Pacers training camp day two notebook: Checking in with rookie Braden Smith
The Pacers rookie has bulked up since the NBA Draft
INDIANAPOLIS – The scenic differences from last year to this one began to stand out on the second day of Indiana Pacers training camp.
Jay Huff is wearing a headband. The Pacers new gold practice kits pop in the gym. Ivica Zubac and Kelly Oubre are there – Oubre had a strong second day of camp. Tyrese Haliburton is back, and the basket he shoots on always features the most smiles.
Rookies Braden Smith, Keba Keita, and Rienk Mast observe and talk with coaches, soaking up as much information as they can. Keita and Mast are useful to have around as Larry Nance recovers from a hamstring injury, though the veteran big man has been able to ring the bell a few times already after hitting 20-plus threes out of 25 in a shooting drill.
Much of the Pacers roster and core is similar to what it has been in recent seasons. And yet, the differences that will define this team's ceiling catch my eye every day at training camp.
Tony East
The similarities matter, too. The starting five, which has been a unit together since the Pacers acquired Pascal Siakam in 2024, picked things up and "dominated" in practice on Wednesday, Rick Carlisle said. That lineup, wearing bright pinnies, wasn't as smooth in operation during day one.
"The gold team... Yesterday they didn't have a great day. So there was some progress made."
The other units drew praise from Carlisle as well. But the two biggest Pacers questions entering the season are about the performance level of the starting point guard and the fit of the starting center. Any success from that group is notable.
So were other successes, plus a check in with Smith, on day two of Pacers training camp.
A great day for Kelly Oubre
Oubre is more of a generalist than a specialist, and so far throughout camp his teammates have lauded his versatility as a player. On Wednesday, it allowed him to stand out in practice.
"He had a great day today. He had a large impact on practice today at both ends," Carlisle said. "He shot the ball really well. Defensively, he's sticky, he's tough, he's difficult to screen, and he's an edgy competitor. So it's exactly what we need."
Oubre has been mostly working with the blue team, which is composed of the projected second unit players. While lineups shift around throughout camp, in the visible to media portions of camp – plus clips shared on social media – that lineup has been T.J. McConnell, Oubre, Jarace Walker, Obi Toppin, and Huff.
Braden Smith's conditioning and size
During Smith's pre-draft workout with the Pacers, he didn't hide from his size limitations. He's had to overcome them at every level of basketball and believes in his ability to do so again in the NBA.
One way he tries to do that is with elite conditioning. And Smith proved that he's handling that part of being a pro well.
"We have a conditioning test that we did last Monday, the Monday before media day. The minimum number of segments you've got to get to is 11," Carlisle began while talking about Smith. "He outlasted everybody and he was on the 15th segment and I stopped it. That's a way to show leadership and build trust."
The Pacers want Smith to display some leadership qualities despite being a rookie. It's important at the point guard position, and his intangibles were strong at Purdue. Smith will spend a lot of time with the Noblesville Boom this season. He will be able to expand his voice more in that setting.
The conditioning test is called a pacer test, or beep test. Smith used to do it during physical education class back in elementary school – maybe you did do. Players have to cover a certain amount of ground in a set amount of time that is marked by a beeping sound, and the beeps get closer to each other with each rep. It's designed to progressively get harder.
Smith was still going, though, even as the difficulty ramped up. He had to be stopped. "I probably could have gone four or five more minutes. And I was above the beat," Smith said. "I was so locked in a zone. I don't even really remember who else was running with me."
The rookie guard has always put a lot of value into his conditioning. He goes hard in practice but makes sure to rest to stay in tip-top shape. In his eyes, unless he's just getting shots up, why not do everything at 100% energy and effort level? That's what games are like.
It served Smith well at Purdue and helps him combat his size-related challenges. "When you're mentally drained and your body's physically tired, that's [when] your mind can kind of take over and be like, 'All right, well, I'm tired, so I'm just gonna stop, or I'm gonna go half speed'... There's a lot of fatigue that comes in," Smith said. "I think when you're conditioned and you're just up to speed with stuff, that keeps those factors out of the way. You get to limit those... And I think that's what I kind of realized sometimes, for my freshman through senior year at Purdue, there's a big difference."
On top of his conditioning level, Smith has gained weight to become a stronger defender. He said Wednesday that he's added 15 or 16 pounds since the draft. He called it "good weight," that can help him take bumps and battle more on the less glamorous end of the floor.
He's balancing the new weight with his explosiveness. Smith was in the middle of the pack when running sprints a few weeks ago, a new experience that made him feel slow. But he's used to being bulkier now. Things feel more normal, which is crucial as he takes the needed steps to be a good NBA player at his stature.
Rick Carlisle enjoys the Fever victory
The Indiana Fever won Game 2 of their first-round series against the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night, and Carlisle was in attendance. He sat in the same row as Haiburton and assistant coach Isaac Yacob.
"It was great," Carlisle said of the game. "I'm looking forward to [Thursday] night. What a great opportunity."
That night is when Game 3 will be played. It's also the first off day of training camp for the Pacers, who resume Friday ahead of their FanJam scrimmage on Sunday.
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