The game slowed down for Aaron Nesmith last season, and the Indiana Pacers reaped the benefits

The Pacers wing had a career year last season

Apr 3, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) drives to the basket. / John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Nesmith had a career year in 2023-24, and his ability to process the action faster made him a two-way weapon for the Indiana Pacers. After showing flashes of being a valuable three-and-D style player for years, the 24-year old progressed this past season for the blue and gold.

"He's an ever-evolving young player," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Nesmith in early February. The head coach noted that Nesmith learned some important work ethic related habits with the Boston Celtics that helped his process and approach to basketball.

"He's just gotten better. And as you play more, your view of the game becomes broader," Carlisle added. "The game slows down."

That concluding phrase is used often in basketball to describe players, but for Nesmith it is undeniably true. When the 2023-24 preseason began, the young wing was making strong drives to the rim and making reads while handling the ball. It wasn't often, but it happened enough to be noticeable. It was a clear area of improvement.

Simultaneously, Nesmith was drilling his three-point shots. He knocked down 41.9% of his triples last season, a career high. He started off hot from deep, too — 48.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc went through the net before 2023 turned to 2024. He was on fire for those 29 games, which changed the way he was covered by defenses.

Altogether, these pieces of improvement made Nesmith a far more impactful player. All-in-one stats are imperfect, but his Offensive Win Shares and Offensive Box Plus-Minus numbers hit massive peaks last season. The South Carolina native made some smaller, subtle improvements on defense, but his offensive growth was significant.

A lot of it can be traced back to the game slowing down for Nesmith. He worked with Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce on his offensive approach and reads, and it paid off. He could get by defenders, leverage his shooting ability, and make defenses react in a way he never did before.

"Making reads is easier. It just becomes easier to play your own pace," Nesmith told Pacers On SI in March during a conversation about the game slowing down. "I think it's just the ability to process things in real time quicker."

Nesmith averaged 4.4 drives per game this past season, a tidy number for a player not tasked with many ball handling responsibilities. The prior season, Nesmith's first with the Pacers, that number was lower. In 2022-23, he shot 44.6% on shots coming from drives. Last year, that figure reached 53.4%. The volume and effectiveness of Nesmith's rim pressure improved, and it's all because the game slowed down.

That expression means something different for every player. It can be about pattern recognition on either end of the floor. Sometimes, it looks like more effective recognition of spacing. For Nesmith, it was a combination of many things, but it manifested itself more obviously in his ability to get into the defense and create pressure.

"I'd say it's everything as a whole. Defensive reads, closeouts, passing, screening. Everything," Nesmith said of the game slowing down. He thought it was hard to put into words exactly, but knowing his own tendencies, and those of his opponents, better was a key part of it all.

Almost every night, Nesmith would catch the ball while standing beyond the arc with a semi-open shot available. Because that jumper was a bigger threat this past season, defenses would react. The Vanderbilt product of course made many of the threes he actually took. But the improvements in his game led to a familiar sequence that happened often throughout the season and postseason — he would fake attempting a jumper, then as his defender either lunged at him or tried to block his shot, he would drive toward the rim and push the ball either to a now-open teammate or to the basket for points. He did it multiple times in Game 7 of the Pacers second-round series against the New York Knicks, and it put the series away. That was the finale to a season full of those moments.

That sequence was where Nesmith proved the game was slowing down. He could process a defense reacting to him and respond to the information quickly. His improved outside shot helped make it all possible as there was more urgency from the defense, but his own growth was obvious, too.

"It has something to do with it," Nesmith said of his more accurate jumper playing a role in all his improvements elsewhere. He knows that his matchups close out harder and leave their feet more often.

Nesmith consistently felt better about his ability to gel with game speeds throughout the season, but that improvement really happened before the campaign even started. His offseason work and sessions with Pierce paid off in a major way.

He will hope to repeat that this offseason. Indiana is close to the start of training camp, and they will work together as a team before the season officially even starts. Nesmith will hope that the game continues to slow down as he improves while starting on the wing.

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