It's easy to get excited about this year's team.
After all, last year featured: The emergence of Victor Oladipo; a 48-win season; a seven-game playoff series; and offseason moves lauded by NBA pundits.
But there is work to be done, Nate McMillan reminded reporters at a roundtable discussion during the annual Pacers Foundation Golf Outing, presented by Gibson Teldata.
Of all of the areas for the Pacers to improve on, McMillan had no hesitation when asked which aspect he would like to see his team make strides in.
"Rebounding," McMillan said. "We said it all last year, I said it right here at this interview last year. We're going to have to, that's going to be the number one emphasis this year for us is to be a better rebounding team."
The stats confirm McMillan's frustrations with the team's work on the glass. Last season, Indiana ranked 26th in the NBA in defensive rebound percentage (76.2 percent), a stat which tracks the percentage of defensive rebounds a team ends up collecting.
"I'm not putting it all on our bigs, our bigs know that they have to do a better job of rebounding. But our guards need to get in and help on the boards," explained McMillan
For forward Domantas Sabonis, who averaged 7.7 rebounds per game last season, it's a challenge that he welcomes.
"That's been a big thing for this year, and I think in training camp we're going to attack that as a main point," he explained.
Outside of team improvements, the Pacers Foundation Golf Outing at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course offers a chance to hear from players about the ways in which they've improved themselves individually.
For TJ Leaf, who averaged 8.7 minutes per game as a rookie, Summer League gave him a chance to improve, as well as lifting and scrimmaging at the St. Vincent Center Practice Facility.
Darren Collison, who led the NBA in 3-point percentage last season, jumped at an opportunity to train with both Russell Westbrook and newly-minted Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash.
"Russ, just competing against him. We all know what he can do on the court," Collison said. "He's a great guard. So it was just about going out and competing against him.
"With Steve, it's similar to last summer. I think he just kind of worked with me on the court. Last year he talked to me over the phone, this year he was working with me on the court. Mainly just about pick-and-roll reads, leadership qualities and what to look for from my teammates and stuff. It was real nice. He's a real humble person. I mean, this is like a day after his Hall of Fame ceremony. For him to take time out and do that was very special."
Doug McDermott, who the Pacers acquired during free agency, spent some of his offseason working on expanding his offensive skillset.
"Just being able to have an in-between game," McDermott explained. "I think people just look at me as a 3-point shooter and I know I'm more than that. I think I can really move without the ball and I've worked on a bunch of different finishes around the rim to be more efficient in there."
All indications are that the roster has spent an offseason hard at work, and is looking forward continuing the momentum started by last season's upstart group, even with a slightly different cast of characters.
With training camp beginning next week, all of the work done by the players over the offseason will finally have a chance to be converted into something tangible on the court.
"Our expectations are really high, this team had a great year last year," said McDermott. "They were hunting and I think we're now more the hunted. We're not going to be a surprise to anyone like last year, so we know that going into camp that we're going to have to work even harder to get back to where they were last year."