a chance to be a star caliber player for the Indiana Pacers,” Rick Carlisle said in his exit interview. “… He has the ability to be a terrific two-way player in this league. His competitiveness is well-documented. The possibilities are all there for him … but everything here has got to be earned. We’re not giving anything to anybody. We’re just not doing it. His place on this team as an impact player will be earned as everyone else’s has. I know he looks forward to doing just that.”
With the emergence of Andrew Nembhard in the postseason and the defensive intensity that Aaron Nesmith brings, Mathurin is aware that getting a starting spot will be a tall task.
“I know next year Rick keeps talking about the challenge of earning my spot as a starter,” Mathurin said. “Obviously it’s not going to come easy but I’m a competitor … I’ll outwork everybody. That’s how I got here. I’m just excited about what’s coming.”
Even while dealing with the injury, Mathurin remained present with the team throughout the playoff run and was able to soak in what postseason basketball is all about.
“He has gotten to see over the last two and a half months what wins: defense, speed, quick decision making, and recognition,” Carlisle said. “His workouts this summer are going to be geared toward fast, efficient, quick decision making and developing defensively.”
Pacers General Manager Chad Buchanan echoed those thoughts from Carlisle on what Mathurin learned from watching on the sidelines in his interview with Setting the Pace podcast.
“I think Bennedict learned as much as anybody … He saw how we play, how we succeed: playing fast, our wings sprinting the floor, sprinting to the corners, quick decisions with the ball, and playing with some effort, intensity, and physicality all game long defensively,” Buchanan said. “And I think that really was an eye-opener for him because I’m sure he’s sitting there thinking, ‘Gosh, we’re having a lot of success and I’m not out there. Like, I need to play the way these guys are playing. Look at what we’re doing with this style.’”
Mathurin who said it was harder than expected watching the team from the sidelines in the playoffs admitted adjusting to the team’s style was something he needed to work on and the focus had already begun in his second season where he noted that while his points per game dropped from his rookie season (16.7 to 14.5), his efficiency increased (higher FG%, 3PT%, and eFG%).
“It wasn’t easy for me. Anywhere I played my entire life, I was the best player, I had the ball in my hands, I didn’t need to adjust to my teammates as much as I need to now,” Mathurin said. “… Being able to trust my teammates, knowing that the ball was going to come back to me. Playing along with the team, buying in, doing what was right for the team. That was the main thing for me this season, to be able to play through the system, having fun with my teammates competing at the highest level.”
Rather than making an immediate choice between passing, shooting, or driving at times, Mathurin likes to catch the ball and size up the defense before planning his attack. While his bully ball drives to the rim have been valuable especially in getting to the free throw line, he also can let the defense off the hook by allowing them to recover before he makes his move and the offense can lose its rhythm. Finding the right balance by both Mathurin and the team hasn’t been instantaneous but it isn’t expected to be either.
“Bennedict has a certain style of game that’s very helpful to us on a lot of nights, but it doesn’t always fit cleanly with the way the rest of the guys play,” Buchanan said openly on Setting the Pace. “Trying to mesh those two styles together is something that’s going to take some time. There’s nights where you just need a guy that’s just going to blow his way to the rim and get a foul and get a bucket. The rest of the guys, we’re really moving the ball, making quick decisions. Guys don’t hold the ball very long, where Bennedict’s kind of learning to play that way. I think he knows that’s something he’s got to learn to kind of adapt to the way the rest of the guys are playing. And we’ve challenged him on that. He knows that’s something he’s got to add to his game, is making quick decisions.”
Mathurin is often better when a play is called for him offensively rather than playing “random” or in flow like the Pacers prefer. Instead of playing through feel, Mathurin’s better at following a recipe. That aspect of the powerful guard may extend beyond the court as he found an atypical way to contribute to the playoff run while out with his injury: baking.
“My biggest growth is expressing myself a little bit more to my teammates,” Mathurin said. “I think they know about me on the court, super competitive. Sometimes overly competitive where it creates a narrative about me maybe not being the best teammate. Being hurt helped me a lot, it gave me an opportunity to connect with them more. I’ve been baking more, bringing baked goods to the plane and things like that. I feel like my teammates were able to see a different side of me.”
Mathurin’s been open about having a baking hobby since his rookie year but with the injury it gave him an opportunity to dive into more and it seemed to start to become a road trip tradition with a conversation with some members of the front office during a practice towards the end of the regular season.
