Indiana Pacers: What a healthy Victor Oladipo means for the Pacers

Looking to return to the court by the end of this year, a healthy Victor Oladipo and the re-shuffled Indiana Pacers can make a statement playoff run

Victor Oladipo‘s 2018-19 campaign was an interesting one. Averaging 18.8, 5.6, 5.2 on 42/34/73 shooting. While getting the All-Star nod as a reserve for the Eastern Conference, Oladipo went down with a knee injury on January 23 of last year and ended up playing only 36 games on the season.

Following his injury against the Raptors, Indiana walked away with the win, putting the Pacers at 3rd in the Eastern Conference with a 32-15 record. On pace for homecourt advantage in the first round, the Pacers continued to win games, but without the help of their All-Star shooting guard, fell to a 5th seed with a 48-34 record.

Pacers’ Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis provided a combined 27.4, 16.5, 4.5 per game, supplemented by Turner’s 2.7 block average. Though Bojan Bogdanović and Thaddeus Young were more than present, their Free-Agency took them to Utah and Chicago, respectively. Indiana went on to lose Kyle O’Quinn, Wesley Matthews, and Cory Joseph to Free Agency, Tyreke Evans to anti-drug violations, and Darren Collison to retirement.

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While a substantial number of the Indiana Pacers’ role players went in other directions, Indiana has correctly retained their core of Oladipo, Turner, and Sabonis, while additionally enlisting the services of Malcolm Brogdon, whose 2018-19 campaign was highlighted by an outstanding 50/40/90 season and productive playoff scoring.

It will be December or later by the time that Victor Oladipo makes his return to the hardwood, and while that may seem like a lifetime for fans that miss his defensive prowess, scoring output, and spectacular dunks, time will do Oladipo well. If anything has been taken away from Kevin Durant‘s 2019 Finals appearance, it should be that players must be patient in their recovery, and take the time to rehabilitate their bodies for the severity of NBA competition.

If last season is any indication, the Indiana Pacers are capable of handling a major loss and remaining locked in on their goal, and with Victor Oladipo out for at least two more months, the addition of Malcolm Brogdon makes that work so much easier. Brogdon’s play-making and efficient shooting make him a threat not only as a floor general but also as an off-ball menace.

In addition to Brogdon, the Pacers brought on Jeremy Lamb to a three-year $31.5M contract. Lamb brings scoring and length, coming off his career-high 15.3 points per game and 1.1 steals per game in 2018-19.

Even following his first NBA game back, Oladipo’s eyes will not be set on huge playing time, but rather on load-management for the eventual Post-Season. While two years of NBA basketball has changed so much, it remains that Oladipo had an extremely productive 2018 playoffs, taking LeBron James and the 4th seed Cavaliers to seven games, posting averages of 22.7, 8.3, 6 with 2.4 steals to round it out.

What makes Oladipo more than just a multi-faceted guard is his defense, as throughout his time as a Pacer, he averages 2.05 steals and 0.55 blocks. His ability to dart into passing lanes, crowd and harass his matchup on-ball, and find his way to a weak-side block is like few others. To imagine that Indiana still ranked 3rd in the NBA for defensive rating, and now awaits the return of 2017-18 All-Defensive 1st Team member Victor Oladipo is absurd. Oladipo impacts the game on both sides of the court, and will without question positively impact Indiana’s defensive and offensive rating.

Losing four straight games to the Celtics in the 2019 playoffs and the loss of a number of significant role-players would normally reduce a fanbase to hopelessness. Yet here the Pacers are, re-loading the roster, and looking at the 2019-20 NBA season as a chance to prove their worth in the East.

Provided the Pacers can find a way to become cohesive prior to Oladipo’s return and establish a playoff spot early on in the season, Victor Oladipo has a chance to make a deep playoff run in an open Eastern Conference.

While Victor Oladipo won’t be seeing NBA action for a few months, the Pacers along with Malcolm Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb face off against Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, and the Bulls on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.