Indiana Pacers Rank: Who is the leader of the pack?

Each week we’ll take a look at the Indiana Pacers to see who is having the best and worst week on the team to determine our player rankings.

The Indiana Pacers have a surprisingly optimistic feel around them right now despite just a 3-3 record and their best player, Myles Turner, being out with a concussion.

That’s because they’re getting more than many of us expected out of the rest of the roster.

Domantas Sabonis went from a throw-in to fan favorite in the span of five games. Darren Collison is the other surprise as he went from being known as a shoot-first point guard to averaging 8 assists a game so far with the Pacers. That’s a career high.

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And of course, Victor Oladipo is ballin’ right now.

It won’t be easy for any of the Pacers to keep this up all season long, except maybe Sabonis. That’s not to say they can’t play a better brand of basketball than they have in the past, but Oladipo and Collison are posting the best numbers of their careers in some categories. Old dogs can learn new tricks but there are reasons for skepticism as we’re only six games into the season. Let’s see them continue doing at the end of November before we get overly excited.

Skepticism aside, these Pacers are fun to watch and that shouldn’t be lost as Indiana rebuilds around Oladipo and Myles Turner.

But who is having the best start to the season? Let’s take a look at our first edition of the Indiana Pacers Player Rankings.

1. Victor Oladipo was expected to be the part that mattered in the PG/VO/DS trade, but no one thought he was going to be <a href=. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO

2. The Bonus/Bonis averages a double-double with 13 points and 10.2 rebounds a game. The Pacers need Turner back in the lineup, but Sabonis’ run as the starting center is proving a productive one for Indiana. Domas is a big reason why the Pacers are better at rebounding this season as well. (Last Week: N/A). PF/C. Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS

Collison was rightly derided as a shoot first sort of point guard before he got to Indiana, but with 8 assists so far, he’s changing that narrative. He is still scoring 14.3 points a game, so it isn’t like he forgot how to shoot either.There was a reason the Pacers traded Collison away in 2012, but on offense at least, the 2017 version of him is one of the best point guards in the league right now. (Last Week: N/A). PG. Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON. 3

Quietly doing Thaddeus Young things, being the glue guy of the team. Also might have found his 3-pointer again as he is 5 of 11 in his last two games. (Last Week: N/A). PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. 4

PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH. 5. He’s finding ways to matter offense with 9.4 points a game and gets streaky from the 3-point line. While it is hard to say anything about defense on a team that doesn’t play it, CoJo leaves his mark at times. (Last Week: N/A)

6. We’ve seen more ugly shooting nights than not from Bojan, but he started to knock off the rust as of late. He’s shooting 30% from deep on the season but went 3 for 5 on Sunday night’s win. (Last Week: N/A). SF. Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC

TJ LEAF. 7. The Good: Shooting 50% from the field, 44.4% from beyond the arc. The Bad: Defense is still offensive to all five senses, including smell. Clearly the worst defender of any rotation players. (Last Week: N/A). PF. Indiana Pacers

SG. Indiana Pacers. LANCE STEPHENSON. 8. Lance just isn’t comfortable as the non-ball hander at it shows with his 26% FG% and a 17.6% mark from beyond the arc. He makes smart plays here and there but is struggling to make a positive impact overall. The Pacers either need to dedicate possessions to him or settle for the fact that Bad Lance shows up more often than Good Lance. (Last Week: N/A)

9. His 8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds help the Pacers off the bench, but Al Jefferson gets exposed time and time again on defense. He is making an effort on defense by getting his hands up and trying to cause trouble, for what it is worth. The fact Ike Anigbogu isn’t getting minutes instead of Al tells you just how raw the rookie is. (Last Week: N/A). C. Indiana Pacers. AL JEFFERSON

10. There were meaningful Joe Young minutes and points in a game for the first time in ages. (Last Week: N/A). PG. Indiana Pacers. JOE YOUNG

SF. Indiana Pacers. DAMIEN WILKINS. 11. Started off in the rotation, now he isn’t getting minutes and is on <a href=

Still recovering from his concussion in the season opener. (Last Week: N/A). C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER. N/A

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