Exit Interviews: Andrew Nembhard

The Scouting Report

Going into the draft, Andrew Nembhard wasn't a name many Pacers fans had on their wishlists. The team was (is) desperate for forwards and most assumed we'd take someone who could fill that role with the first pick in the second round.

Even if he caught Pacers fans off guard, Nemby put the league on notice in the lead up to the draft. After four productive years in college, he cemented himself as one of the most NBA ready prospects with his outstanding performance at the NBA Draft Combine. During a five-on-five scrimmage, he poured in 26 points, 11 assists (the most in a combine scrimmage over the last four years), one steal and just two turnovers. The way he completely controlled that game was preview of what he would bring to the floor in his rookie season – at least in spurts.

According to NBA.com, the scouting report on Nebmhard going into the draft was as follows:

• He is an unselfish, low-mistake player who consistently makes the right reads with the ball.
• He plays with good pace and uses his size to his advantage as a passer.
• He is an uneven jump shooter who is better off the dribble than with his feet set.
• He won't force his own offense, preferring to take what the defense gives him.
• He's an average finisher at the rim in the half-court.
• He is a high energy defender who possesses good fundamentals but sometimes struggles to stay in front of quicker guards.
• He is a disciplined and smart team defender.

For the most part that scouting report was prescient. Although as we'll see later, he actually finished well at the rim and, as the season went on, learned to look for his own shot.

The Season

Nembhard admits that though he was disappointed he wasn't a first round pick, getting drafted by Indiana was the best thing for his career because of the minutes he was able to play.

In the preseason, conventional wisdom suggested Nembhard would have to toil behind the scenes, perhaps bouncing back and forth between Indy and Fort Wayne, before cracking the Pacers' crowded guard rotation. Nevertheless, he carved out a spot in the game plan almost immediately, logging 30 minutes in only the second game of the season and being included in crunch time lineups right away.

In hindsight his contract should have been giveaway that the Pacers viewed him as something more than a typical second round pick. The team signed him to a four-year, $8.6 million rookie contract, which included $6.4 million in guarantees over the first three years of the contract. It set the record for most guaranteed money for a college player selected in the second round and he received more than picks 18-30.

When Chris Duarte went down in early November, Carlisle inserted Nembhard into the starting lineup. Many people suggested that the role was only temporary and that it was an effort not to disrupt rotations. But if you listened to Carlisle after Nembhard's first start, it was clear the coach had other plans:

"He just plays a very mature, sensible and strong all-around game. He has made key plays late in the shot clock I don’t know how many times in the last three or four games. He has got wisdom that is beyond his years. In that starting lineup, my feeling is he can help the entire unit function better."

After Nembhard became a starter the team won six of the next seven games. It would be misleading to say that Nembhard was key to this winning streak, but the success helped entrench him in the starting role.

As a starter Nembhard's role switched from the game managing point guard who dominated the Combine scrimmage to an off-ball 3 and D specialist.

His coming out party came during an early West Coast road trip where he was tasked with guarding some of the league's best players. He held his own against LeBron in LA, even hitting a game winning three. But as the eagle eyed Caitlin Cooper wrote after the game, Nembhard's contributions on defense were as remarkable as his late game heroics.

On the moxie and guile of Andrew Nembhard’s defense

Indiana’s rookie didn’t just sink the Lakers with his game-winner; he also did so with his defense — adding to what has become a building trend.

Indy CornrowsC. Cooper

Later in the trip, Nembhard had the opportunity to go back to his natural role of point guard when Haliburton missed time with an injury. On the second night of a back-to-back against the Warriors, the Pacers seemed to accept the game a schedule loss and decided to sit Haliburton, McConnell, Turner, Duarte, Johnson, and Theis.

Despite being shorthanded, Nembhard turned in his signature game of the year, outshining the Splash Brothers and propelling the team to a victory behind 31 points, 13 assists, and 8 rebounds.

After that game, the Nembhard hype train transformed from something Bobby Baccalieri plays with while wearing a engineer's hat to something Brad Pitt rides while wearing a bucket hat. I remember floating the idea of trading him for Trey Murphy and many fans thought Nembhard should be untouchable.

Unfortunately, he came back down to earth as the season went on and Haliburton returned to the lineup. While Nemby remained one of the best defenders on the team, he often struggled to make shots, finishing the year in the 34 percentile of points per shot attempt relative to other combo guards.

In his exit interview Nembhard acknowledged that shotmaking is the area that he needs to improve on most. He stated that his goal is to become a 50/40/90 player and to get over 40% on catch and shoot threes.

Achieving his goals would do wonders for his game. This year his jump shot was simply too inconsistent for him to be efficient on his shot diet, about 40% of which came from 3 and another 40%, worryingly, came from the midrange. However, he was effective at using his big body to muscle his way to the rim and finish over smaller guards. He shot 68% at the rim for the year (80th percentile for combo guards) and drew an and-one 45.8% of the time when he was fouled in the act of shooting, which put him in the 96th percentile for his position.

Offensively, Nembhard seems most comfortable operating as the lead playmaker. He assisted on a very healthy 22.3% of his teammates' buckets while he was on the floor and posted a 1.23 assist:usage ratio, good for 80th percentile.

After Haliburton went down in January, many of us expected Nembhard to flourish. Perhaps he hit a rookie wall or perhaps the league just started to pay attention to his scouting report, but he struggled to run the team for the first two months of the new year.

In March the game seemed to slow down for him and we saw more glimpses of the player who torched the Warriors. To the delight of a gaggle of friends and family in the audience, he delivered an inspired 25 and 10 performance in a win against the Raptors in Toronto. A week later he picked apart the Milwaukee Bucks with 15 assists.

He credits being more assertive as the reason his play bounced back late in the season. He feels his natural demeanor is to accommodate others on the court and it took him a while to learn when to defer and when to press the issue. I foresee this to be an ongoing struggle in his career as he balances playing off Tyrese Haliburton and running the show himself.

Going Forward

1)  What will Nembhard's role be next year?

Can Nemby and Math shoot well enough to start together on the wing? Again, conventional wisdom suggests Nembhard would be best suited to run the second unit, but if this year taught us anything, it's that the coaching staff views him as a starter. I'll be keeping an eye on how he fits into the changes they make this offseason. Speaking of...

2) Does Nembhard get traded?

After Duarte, I'd say Nembhard is the most likely player on the roster to be included in a trade. He's young, versatile, and has a good deal of value to both rebuilding and competing teams. If the Pacers are really going after big names this summer, they'll have to part with some good assets. Nembhard seems to sit right in that sweet spot of being expendable even though it would sting to lose him.

Take a listen to Nembhard's own thoughts about his rookie season and then let me know yours in the comments.