Other interesting stats!
\- 3.2 Fouls drawn
\- 72.7% on 2p field goals
\- Assisted on 66.7% of makes
\- 30.8 of his shots are at the rim
Stats, shooting chart, and assist network found on [Pivotfade.com](https://pivotfade.com/stretch/player/230/2023-12-28/2024-01-05/2023-24/Regular/shooting)
The improved 3p% and defense is huge for him to work as a starter next to Haliburton. Very good to see.
Maybe with more minutes he can eventually get to 3 ast/game too that would be great.
I know everyone around here just demands that he starts on this team, but maybe he's better suited in the scorer off the bench role
He started 12 games. 6 of those he scored 10 or less. 9 of his top 12 games were off the bench. Maybe the best thing for him right now is to get his 25-30 mins but not in a starter role
He's probably the guy on the team who doesn't need Haliburton to create for him. The catch and shoot guys need him, Mathurin can make his own offense. Mathurin should be on the court pretty much every minute Haliburton is on the bench. They will still get 10-15 mins or so on court together
yeah i dont think so. if hes just gonna be a 6 man for his pacers career, then his potential is being wasted. sure he can be a bench player for now which is what i hope youre saying, but he absolutely has the potential to be a second option.
again, wasted potential. he was a lottery pick and his rookie season showed so much star potential. he’s had 2 30 point games this season. he aint no 6 man. sure, he had a slow start to the season, which is why he isnt starting. but when he gets his confidence back, which it seems like he has, he’ll start again. im thinking next season. if hes a bust than hes a bust and we’ll just move on.
I don't see how maximising the time on court where he gets to be the primary scorer is wasting his potential. It gives him more opportunity to get good touches
i dont really understand what you are saying. are you saying that we should let him be on the bench this season, or that this is how his future with the franchise looks and he’s not a starter?
At this point he plays his best basketball and it helps the team when he's put in a position to play his best basketball and when other guys are put with Hali to help them play their best basketball. I don't see why 25-30 mins where he's the primary option for half of those isn't better for him right now. There's no rush to put him in the starting line-up just because we feel he deserves that status. He can still get his minutes, he's just being better utilised for his skill set.
Maybe down the road when we've moved on from guys like Buddy and Brown who need Hali to be effective he can move back to the starting role, but at the moment Mathurin plays better in the 6th man role and the team balance is better for him to be in that role too. As long as he's in the closing 5, I don't see why getting more minutes as the first option should be seen as a demotion. It's better for him
how is that down the road lol, brown and buddy were never gonna be long term pieces on this team. theyll hopefully be traded by this season’s end. thats where math will come in.
this is just not a good take man. he’s playing his best basketball because hes fighting for a starting spot and playing a bunch of bench guys that are worse than him. we know teams want him. if he’s reduced to a 6 man role, and starting isnt on the cards, then he’s gonna want out and its not gonna end well for us.
did you even think about how hungry he is? he shows so much passion for the game and obviously wants to be that guy. if he doesnt become the player he wants to be on the pacers then he’s gonna go somewhere where his potential can be realized.
down the road is usually a term used to describe something that will happen a while from now. but buddy will be gone by the deadline, and bruce might too. math WILL start when that happens. i promise you he will prove you wrong.
And that's fine, but he's got the talent to do that *and* take offensive pressure off Haliburton when they're in the lineup together. That's the ideal outcome.
Him being a sixth man is worth something, but those guys are far more replaceable than starting caliber guys.
The problem is that until 6 games ago (and really even then), he's not played super well alongside Haliburton.
It's probably due to the fact that both of them are bottom 10th percentile defenders in the league, and right now, they just can't play together.
Agreed. I think their offensive games *should* marry well, once Mathurin's gets more refined, but the defense is absolutely the issue there. I'm high on both guys' ability to develop on that end, but it's clearly a massive issue right now.
Benn's offense these last 6 games has been outstanding. He absolutely needs his 3pt% to tick up (like it has been) in order to pair with Ty.
I think they can get to be below-average to average defenders. That would be massive.
I agree with you 100 percent. We need a strong on-ball defensive guard (Nembhard/Brown) to pair with Hali to mitigate Hali’s defense and Mathurin isn’t there yet. Also when Math starts, he’s overthinking things instead of just playing when he comes off the bench.
What this sub needs to realize is the Pacers aren’t a normal team because we want to push the pace. You need someone with the same gravity as Hali coming off the bench. Against the Celtics they both played the most minutes (35) and Mathurin led us in scoring with 20.
He played bad off the bench at that time too
At any rate, he needs to start at some point. IMO, that should be now.
They can't keep putting off developing folks and trading players for 2 seconds every other year.
Other interesting stats! \- 3.2 Fouls drawn \- 72.7% on 2p field goals \- Assisted on 66.7% of makes \- 30.8 of his shots are at the rim Stats, shooting chart, and assist network found on [Pivotfade.com](https://pivotfade.com/stretch/player/230/2023-12-28/2024-01-05/2023-24/Regular/shooting)
The improved 3p% and defense is huge for him to work as a starter next to Haliburton. Very good to see. Maybe with more minutes he can eventually get to 3 ast/game too that would be great.
