Disruptive and aggressive. Those were the adjectives new head coach Nate Bjorkgren used to outline his coaching style last Wednesday while meeting with the media. Coming from the first branch to sprout from Nick Nurse’s coach tree, however, they’re also two words that aptly describe what the Toronto Raptors were able to bring to life last season in games against the Pacers, whether jumping out to a 13-1 lead in the blink of an eye behind zone defense or deploying a full-court press to spur a late-game, 11-0 run. Like the Raptors, who play a blend of man-to-man and zone and trap the post more than any other team in the league, Bjorkgren’s aim is for the Pacers to distort games by changing defenses and changing defenses frequently — a revolving approach which has the potential to protect against certain weaknesses while perhaps exposing others, if not properly mixed and matched.
On the Pacers deploying a revolving defensive approach like the Raptors
