Indiana Pacers Summer League Postgame Media Availability | July 14, 2025

Indiana Pacers Summer League Postgame Media Availability | July 14, 2025

How I what’s your kind of analysis of this team through three games at this point? What growth have you been able to see? Yeah. Um I mean I love our fight. We don’t quit. Um you know, we play hard, we play together, play unselfish. We just got, you know, put together 40 minutes like we did, you know, like we didn’t we never done yet. Um you know, like offensively we’re we shot 50 40 90 which is great and we scored them enough points to win. We just can’t give it one 11 one every night. So just a couple things defensively we had to clean up. What’s this opportunity mean to you? Means a I mean, this has been a great experience. Like, I’m grateful that coach, you know, picked me and whatnot. And just, you know, super fun to kind of run my own team and, you know, I’m like find myself. I wake up early, I’m just laying there thinking about the game and thinking about who should sub here, who should, you know, what plays to run. So, it’s been super fun. What are some of the uh the new challenges, right? Is it drawing up plays, things that put you out a little bit out of your comfort zone, but in a good way? Um, I would say like, you know, being able to coach these guys has been fun. the new challenges, plays, you know, you always see plays, but now you’re putting them in in drawing it up and you doing it and you deciding what you want, when you want it. It’s It’s been uh it’s been fun. How about your assistant coaches? Them also getting the step up as well. Yeah. No, they all been great like Martin, Joelle, Lauren, um Mo, Luke, everyone’s been great. Um Yeah. What is this uh the growth we saw from Cam today? I know the turnovers were high, but at the same time, there were a lot of positive things also at both ends. Definitely. I mean, but Cam, like I said, Cam, he’s getting better every day, every game, you know, trending in the right direction. Um, like Tay, I thought, you know, he shot he’s 0 for five from threes, but he shot five threes and it’s like, you know, I thought he still passed up four or five. Like, I thought, you know, he should be hunting threes and and looking to score. And Cam’s, you know, training in the right direction and just keep chipping away. And how about Enrique’s game? We’ve seen him develop a lot over the last year. He had a double double today. Yeah, I mean, Enrique’s rock solid, steady, and we know we’re going to get from Enrique. Um, always talking, trying to do the right thing, talking to me, talking to Martin defensively. Um, so yeah, we love working at Is everything you want to see change more on the defensive end? You know, the scoring is going to be there. You know what you can get from individuals? Yeah. Yes, I agree. I think like it’s about sustaining it. Like we have moments where we’re like guarding guarding and and and putting it together. It’s just about putting full 40 minutes together. Um, which we got the guys to, but you know, it’s been fun. Like Fury, I think Fury’s been, you know, he looks great out there. like he’s doing exactly what the pacers would need him to do where he’s defending a guy, taking on a matchup, running, you know, rim finishing, driving, they shift to him, he’s moving the ball. Um, so he just got to keep going. We all got to keep going. What about those couple of dunks that stole the show here today? I mean, we’ve been talking about how much he put 20 lbs of muscle but still kept, you know, got more athletic, you know, and just showed right then in that play. Do you think he’ll continue to play or do you know what the plan is there yet? Uh, we’ll find out. Yeah, we’ll find out. Appreciate it. What do you make of what I guess first of all the individual wise what you’ve been able to do in these first three games? Yeah, just been able to, you know, showcase a lot of I’ve been working on my shooting, my ability to read the defense and, you know, make plays, steals, uh, blocks, um, and try to help our our guys as much I can on defense and just just trying to be a facilitator offense and help our guards get downhill. Um, and just I think as a whole, we just got to sustain our defense a little better. We know the rebounding, the high-f flying and things, but take me through like the development of that shot and trying looking for that and shooting it with confidence even more. Yeah, I think I think you could tell by the first two games. Uh, I kind of shot it a little timid and then coming second game, Martin gave me some good advice to just, you know, you’ve been working on it all summer. You know, you’ve been putting a lot of work in. Don’t don’t hesitate to shoot it. And then last two games, I think I’ve I’ve done that. How about first two dunks that kind of stole the show today? Yeah, I mean, first amazing. He’s a good teammate, good guy. Uh, and I was I was wild for it, too. I was standing there like this. Yeah. Who has there been another guy that stood out to you just what they’ve gone through over camp and impressed you in the short time you’ve been together? Yeah. I I honestly I think everyone all all the new guys um everyone’s just been been trying to do their best that they can and um and trying to put their best foot forward to win. What’s it been like to see Isaac get a shot leading this group as the the main voice that you hear? I mean I he’s doing a great job. I think for his first time in this position head coach, he’s, you know, he’s learning from his mistakes as he go. And I think the best thing I think that he’s doing for us is being transparent. We’re all trying to learn. We’re all trying to get an opportunity. And I wise being like, “Yo, this is my first experience.” And I’m I’m going to do my best. And I think once you see someone be vulnerable and be able to um own up to their mistakes and uh own up to our team and take our leadership, I mean, you got to applaud that. Did a great job. Sorry. What does the summer represent for you as you try to figure out kind of what what your situation looks like moving forward? Yeah. Um, obviously I hope just hope that my game here in the last three games show you that, you know, my motor’s still there, my shots improving, and um, and obviously I’m a hell of a player. What was your experience like this past year? Um, going to the very end with this group. Yeah, I mean truly I would say grateful. I think for being a rookie, making it all the way to the finals with a team that showed nothing but championship culture from day one all the way to the last game. Um, as a young player, I only could be grateful and uh and learn from that. How about defensively? What steps do you feel like this team needs to take to to improve on that area for these final couple of games? Yeah, obviously we have to limit our fouling um and just be be more solid. Like tonight, I had a little extra two few extra fouls that I probably could have taken away. I think everybody on on our team could look at it, eliminate two or three fouls and it puts us in a better position in the game. There are a lot of rookies on this team. Is do you take you and some others take a leadership role of showing them kind of hey this is what to expect and going into all these games? Yeah, me, Q, and uh and Ray, you know, we’re doing our best to try to try to be a leaders this year being second years and trying to help the young guys like Taye and and um Cam, you know, get the rhythm of the game, get adjusted to the speed of the game. Um and just just trying to be just trying to be a good teammate. You mentioned Martin having conversations with him. What’s that relationship like? And also, what how special is it to see him get that opportunity as well to be front of bench? Yeah, I mean Martin is incredible. I think all year I’ve been working with him, him and Luke to um to develop my game. And you know, Martin has an opportunity to run our defense this year. So, he’s he’s really taking pride in in this opportunity as a coach and uh and really filling himself out like in it. And he’s he’s doing a great job. He’s doing a great job.

Summer League head coach Isaac Yacob and Enrique Freeman spoke with the media following Monday’s game against the Bulls.

0:00 – Isaac Yacob
2:48 – Enrique Freeman