“Somehow, somebody was talking about food and somebody asked Ben, like, ‘What’s your favorite cookie?’” Buchanan said. “I forget what he said. And he goes, ‘What’s your favorite cookie?’ And I said, ‘I love M&M chocolate chips.’ And he asked Ted (Wu) what his favorite cookie was. I think Ted said snickerdoodle … it was just a casual moment of a conversation. And then the topic turned to something else, and you didn’t think anything of it.”
But when they were on the plane the next day, Mathurin came back to their part of the plane with two boxes of cookies: one M&M chocolate chip and one snickerdoodle.
“I’m like, ‘You made these?’” Buchanan continued. “He goes, ‘Yeah, you remember yesterday you told me this was your favorite kind? I listen to you guys. I want to make you guys happy.’ … So Benn was making cookies, like all playoffs. He was walking through the plane, handing out cookies to everybody.”
“His personality really started to come out. He wanted to be on the court so bad, and if he couldn’t contribute on the court, he wanted to contribute in some way. I think maybe baking the cookies was his way of contributing.”
Mathurin said his teammates enjoyed his baked goods and he did a few things besides cookies—always looking for more of a challenge.
“I’ve been getting pretty high reviews. Lowest I got was a 9 so he’s not getting anything from me anymore,” Mathurin said with a smirk. “Cookies are pretty easy for me. My most liked baked good was probably cinnamon rolls.”
Defensively, Mathurin has shown flashes of brilliance like his timely stops against Giannis Antetokounmpo late in one of the Pacers wins over the Bucks but too often he’s a liability on that end, getting caught ball watching, falling asleep off the ball, or getting beat too easily off the dribble.
“He could be a terrific defender, I mean, phenomenal defender if he really commits to it,” Buchanan said. “The concentration level it takes to be a good defender is a talent because when you’re guarding a good player, they are just waiting for you to make a mistake, whether that be ball watching or not sprinting back or your closeout is improper or you just fall asleep for a second. You got to have your mind engaged all the time as a good defender. That’s something we’ve challenged him as well. But I think he’s going to—I know he’s going to—work like that. He’s one of the most competitive guys we have on the team and he wants to be great.”
Mathurin admits that his defense needs work and probably wasn’t his first priority when he was younger.
“I was always the best player so I didn’t really have to play defense like that,” Mathurin said.
That doesn’t stop Mathurin from using criticism or slights taken at his defense now as motivation to get better. He saves tweets, takes screenshots, and calls out confused reporters for things that they may or may not have said.
“He likes to have a fire lit under him,” Buchanan said via Setting the Pace. “Sometimes maybe he might twist words that are said about him a little bit, because it helps drive him. I love that. Kobe used to do that. MJ used to do that. I think Benn is always looking for a little edge. He’s always been kind of the underdog in his mind. He wants other people to kind of like—he doesn’t want people telling him he’s great. He doesn’t like that.”
Buchanan shared that in college he would spend an unusual amount of time in Tommy Lloyd’s coaching office to the point where his college coach asked him why he wasn’t spending time having more fun as a student on the Arizona campus.
“Benn goes, ‘Everybody out there just tells me how good I am. You tell me all the stuff I need to work on. I’d rather hear that than all that stuff out there,’” Buchanan recounted.
“That was when he was in college and it hasn’t changed here. That’s just how he’s wired and how he’s made up. I’m sure if he gets the chance to take anything you say, it’s registering in the bank for him. And it’s sitting in there for a while.”
This speaks to Mathurin’s desire to be coached hard which fits with Carlisle’s everything has to be earned philosophy.
“He wants the truth. He wants you to tell him what he needs to work on,” Buchanan said. “Coach Carlisle is very truthful and upfront with him. And Benn likes that. And Benn wants to be challenged.”
His current challenge is getting healthy after tearing his labrum in his shoulder in March against Dallas where he suffered the injury in the second quarter but played through the injury for the rest of the game, contributing multiple baskets after it occurred in a big road win.
“I watch too many Kobe videos I think,” Mathurin said with a smile.
“He’s way ahead of schedule with this thing. It’s been freakish,” Carlisle said. “He attacks everything with such intensity.”
Mathurin won’t be ready to play for the Olympics but he is expected to be there with Team Canada watching again as his teammate Andrew Nembhard and his fellow countrymen to compete for a run at the gold medal.
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