Power Rankings Roundup: Indiana Pacers sliding back to mediocrity
By Ben Gibson
A 0-4 week sends the Indiana Pacers sliding in the power rankings. It also sparked debates about how much they need Victor Oladipo.
Look, the Indiana Pacers didn’t exactly end 2017 on a high note. They dropped four games in a week’s time.
After losing Victor Oladipo to a knee injury (he is out for tonight’s game), Indiana’s looking like a lottery team, not a playoff team. Losing your star player is obviously a factor, but no team should look this bad.
If Decembers serve as litmus tests for the Pacers, then things aren’t looking good for January, either. However, there are a few things going their way.
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Their schedule is middle of the road as far as toughness (follow the link in John Schuhmann’s rankings below), but they should be well rested as they face some of the NBA’s lower rated offenses and defense.
None of that is to say it will be easy — dates with the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and San Antonio Spurs are ahead — but this isn’t the toughest road for Indiana to get back to winning games and looking like a playoff team again.
It’s rather obvious they need Oladipo back as he took up 30% of the possessions when he was in the game. He creates a great deal of gravity on plays and makes life easier for his teammates. But it’s also concerning how helpless this team played without him this week.
Myles Turner’s inability to step up on the offensive side of the ball disheartened many fans, but it is easy to forget how much of a defensive anchor he is for the Pacers. But if he wants to be a leader on this team, he must do more.
15th. Never let Lance Stephenson go ever again. It’s obvious that Lance belongs in Indy.(Last Week: 11th) — <a href=. @KennyDucey. Sports Illustrated. KENNY DUCEY
14th. Could a lingering injury impact Victor Oladipo’s chances at snagging an All-Star spot? The first voting update is due Thursday, so we’ll soon find out where Oladipo stands among the fans. ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus views Oladipo as an All-Star as he ranks 10th in the NBA — fifth in the East — in RPM. — Micah Adams (Last Week: 11th) — <a href=. @ESPNNBA. ESPN. ESPN
13th. Victor Oladipo has been out injured, and the Pacers just don’t look the same without him. They’ve lost four in a row. The good side: That’s yet another reason to buy into what Oladipo is doing this season. (Last Week: 8th)— <a href=. @ChrisBarnewall. CBS Sports. CHRIS BARNEWALL
JOHN SCHUHMANN. 15th. Breaking news: Victor Oladipo is kind of important to the Pacers, who are 0-4 (including a November game) without him and carrying a four-game losing streak (and just a half-game lead over the ninth-place Knicks) into 2018. They’ve scored less than a point per possession over the streak, with Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner both shooting less than 40 percent. Turner has been the league’s second best mid-range shooter this season (minimum 100 attempts), but his overall numbers haven’t shown much improvement and he has shot much worse with Oladipo on the floor (effective field goal percentage of 49 percent) than he has with Oladipo off the floor (66 percent). (Last Week: 9th) — <a href=. @johnschuhmann. NBA
The Indiana Pacers face the Bucks tonight and again on Monday, with a game against the Chicago Bulls sandwiched in between.