Pacers ready to wrap up preseason, is Tyrese Haliburton ready to lead?

The Pacers hope to have their full playing rotation available for final practice games this week.

Tyrese Haliburton is hyped for this season.(Photo: @Pacers)

The Pacers open the 2023-24 NBA regular season in ten days when they host the Washington Wizards on Oct. 25. Like, that’s next week.

So how ready will the Pacers be for the opening tip against the Wiz?

After an 0-2 start in preseason with a pair games that had plenty of good, bad and ugly while also utilizing several playing rotations we may not see again, there is plenty of work left before the Pacers are ready for prime time.

Fortunately, this week should go a long way to putting the Pacers in regular season form. For starters, the expected starting lineup should be on the floor when the Pacers host their final two dress rehearsals against Atlanta on Monday and Cleveland on Friday. Unless there are unknown injuries, we should see Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner back in action. Let’s say 20 to 25 minutes to get those game legs going.

Additionally, it would be nice if Andrew Nembhard can play with the second unit and other combinations, but his situation is a bit different, considering there is no need to rush back from a minor surgical procedure.

The best part about these last two preseason games is that they are against strong teams from the East with challenging backcourts to fully test Hali along with Bruce Brown and Bennedict Mathurin. The snippets of time when facing Trae Young and DeJounte Murray for the Hawks, as well as Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell for the Cavs, will offer a glimpse of how the Pacers’ revamped backcourt can hold up against a talented matchup.

More importantly, it also time for Haliburton to start making an impact, while admittedly learning along the way, as the face of the franchise and team leader. It almost isn’t fair because of his age, but to whom much is given, much is required.

That’s why I raised an eyebrow when learning that Haliburton was not traveling with the team on their first trip to Memphis, instead staying in Indy to participate in a WWE event at the Fieldhouse. On the surface, the act is no big deal at all, particularly since I figured he wouldn’t be playing in the game.

BUT…this team has talked a lot about making big strides this season, about accountability and wanting to make the playoffs, and no one has spoken more about it than Haliburton. He’s also the vocal leader of this squad. So when he stayed behind for the first trip of the season, a time that is a great opportunity for team bonding, teaching younger players and learning from older players, I just tagged it has a ‘me’ over ‘we’ decision.

I’m sure it didn’t impact Haliburton at all since he knows he’s all in and ready to do his part. But human nature being what it is, I’m sure there were a few players on that roster who heard Haliburton was staying behind and silently thought, “hmm, interesting.” Everybody is watching everything now.

Yes, I’m paranoid

Again, hear me clearly, the situation was not a big deal on the surface, I’m just hoping it is not the start of a trend because Pacers fans have seen this movie before. Go ahead and pick your favorite instance of a player getting awards and hype and a big contract and then using the fame and riches to do new and cool stuff away from the game. Everybody wants a piece and they can pick and choose among the best of the best opportunities. It is easy to get distracted by big shiny objects (or other, uh, things) in the big cities.

Fortunately, Tyrese seems different (although, we’ve heard that before too). Still, that’s why I find this season with the Pacers so fascinating. The Pacers are trying to build a strong, winning culture. As we saw last year, a solid group of guys can only go so far. There are many more elements to building a championship culture and as the Pacers continue adding great young talent, that is the long-term goal.

Eventually, the success of this effort will rely on how Haliburton handles his business as the lead playmaker, voice and face of the franchise. Fair or not, ready or not, the time is now for Hali to expand his impact as a leader.

He sounds like he’s ready to expand his role, so we’ll see by his actions if Haliburton is ready to take the Pacers to a higher level.