Indiana Pacers Media Availability | October 1, 2025

Indiana Pacers Media Availability | October 1, 2025

What uh I I think we talked a little bit about this on on Monday, but um coach Rich talked and I think the the front off. I was wondering to see you play with more force. How do you feel like you’re coming along as concerned? Were you trying like where where are you trying to show that? Um yeah, I would say just my drives to the basket. Um the straight line drives. Um just being assertive. Um not second guessing anything, just playing my game. And then just on defense and rebounding, just making an impact on that side. You talked a little bit the other day about about Pasc about what you learned from Pascal on that that first step. I mean, how are you trying to incorporate that? What are you what do you keep in mind when you get the ball in your hand? You’re starting to drive the ball in terms of trying to make sure you’re not wasting any motion. Yep. I feel like the main thing is um just being conscious of that before you even get the ball. Like if I’m on the wing, just being ready. If I get it, I’m catching and going. Like just things like that. Just making a conscious effort of implying that into my game. What was the emotional challenge of not being able to play in the month having a watch? Unescribable, dog. Like, you got to be in the moment to to feel it. But it’s it’s tough. I mean, you work all summer, 82 games, three series, and then you get there, and then it’s taken away. But, I mean, it grows you, it matures you. Um, feel like it made me a better person. I learned a lot through that process. What I wanted to ask you if it is that hard when you were ready to go again, did that change your appreciation approach? Anything about Oh, yeah. Definitely the appreciation factor. I’m not saying I wasn’t appreciative, but I mean just every opportunity I’m able to work out, get a lift in, practice, like it’s it means a lot more to me now than it did before. Just knowing that like in a in an instant can be taken away. So, I mean, every every day is a blessing. Does that make camp or practice feel different at all? Um, yeah, for sure. Cuz I mean, you wake up, second day of camp, oh man, here we go again. But I mean, you just got to look at it as as a way to get better, a way to grow, an opportunity that everybody doesn’t get. So, it’s definitely blessed and fortunate for it. How long How long did it take before you were back to 100% this summer? When when did you get back to doing everything, maybe like late August, early September, I would say I got cleared. So, it was a it was a long process. What uh what have you got to do just to ramp up quickly in that case? I mean, you’re only talking about three four weeks that you’ve been 100%. Um I would just say being in the gym, uh I would say the weight room more than anything, just focusing on my body, um conditioning, everything else cuz I was able to work out. Um just being able to grow that. So, when I do come back, my body’s feeling good, my ankles feeling good, and I’ll be ready to go. Not just you individually, but what are the things necessary to play at the pace that Rick wants to play? can be so much faster than other teams and you don’t see at camp a lot of just up and down sprinting. But how do you prepare for that? Um I would say definitely conditioning over the summer. Just getting your body ready, your wind ready, um your heart rate up and then just IQ cuz we don’t really play with a like a set play call or like just pick and roll like we do a lot of random things. So just being able to pick up on actions, picking up on our system, just making adjustments on the fly and be a ready to play through anything. On defense, we talked about just cutting out the gambling. What have you learned about how to bring more force to a matchup basically as, you know, taking that part out of it, but still being aggressive and still being forceful without reaching? Yeah, I would just say being more physical. Um, fighting through screens, just bumping on cuts, bumping on drives. Um, just being more hands-on, more physical. Man, I feel like that’s a better way to get engaged with the game as well. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I just want to first congratulate the Fever. Congratulates Steph and um and Kelly and and their team for just a monumental run. I mean, um they embody everything that Indiana basketball’s about. and uh the grit and the guts and everything else was uh was was amazing to watch and they were right there. And so uh sad that it ended um but uh an amazing run and uh one of the great coaching jobs I’ve ever seen. I know Tai’s talked about this before, Jared said a little bit on media day, but some players think they get it going into year two and then they realize they don’t and they actually get it coming into year three. Do you sense anything with Jarus in terms of maturity, disposition, things like that? Difference going into the season for him? Yeah. Um, you know, he’s so young when he came in. He’s just one year in college and so, you know, the first year you you have expectations. Um, it’s it’s difficult being a top 10 pick. You know, you feel like you’re supposed to just go in there and and be an impact guy. and in our situation, you know, his position was pretty crowded and so it took time, but he’s learned um and he’s worked extremely hard and he’s positioned himself to be a major factor on this team. You talked about wanting to see more force from him. Are you seeing evidence that that that’s against where where do you want to see more force from all you see? Well, first of all, physical conditioning is is tremendous. Um, best I’ve seen him in three years by far. And yeah, he went through two months of rehab where he really couldn’t run full speed. So, um, he’s put in a lot of work. Um, day one yesterday, he won the one-on-one competition. Um, day two today, Matine won it. And so, you know, those are the two guys that were the high picks, you know, back-to-back years. And so, uh, they’re both they’re both showing that they’re ready for this challenge. You obviously work for Pascal Summit. So, one of the biggest things you learned was just having a quick first step, not wasting motion when you get the ball driving. Are you seeing progress there kind of making quick decisions in terms of Pascal in terms of learning from Pascal? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean, you know, Pascal’s been a great mentor um to Jarus and a lot of our other guys, too. And Jarus has spent time down in Orlando at Pascal’s house where he’s got the gym. Um they spent a lot of hours together. And uh it’s powerful, you know, when when when you can when you can spend time with someone that’s elite at their position, that’s that’s taking an interest in you. the way Pascal has. So, uh, you know, hats off to Pascal for for for mentoring and and being so willing to do it. And, uh, you know, Jars, too, for for being a, you know, a great student and a sponge. How have you seen Jay-Hawk adjust to the style that you guys play and fitting into that? Well, the biggest thing was conditioning. you know, when he got in here three weeks ago, um he wasn’t ready for this and um he got the message pretty quick as they were playing games and doing things informally and he he really he really picked it up over the last two and a half weeks and made a lot of progress. Um his shooting is uh is elite for a seven-footer. um you know he can block shots, he’s got great feel, he passes the ball well and he’s picking up our defensive concepts which are difficult and unlike you know a lot of the ways he’s played over the years. So um Megan really great progress um great kid um fits the culture of our team very well just from a personality standpoint and you know we’re thrilled to have him here. Was there a time in your coaching career where you had to spend more training camp practices getting guys in shape than you do now? And could you just speak to the general in shape level these guys reported this season? Well, they reported in a in a in a high level of conditioning. Um, you know, look, many years ago, I don’t know how many decades, you know, training camp was you showed up and training camp was the time to get in shape. Um, but it’s gotten so competitive. Um, in a lot of ways, one of the real separators from player to player and team to team is condition. And so, you know, we have a group chat. I’ve been hitting these guys since early in the summer. Um, on the fact that it’s going to be a short summer. um make sure you calculate the correct amount of rest and then along with the correct ramp up because even though we played to the last day of the season, um you know, we we’ve got to come in in tip-top shape and first two days have been very demanding physically, very demanding and um guys have done well. What’s uh what do you like from Tony Bradley so far? We’ve just seen him a little bit at the end shooting the ball pretty well that a little bit. Um you know, what do you like so far? Well, he’s still a pretty young guy. He’s 27 or 28 years old and um talked to him last year about, you know, spending some time working on the three-point shot and he’s he’s making them on a very consistent basis now. And so I made a couple in games last year um in our in our preseason, you know, pickup games and stuff like that, shooting the ball well. And so it adds an important element um along with the fact that he’s a very smart, very, very accomplished player just in terms of knowing the game, feeling the game, and his field defensively and rebounding is is is very very good. Thanks guys. Thank you. Appreciate you. This team does and requires. Can you describe that in your own words how that felt and what you had to do to get up to the way they play? Got to run fast. Uh got to run fast. Got to run a lot. That’s kind of and it’s kind of funny. It’s built into the name of the team. Uh I hear the word pace a lot and I feel like it’s a coincidence just because it’s we play fast, but it’s a funny name. Have you played a style that requires this? Have you ever before in any We played fast. Yeah. I mean I played fast with Memphis last year. Um and then high school I played fast. UVA. Obviously, we didn’t uh but I’ve done done a mix of things. How have you felt your comfort level even just these two days of getting more or less forever? Yeah, I I think I’m definitely getting more comfortable as we go. Uh, you know, it’s a it’s a tight-knit group, so like there’s not that many new people, which is great. Um, and even I feel like I’m getting comfortable as we go. What did you have to do just to meet the conditioning level? I mean, obviously you’re playing pickup and stuff, but what did you do on your own? Playing pickup, a lot of conditioning. Coach Boland does his stuff. Uh he he you know gets guys in shape pretty well. So what um just what’s it like just finding chemistry guys so far? They’re big on randomiz. No it’s been great. I mean they’re like they’re always giving advice and like telling me hey this happens to this that type of thing. So that they’re being helpful. It’s not like uh I’m just having to figure it out on my own. Everybody’s been really helpful. talking about how you had to decide between two attend Europe whatever camp feel any different knowing like all right I have a deal already same kind of a little bit but it’s a new place still uh I haven’t been at the same training camp twice so it’s always interesting trying to you know figure out how training camp is going to go what’s got you differently about this one um feels like the structure is really good like the like everything feels very intentional um you know I think that they just did a good job of making sure that you’re know what the reason is behind everything. We’re doing things that uh you know are harder than a game will be which is I think they said that earlier today like we’re going to make practice really really hard so games are easier. A lot about wanting to leave the lead in passes even have to make a lot of move the ball. Yeah. Have you adjusted to that? That’s not I don’t recall you having to do that. Um I think I am capable of passing for sure. It’s depended on where. Um but that’s something that I you know I feel like I can do pretty well. I’m not, you know, Jason Kade throwing behind the back passes or Jason Williams or anything like that, but I think I can pass. Okay. What have you had to get used to the defense? Uh, the way we like every everywhere I’ve been, ball screen coverage is different uh different. So just having to adjust to that, figure out what they want, where they where I’m supposed to put my feet, everything like

Jarace Walker, Rick Carlisle and Jay Huff spoke with the media after training camp on Wednesday.

0:00 – Jarace Walker
3:36 – Rick Carlisle
10:09 – Jay Huff