Tyrese Haliburton, a superstar point guard that dissects a defense with the precision of a neurosurgeon to the tune of being one of the NBA’s leaders in assists year after year while also turning the ball over at roughly the same frequency that Halley’s Comet passes by Earth, was named the most overrated player in the league by The Athletic’s annual anonymous player poll.
“I heard about this,” Rick Carlisle said when asked about it after the Pacers Game 2 victory over the Bucks. “The other guys on the list were Jimmy Butler and Giannis. I want to see the guys’ faces that voted those guys … This is a bullshit poll. Not everybody even answered in the poll … the whole thing is bullshit. It’s really a shameful thing. Jimmy Butler would be a finalist for MVP if he got to Golden State a month and half earlier and Giannis? Are you kidding me?”
Pascal Siakam, who Haliburton called the league’s most underrated player after the game, seemed just as puzzled as for a reason for why Haliburton would be receiving votes at all.
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the lightskin,” Siakam joked before giving the point guard his flowers. “He’s super duper talented. The things he brings to our team, you can’t—obviously you can look at the assists and see the impact he has on our team. Moving the ball, he’s a general out there, and he makes us go. We’re going to ride with Tyrese until the wheels fall off.”
Haliburton, who finished with 21 points and 12 assists, is the Indiana Pacers identity, he is the offensive system and the Indiana Pacers are very good. The whole thing feels like another example of the first fifteen games of the season being the only thing that sticks into the minds of people for whatever reason. It’s make the team and its star underrated if anything. Instead of remembering the dominating performance in Madison Square Garden Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs, people go to his terrible early regular season game in the same arena in October after an offseason of not being able to work out due to reinjuring his hamstring at the Olympics.
Maybe it’s because he just keeps winning and lets you know about it. With his funky jumper that goes in 40% of the time from behind the arc and his ability to orchestrate everything on the offensive side of the ball in an elite offense that doesn’t beat you in the typical isolation, hunting mismatches methods that are so prevalent in the NBA. Maybe it’s because Haliburton can dominate a game by scoring 30+ or when he barely makes any shots at all.
“For me, he’s such a special player because he can impact the game not just by scoring but being able to open up the floor for everybody else, putting everybody in the right positions, and doing it with a swag. At the end of the day, some people are going to like it and some people are not going to like it. I think he’s an unselfish player out there when he plays and he has one thing in mind which is to win, and he’s always thinking about how to make us better. I’ve had multiple conversations with him about how he can make me better as a player. It’s not everyday that you find players like that. He’s a special person, he’s a special player, one of the best. He’s just got to keep that confidence, be himself, do what he do.”
Haliburton already has the most games in NBA history with 20 points, 10 assists, and 0 turnovers. He’s 25 years old. There’s never been another player that quite matches his level of passing brilliance mixed with the flashiness and coupled with an otherworldly ability to take care of the ball. He’s just not throwing risk-free passes and racking up cheap assists.
As for what Haliburton had to say about the entire thing, he’s not worried about what people outside of the organization are thinking about him.
“I must be doing something right if that’s the case. I don’t have a big speech or comment on it,” Haliburton said when asked. “All I care about is this locker room and winning games … Not too worried about that. I know who I am. I’m confident in my own skin … my teammates trust me, my front office, my coaching staff. I’m good. I could care less.”
With the Pacers up 2-0 and him continuing to get under Damian Lillard’s skin, Indiana heads to Milwaukee with an opportunity to continue to irritate a rival Bucks team.
“We’ve played each other what feels like a million times over these last two years,” Haliburton said. “… I’m sure there will be more heated moments, more competitive moments but all we care about is winning. All that extra curricular stuff is extra curricular—but it’s fun. It’s fun. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. It’s some fun shit now … it’s just competition at the end of the day and we ain’t running from it.”
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[…] the end of this year’s playoff run, the conversation had gone from whether Haliburton was overrated to whether he was a superstar. Everyone who underestimated him and the Pacers looked like damned […]
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[…] is better at it than anyone else, save maybe Haliburton, because of the threat the formerly ‘overrated‘ star is to pass it as much as finish off the […]
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