The Indiana Pacers held their media day last week and important questions were answered about the team.
As the NBA season is getting closer and closer, teams have held their media days for reporters to ask players questions about their offseason and expectations for the upcoming seasons. The Indiana Pacers had a big offseason with a number of acquisitions made. Here are some important things that fans and reporters learned after the team’s media day.
The Biggest News Learned
At Pacers media day, journalists and fans learned who will be in the starting lineup to kick off the season.
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Head coach Nate McMillan said that Malcolm Brogdon will be at point guard, Jeremy Lamb at shooting guard, T.J. Warren at small forward, Domantas Sabonis at power forward, and Myles Turner at center.
Most fans were able to guess what the starting lineup would be before this season began with the injury to Oladipo. The question now is, how well will the Myles and Domantas frontcourt play together?
Domantas’ strong suit is the pick-and-roll offense while Myles can spread the floor with shooting.
As far as defense goes, I imagine seeing Myles play against the power forwards more than centers because Domantas has a bigger build than Myles.
Plus, Myles is able to move around the floor a bit easier than Sabonis.
In any case, the Pacers frontcourt is stacked. Sabonis is a big body that can guard centers, Myles is a shot-blocking machine, and now having Goga Bitadze on the roster, he adds another young asset with some experience. The interesting question is, will this work the way the Pacers organization hopes it will?
The Pacers backcourt is something that will be very interesting to watch throughout the season. Bringing Brogdon and Lamb to Indy will help space the floor. When Oladipo returns, this will give the Pacers more firepower to use from the bench that will likely be able to compete against other teams.
Who Has Grown the Most?
One of the newest members of the Pacers, Malcolm Brogdon, believes T.J. Leaf has grown the most since last season.
Brogdon, at the Pacers Foundation Golf Outing in the summer, said this about T.J. Leaf:
"“I think T.J. is taking a big step this summer, T.J. Leaf. He’s been dominating in pick-up, playing really well.”"
Leaf, in an interview, said that he feels much better with his body this year than in the past. Leaf also said that he focused on consistent shooting, as he did in the prior offseason. Leaf also said that he has lowered his body fat percentage from 12 percent to 8 percent over the summer.
Leaf has been growing as a player since entering the league but has yet to have a strong season. With having little playing time over his tenure, things should start turning around for the young power forward.
What Has Victor Been Doing to Recover?
As NBA fans know, Victor suffered a ruptured quadricep last season. Ever since then, Oladipo has been itching to get back on the court with his teammates. In the press conference, Victor said:
"“But your mind is another muscle you need to work on through this process. So for me, that’s what I’m focused on, is is building my mind to be a game shape. Being able to withstand certain things that I might not be able to work on without playing in a game.”"
He also said he had a good summer. Vic said he learned more about himself.
There is still no timetable of when he will be able to return, but he is wanting to get on the court and play again. He also was asked what he thought of the new team that he is surrounded by. He said that he believes the Pacers had a great offseason and their destiny is controlled by what they want to accomplish during the season. By adding shooters Brogdon, Lamb, Warren, and Justin Holiday, this will help take away the number of shots Victor has to take in a game.