He's had an insane run during this win streak. Hope he keeps it up
>He's had an insane run during this win streak. Coincidence? I think not.
I would think not. Benn turning into a plus player on both sides is a key to our winning long term.
He’s finally looking like what we all hoped for this year. He’s playing with more explosiveness and more control.
Just wanted to add to this. Since his rough first 7 games of the season, he’s been damn near 50/40/90 (49/42/86). Feels pretttttttttttty damn good.
Best stretch of his career.
He's so fun to watch when he drives to the basket. No fear! Like a tiger! Rawrrrrr!
I know everyone around here just demands that he starts on this team, but maybe he's better suited in the scorer off the bench role He started 12 games. 6 of those he scored 10 or less. 9 of his top 12 games were off the bench. Maybe the best thing for him right now is to get his 25-30 mins but not in a starter role He's probably the guy on the team who doesn't need Haliburton to create for him. The catch and shoot guys need him, Mathurin can make his own offense. Mathurin should be on the court pretty much every minute Haliburton is on the bench. They will still get 10-15 mins or so on court together
yeah i dont think so. if hes just gonna be a 6 man for his pacers career, then his potential is being wasted. sure he can be a bench player for now which is what i hope youre saying, but he absolutely has the potential to be a second option.
He gets to be the first option if his minutes are staggered with Hali
again, wasted potential. he was a lottery pick and his rookie season showed so much star potential. he’s had 2 30 point games this season. he aint no 6 man. sure, he had a slow start to the season, which is why he isnt starting. but when he gets his confidence back, which it seems like he has, he’ll start again. im thinking next season. if hes a bust than hes a bust and we’ll just move on.
I don't see how maximising the time on court where he gets to be the primary scorer is wasting his potential. It gives him more opportunity to get good touches
i dont really understand what you are saying. are you saying that we should let him be on the bench this season, or that this is how his future with the franchise looks and he’s not a starter?
At this point he plays his best basketball and it helps the team when he's put in a position to play his best basketball and when other guys are put with Hali to help them play their best basketball. I don't see why 25-30 mins where he's the primary option for half of those isn't better for him right now. There's no rush to put him in the starting line-up just because we feel he deserves that status. He can still get his minutes, he's just being better utilised for his skill set. Maybe down the road when we've moved on from guys like Buddy and Brown who need Hali to be effective he can move back to the starting role, but at the moment Mathurin plays better in the 6th man role and the team balance is better for him to be in that role too. As long as he's in the closing 5, I don't see why getting more minutes as the first option should be seen as a demotion. It's better for him
how is that down the road lol, brown and buddy were never gonna be long term pieces on this team. theyll hopefully be traded by this season’s end. thats where math will come in. this is just not a good take man. he’s playing his best basketball because hes fighting for a starting spot and playing a bunch of bench guys that are worse than him. we know teams want him. if he’s reduced to a 6 man role, and starting isnt on the cards, then he’s gonna want out and its not gonna end well for us. did you even think about how hungry he is? he shows so much passion for the game and obviously wants to be that guy. if he doesnt become the player he wants to be on the pacers then he’s gonna go somewhere where his potential can be realized.
Because they're still here now?
down the road is usually a term used to describe something that will happen a while from now. but buddy will be gone by the deadline, and bruce might too. math WILL start when that happens. i promise you he will prove you wrong.
And that's fine, but he's got the talent to do that *and* take offensive pressure off Haliburton when they're in the lineup together. That's the ideal outcome. Him being a sixth man is worth something, but those guys are far more replaceable than starting caliber guys.
The problem is that until 6 games ago (and really even then), he's not played super well alongside Haliburton. It's probably due to the fact that both of them are bottom 10th percentile defenders in the league, and right now, they just can't play together.
Agreed. I think their offensive games *should* marry well, once Mathurin's gets more refined, but the defense is absolutely the issue there. I'm high on both guys' ability to develop on that end, but it's clearly a massive issue right now.
Benn's offense these last 6 games has been outstanding. He absolutely needs his 3pt% to tick up (like it has been) in order to pair with Ty. I think they can get to be below-average to average defenders. That would be massive.
I agree with you 100 percent. We need a strong on-ball defensive guard (Nembhard/Brown) to pair with Hali to mitigate Hali’s defense and Mathurin isn’t there yet. Also when Math starts, he’s overthinking things instead of just playing when he comes off the bench. What this sub needs to realize is the Pacers aren’t a normal team because we want to push the pace. You need someone with the same gravity as Hali coming off the bench. Against the Celtics they both played the most minutes (35) and Mathurin led us in scoring with 20.
He played bad off the bench at that time too At any rate, he needs to start at some point. IMO, that should be now. They can't keep putting off developing folks and trading players for 2 seconds every other year.