Tyrese Haliburton. 2023 NBA All-Star. 2021 NBA All-Rookie First Team.

For this one, I collaborated with the great Caitlin Cooper. For my money, she is the best basketball writer in the industry. Here’s a little snippet of the Patreon post she did on Haliburton’s hit aheads. It is far better written and much more throughly researched than anything I could have come up with on this subject so here it is ⬇️

https://www.patreon.com/posts/8847688...

That knack of his for advancing the ball with the pass instead of the dribble hasn't often been seen by a national viewing audience to the degree that it has recently with Team USA, but it isn't a new development. In fact, according to Second Spectrum, Haliburton ranked second in the league in "pass ahead" passes per game last season (6.1), trailing only James Harden (8.5), who posted a slightly higher turnover rate on those passes (2.04 percent) by comparison to Indiana's star guard (1.76 percent). For the Pacers, when looking at their performance from the field during each third of the shot-clock, earlier shots in transition hold more value.
* First 8 seconds of the shot-clock: 49.7 percent
* Middle 8 seconds of the shot-clock: 46.4 percent
* Last 8 seconds of the shot-clock: 39.4 percent

Put simply, Haliburton is wired to play fast, and the Pacers are better when they play fast, so the two tend to go hand-in-hand; oftentimes, ironically, with him getting a head-start on the symbiosis even before he has the ball in his hands. Watch him closely following a made shot from an opposing team. He doesn't waste time staring down the inbound passer with his back turned to the action. He's always peering over his shoulder, practically giving himself whiplash, while keeping his eyes focused down the floor and abreast of potential passing opportunities.

At 14.4 seconds per possession, the Pacers had the NBA’s second-fastest offense following a made shot last season, per advanced-stats website Inpredictable. Part of the reason why they are able to get out of the blocks so quickly is because he's already scanned the floor, preying on defenses that dare to jog back, as well as cameras that attempt to cutaway.