8p9s Roundtable: Looking back at what the Pacers did; looking forward to what’s next
By Ryan Eggers
After watching Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis compete during All-Star Weekend, Pacers fans have a few days to wait before the team begins the final stretch of the year.
Miss Pacers basketball yet? With over a week of rest and relaxation for the Pacers crew, the team will be back energized and refreshed Friday against the Atlanta Hawks.
For now, we got the 8 Points, 9 Seconds roundtable together to talk about the team’s performance pre-All-Star break, and what they think things will look like from now onwards.
This season has been full of stories, which we’ve been documenting in our ongoing 8 Points, 9 Seconds Story Series. Let’s look at some of those, as well as other odds and ends of this Pacers season.
This season has been full of unexpected and compelling storylines. Which has been your favorite, and why?
Jonathan Matthes: Truthfully I’m not all that surprised by this season, and am on the record saying so. I thought as long as Nate McMillan let the players play, they would mesh well and be a playoff contender. Thrilled it’s played out that way.
But, the most unexpected story for me is Myles Turner consistent inconsistency. I expected this team to be playoff caliber back at the end of the summer. As for compelling: Vic and Domas just keep proving the negativity from the summer was unfounded. They’ve been great, and each time they take the court, I smile a little bit.
Will Furr: It’s gotta be Victor Oladipo. Domantas Sabonis has been a great story, y’all know I’m a Joey Buckets believer, DC has been resurgent at 30 years old, on and on, but it’s gotta be Victor Freakin’ Oladipo. In his 5th year, he’s on pace to set or tie career highs in pretty much everything.
His 3-point shooting has come back to earth in the 2018 calendar year, but his heroics over the course of the season have been wild. Oladipo is now spelled “A-l-l-S-t-a-r”. — Will Furr
Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, overall shooting, 3 point shooting, eFG – the list goes on. His 3-point shooting has come back to earth in the 2018 calendar year, but his heroics over the course of the season have been wild. Oladipo is now spelled “A-l-l-S-t-a-r”.
Jacob Lane: The emergence of Victor Oladipo into an NBA All-Star and it’s not even close. Kevin Pritchard was called every name under the sun this past offseason when he traded superstar Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a fifth-year pro who’s never lived up to the potential that got him selected #2 overall back in 2013.
No one in the NBA expected Oladipo to be averaging 24 points per game (11th in the league) especially after he was written off by two separate teams.
Oladipo is averaging career bests in points per game, rebounds per game, shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage, and assists. Not only has Dipo had a career year on the court, but he’s also been a vital part of the Indiana community, and the fans absolutely love him. I like to think Kevin Pritchard knew exactly what he was doing when he made that trade.
Ben Gibson: Joe Young. He is a likable guy and he always seemed to be working on things but never broke through in any meaningful way. Now he shooting 48.3% from the field and 42.9% from deep over the last 10 games. He is only shooting the ball three times a game, but the fact he’s found a niche is great.
The dude slept in the gym last year. I don’t know what else you want from a guy as far as putting in the work to get better.
Considering it only costs $1.6 million to keep him on next season, if he keeps this up I wouldn’t mind seeing if he really can be a bench shooter for Indiana. No matter what the outcome is, I ‘m just glad to see his hard work paying off.
Ryan Eggers: While I’ve loved seeing Darren Collison flirt with a 50-40-90 season, it can’t be overstated how amazing Victor Oladipo has been for this team. It seems that the Pacers, even in the Paul George era, couldn’t find an identity after the departure of Roy Hibbert and David West. Their chemistry struggled and they lost silly games in the regular season. Oladipo has brought this team an identity.
They’re playing much better than anyone said they could, they’re having fun on the court and they’re winning games that past teams didn’t have the mental fortitude to win. The quick success will hurt the rebuild a bit given the draft picks Kevin Pritchard will now have to work with, but finding a leader like Oladipo has made this season more than success.