One of the players I’ve enjoyed most to begin the season is Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin.
He may not snag Rookie of the Year—barring injury, that seems likely to land with Orlando’s Paolo Banchero, and deservedly so—but Mathurin often looks beyond his years as a scorer.
The guard plays through contact in the paint and shoots better than 70% from inside of three feet. He’s a knockdown shooter who connects on better than 40% of his attempts from deep. That ability makes him even more decisive and aggressive in terms of getting downhill, as he uses shot fakes to blow by defenders that are desperately closing out on him along the perimeter.
