30 NBA Players in 30 Days: Bennedict Mathurin
Day 5 of our countdown to the NBA season brings us to Indiana, where a huge rebuild is beginning to unfold. After the big trade last year to get Tyrese Haliburton by giving up Domantas Sabonis, the Pacers look to build their roster how they are used to. Indiana is not a popular destination for NBA free agents that are looking to sign with a new team, and it is even more true with the stars of the league. Unfortunately, it is just a harsh reality for the team, whose biggest stars since Reggie Miller have been Jermaine O’Neal, Paul George, and a season of Victor Oladipo. That is why the focus for the Pacers is their recently drafted lottery pick, Bennedict Mathurin. Given the harsh truth about the lack of big fish free agents coming to Indiana, there’s a good amount of added pressure for Mathurin to show signs of stardom in his rookie season.
Ben Mathurin played for the Arizona Wildcats for 2 seasons before declaring for the draft this year. He didn’t take the normal “one-and-done” freshman route to the NBA. He was mostly an efficient player as a role player in his freshman year before becoming a star during his sophomore year. He has all the skills and attributes you picture the first scoring wing taken in the draft would have. He has size, length, athleticism to jump out of the gym, and a sweet shooting stroke. In his final year before declaring for the draft, Mathurin posted 17.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 45.0 FG%, & 36.9 FG3%. The shooting percentages are lower than his freshman season numbers, but the counting stats all raised as a sophomore. This trend is very common for a young player getting more volume and offensive responsibilities. Arizona relied on him to be the focal point on offense, so the drop in efficiency makes sense. But for Indiana’s sake, Mathurin showed the right skillset to pair with Haliburton, Duarte, and Myles Turner (if he doesn’t get traded). It will most definitely take a season or two for Mathurin to be a comfortable, efficient scorer at the NBA level, but there’s definitely a chance he gets there.
As mentioned before, any young player with promise that is drafted by the Pacers will have tangible pressure. We have seen players like Mathurin for years in the draft. There are many various outcomes for how his career will turn out. He could end up becoming DeMar DeRozan 2.0, an uber athletic, scoring wing that can shoot the lights out. Or he can just end up becoming another version of the Ben McLemore, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (I forgot they were taken back to back), and Josh Jackson archetype. Scoring wings are very confusing to evaluate because every NBA team would love to have one, but the shortcomings of those players usually sets a ceiling to how good a team could actually be. This is especially true if that wing is the best player on the team. The last few scoring wings to be the best player on a championship team were Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant. What made those guys different from others like Vince Carter or Carmelo Anthony? Defense. Kawhi, Kobe, and KD were all exceptional on defense. I bring that up not to say that Mathurin has to be on the level of those all-time greats, but to emphasize that those guys had a certain “it” factor to them that helped them rise above the others. While it’s too early to tell if Mathurin has that quality, the Pacers need to know sooner rather than later.
