We're all a reflection of the company we keep. For Doug McDermott, that has brought about the best play of his NBA career to this early point of the season and quieted the critics from last season who considered him a bust.
The Pacers' backup forward is averaging 9.5 points in 21 minutes per game off the bench and shooting .468 from the 3-point line. Given that's what he was signed to do first and foremost, all analysis begins with those three digits. That percentage is sixth-best in the NBA and tied with Darren Collison's average of two seasons ago when Collison set the franchise record for long distance accuracy. If maintained, McDermott not only will insert himself into the Pacers' records book, he'll surpass all the percentages of his boyhood idol, Reggie Miller, whose best season 3-point percentage was .427.
Run his stats through the filter of playing time and they look even better. He's averaging 16.4 points per 36 minutes, fifth-best on the team despite taking the eighth-most shots in that time span. His true shooting percentage (.599), which factors 3-pointers and free throws into the mix, leads the team.
It's early, of course. The Pacers have played just 24 games heading into Wednesday's encounter with Boston at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, so there's plenty of time for departing trends in either direction. McDermott, though, seems comfortably entrenched with his current teammates in the second unit and confident of maintaining the standard.
He played better than many people seemed to think last season, mostly in line with his career averages, but he didn't play up to his expectations. Especially at home. His season ended ingloriously in the playoffs, when he missed all seven 3-point attempts, was a non-factor in the first two games, played just five scoreless minutes in Game 3 and didn't play at all in Game 4.
This season, the new personnel around him brings out his best. Rather than Tyreke Evans running high pick-and-rolls with Domantas Sabonis, it's often T.J. McConnell running a second-unit offense that features more balance and ball movement. McDermott's offense is predicated on moving without the ball, so the result has been a career-high usage rate, which measures his involvement in the offense.
"I'm moving around a little more," he said following Monday's loss to the Clippers, when he scored 17 points and hit 5-of-8 3-pointers. "A lot of it is on me being more aggressive — hunting shots and not letting the last one bother me."
"Hunting shots" usually carries a negative connotation, referring to a player disrupting the offense by shooting too often or forcing shots. For McDermott, and coach Nate McMillan, it means working to get open and be in position to take a good shot, whether that means running the open court in transition or off screens in the halfcourt offense.
McDermott is playing 2 1/2 more minutes per game than last season and taking about two more shots. They're almost always good ones, which has improved his confidence, which has led to a better 3-point percentage, which has resulted in the bottom line of his most efficient scoring season.
Photo Credit: Matt Kryger
"(The coaches) wanted me to shoot more last year," he said. "They told me to be aggressive all the time. That's something I went into the offseason with. I just try to find my shot when I have it. Not take bad ones, but definitely look for shots.
"It adds a dynamic to our team. Even if I'm not getting shots, it puts a lot of (pressure) on the defense."
Something McMillan likes.
"He needs to get himself open and we need to get him open," McMillan said. "We need to look to free him up in transition and look to free him up in the sets we're running for him and look for him when they're double-teaming the post. He's doing a good job of moving but we're doing a good job of looking for him."
The greatest difference this season, though, is that McDermott is shooting well at home. Last season he performed the oddity of shooting far better from beyond the 3-point line on the road (.491) than at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (.313). He's been better on the road this season as well, but the gap has narrowed to a more logical spread — .500 on the road and .440 at home.
Asked about last season's homecourt shooting issues, McDermott said, "I didn't feel..."
Then he caught himself and paused a moment — a pause that might have spoken volumes. What was it he didn't feel? Comfortable? Used to his best advantage? McDermott is a coach's son who always strives to say and do the right thing. He didn't want to sound as if he wasn't taking responsibility, so he backed up his train of thought and continued: "I just didn't shoot it well (at home) at all last year. One of those deals. You're going to have seasons like that. This year I'm moving on to the next game."
But, did he not feel comfortable playing at home last season, in an arena he says he's always liked, even as a visiting player? Did he feel too much pressure to impress the home fans?
"Sometimes it's human nature to want something so bad, then when you know you're struggling you want to make that next three so bad to get that monkey off your back," he said. "Last year I couldn't get it off."
McDermott hit just nine of his first 38 3-point attempts at home last season and would have been much worse than that if not for one 4-of-5 outing against Brooklyn. He shot better from mid-February on, but never shook the monkey off his poor start.
"This year no matter building I'm in, I'm coming in with the same mindset," he said. "I'm letting it fly, and guys are doing a great job of finding me.
"It's huge for a shooter to have (teammates) who are unselfish. I'm going to keep shooting it."
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Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.
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