8p9s Roundtable: The Pacers are better than expected, but is trouble ahead?

The Indiana Pacers are doing better than expected this season, but the 8 Points, 9 Seconds roundtable is gathered to look into the team’s future.

Who (or what) has been the biggest surprise the 1st half of this season? *

Ryan Eggers: I could try and make a saucy answer for this one, but it’s obvious: the trade pieces from the Paul George deal. While both were young guys that didn’t have the best chance to shine in OKC, I doubt even Kevin Pritchard could have predicted this sort of growth.

Victor Oladipo is playing the best basketball of his life and is almost a shoo-in for Most Improved Player, and Domantas Sabonis has played so well that some people are ready to move forward with him as the franchise big over Myles Turner. That take might be a little farfetched, but it’s clear that both of these guys will be crucial parts of the Pacers core going forward.

Will Furr: Domantas Sabonis. Domas is shooting 14% better from the field, and putting up 12% better True Shooting. His offensive rebound percentage quadrupled (!!!!) and his overall rebound percentage doubled.If Victor Oladipo wasn’t superman, he’d be a contender for most improved player. (Note – Victor Oladipo is an obvious option here as well. I picked Domas because Oladipo had already put up big numbers elsewhere, and was on an 80 million dollar contact).

Domas didn’t even look like a rotation player last year. This year, some fans are clamoring for him to start over Myles Turner. To quote Luke Wilson, I did not see that coming!

Ben Renz: Domas, easily. I expected very little from the Lithuanian Addition. He played in 81 games last season with a Russ-dominant OKC team, shooting 39% from the field and looking every bit the rookie he was.

There was no reason to completely write the guy off, but he became so much an afterthought that he was hardly mentioned when it was time for the long-fabled PG trade to take place.

But now it’s January and I am fairly confident Domas’ numbers aren’t fool’s gold: 53% from the field on nine shots/game, 12.4 PPG, and 8.3 RPG (up from 3.6). He’s playing only five minutes more per game than last year, too, and getting to the line almost thrice as much. Domas’ play has been surprising and seems to be here to stay.

Tony East: Oladipo is the obvious answer, and the answer I am going with. Being an IU grad myself, I had seen flashes of Victor dominating his opponents before, but I thought he just just a prolific scorer in the NBA.

Then, his first 15 or so games of this season I thought were so surprising and impressive, but I thought he couldn’t sustain it. Now, I am eating my words, as he has been a star for over half the season. Just incredible.

Ben Gibson: Victor is the more exciting surprise, but the fact Domantas Sabonis is making some people ask if he should start over Myles Turner.

While some people forget what the term ‘throw in’ means, that’s what Sabonis was in the trade — at least in both outside observers minds. The thought at the time was Oladipo was going to be the one that determined the trade’s success or failure.

It turns out, both are playing much better than expected, but Domas is the bigger surprise.