The Indiana Pacers put down an 8-4 record without Victor Oladipo so far, but that isn’t the only silver lining from his absence.
Life without Victor Oladipo isn’t easy, but the Indiana Pacers managed an 8-4 record since their star player went down in a game with the Atlanta Hawks. At 17-10, the Pacers are holding in fourth place in the Eastern Conference while sitting four games out of first place.
The fact the Pacers have a winning record without Oladipo is a huge accomplishment compared to their 0-7 record without him a season ago. But more than that, they haven’t just survived, the change to the lineups allowed some players to flourish.
Without their All-Star guard, the Pacers learned how to get more out of at least four of their players. There were some smaller positives from others, but Myles Turner, Bojan Bogdanovic, Doug McDermott, and Aaron Holiday made the most of the unexpected opportunity.
Making it all work whenever Oladipo returns isn’t as easy as it sounds, but those four can take a thing or two from these games and apply them when Oladipo returns.
Myles Turner quiets the critics, for now
Myles Turner and expectations are often in a state a flux. As a rookie, he impressed at times but it wasn’t until his second season that the words “future All-Star” were uttered in earnest. But over the last two seasons, things haven’t gone the way many expected.
After signing a lucrative extension before the season, his stats hardly matched the level of play. Two of those stats — 11 points and 4.9 rebounds — continued a troubling regression from his sophomore season. His defense ensured his place on the court, but the lack of statistical abundance opened the door to plenty of criticism.
Over the past few games in particular, however, Turner’s shown he is more than what some believed what he was becoming as they were whispering the word “bust”, even if that was a strong bit of hyperbole.
Since November 17th, his stats trended closer to a double-double with 13.4 points and 9.1 rebounds a game. His shooting is slightly better but less hesitation when he does shoot is part of the confidence that appears on the rise. For the double-double tracking crowd, he grabbed his first when Oladipo went down and added four more since, just missing out on a sixth by a point, not a rebound.
Turner might not ever be an elite rebounder, but recently he looked more than the average one he’s been most of his career. The aggression is there as he doesn’t wait to shoot or let rebounds come to him. He now searches for them. A softer schedule helped his net rating some, but his +9 in the last 11 games isn’t a fluke. His play improved. It’s little surprise the ugliest game in Oladipo’s absence came when Turner sat against the San Antonio Spurs.
His stats will change a little when Oladipo returns, Victor is the star, after all, but that doesn’t mean Turner needs to acquiesce as much as he did earlier in the season. He can still fight for those rebounds and take a few more shots regardless.
Bojan Bogdanovic: Another primary scoring option?
Bojan Bogdanovic was always a key to the Indiana Pacers success. Often their secondary offensive option behind Victor Oladipo, the Croatian’s consistency — through a few rough spots along the way — often was what pushed Indiana’s score high enough to win games, even if he didn’t get enough credit.
But with Oladipo in street clothes, someone had to step up. Bojan couldn’t reside in his usual role of sidekick to the team’s star. The Pacers weren’t going to win if he did.
Now it looks like Indiana has another, more primary, scoring option. Bogdanovic’s scoring rose to 19.6 points a game. He’s the 30th leading scorer in the NBA since Oladipo’s departure. Not to overstate it, but for a player seen merely as an occasional shooter and often called inconsistent, it’s hard to say he hasn’t risen to the occasion.
Even before Oladipo was on the shelf, Bojan changed the way he attacked the basket. A season ago, he passed in 28.1 percent of the time. He was perhaps too willing to give up the ball and didn’t force defenders to follow him to the basket. This season, he is scoring more by driving and taking the ball to the rim, passing it only 18.5 percent of the time.
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The difference is an increase in scoring and forcing defenders to play him differently. You could hedge off him a little or worry more about him shooting 3-pointers last season.
This season defenders respect that he can burn them on the way to the basket, giving him more room to shoot 3-pointer (and making 46.3 since Oladipo left). The other benefit is when he does pass, he might find his teammates more open than they were a season ago.
Bojan isn’t an All-Star by any means, but the way he has played since the Hawks game shows that he’s not inconsistent at all. The Pacers relied on him for nearly a month now and have a winning record to show for it.
Can he keep it going once Oladipo returns? That’s to be seen, but he was doing some of the same things with Oladipo around. If Indiana can rely on him similarly once Victor returns, then the Pacers offense got just a bit more versatile.
Getting more out of Doug McDermott
For Doug McDermott to matter, the Indiana Pacers need to get Doug McDermott the ball. He is a shooter and a slasher capable of living up to his nickname, McBuckets.Earlier in the season, that wasn’t happening. We were begging the Pacers to pass him the ball. He was lucky to get off four shots a game, even if the threat of him shooting helped a little with spacing.
But what really helps with spacing is making baskets. Since Oladipo went down, the Pacers started making it a priority to get McDermott the ball when he is on the floor.
The result? Buckets.
Now McDermott averages nearly 7 shots and is scoring 9.9 per a game. His averages were impressive before, but when he gets more shots, that means for points. And when he is shooting 50.6 from the floor and 40.5 from deep, you better get him the ball.
My running screens and actions that get McDermott open, the Pacers started using him properly. They put him in position to do more than bail out possessions or merely serve as a kickout option on drives.
With the Pacers attempting the 3rd least amount of 3-pointers in the NBA, they need to make every one of them count. Passing the ball to Doug is one way to do that.
Aaron Holiday emerges as a scorer
When the Indiana Pacers took Aaron Holiday with the No. 23 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, most people seemed more interested in his family tree than his playing ability. It’s hard to get overly excited about picks later in the draft when you know, statistically speaking, the chances of success are dwindling with each pick.
The last time the Pacers took a rookie of consequence that wasn’t in the top half of the first round it was either Solomon Hill in 2013, who played a key role in a playoff run. If you’re looking for a more significant impact, go back all the way back to 2008 with Roy Hibbert taken at No. 17 (via the Toronto Raptors) or 2005 when the Pacers took Danny Granger with the No. 17 pick as well.
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The point is, it’s hard to hit on impactful players in the second half of the first round or beyond.
So getting a bench scorer out of Aaron Holiday as a rookie counts as a success then as they 23rd pick of this year’s draft. On the season he averages a mere 5.9 points, but in the five-game spurt he had when Oladipo went down, he was averaging 13 points a game.
Now, those post-Dipo averages dropped to 8 points a game, but it’s expected that NBA defenses adjust once they get an idea of what a rookie player can do.
Holiday’s confidence and pedigree all but guarantee he’ll get back to scoring in double-digits again. In both his first shot in the NBA (a made 3-pointer) to his first one once Oladipo went down (another made 3-pointer), it is clear that he’s got a scorer’s mentality.
And despite his small frame, he finishes at the rim with a slightly better the league average percentage.
For now, he’s a deeper bench option that can spark a few points here and there until he makes a counter-adjustment to his opponents. Assuming he can do that, then he certainly is one of the silver linings the Pacers found once Oladipo went down.
And, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, Holiday’s play opens the door to trading one of the Pacers point guards if they are looking to upgrade elsewhere.
There will be changes once Oladipo returns to the lineup — Holiday’s minutes being the most obvious victim. The Pacers can expect some of these numbers to take small bumps, but conceptually speaking, the Pacers can make sure that the opportunities are there for these players to succeed once Oladipo suits up again.