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INDIANAPOLIS – Doug McDermott finally saw what he had heard all last season.
Down in Miami last month, training with his new Pacers’ teammates, McDermott saw the Victor Oladipo everyone was used to—the dancing and singing version.
That wasn’t the Oladipo seen by McDermott when the two were teammates in Oklahoma City during the 2016-17 season.
“You could tell he was frustrated,” McDermott said of Oladipo’s one season in Oklahoma City. “He didn’t seem like himself. He was a lot quieter.
“Seeing him in Miami, you can tell he’s back.”
Yes, Oladipo is definitely back, fresh off an All-Star season last year, as he was the catalyst for the Pacers trumping just about any expectations for them.
But if anyone thought that Oladipo would be content with finally making an All-Star game, think again.
“Oh my God, he’s hungry,” team president Kevin Pritchard says of the 26-year-old guard. “He’s as hungry as any player I’ve ever been around.
“I will be shocked if he doesn’t make a huge move. Not sure if that means more points. I think you will see a guy that goes from being a good player that makes himself better, to being a great player, who makes his teammates better.”
Pritchard and the Pacers know that teams will be doing everything they can to take Oladipo away this season.
He’s the head of the Pacers’ snake.
Opponents know the numbers from last season when Oladipo, who averaged 23.1 points per game, was off the floor.
It’s why Nate McMillan was very specific with Oladipo after the season ended on what the sixth-year guard needed to fine tune.
“For Victor, his core is important,” McMillan says. “A guy like that who is attacking the basket and building up his core, you’ve got to build up your body and you’ve got to get stronger. That’s what Victor recognized. He had more responsibility of creating offense for us more than he’s ever had to. A lot of that was taking a pounding and seeing it was a different year last year. He was the man. As we got deeper into the season, he definitely became the man that teams planned for. Every night, he was seeing the biggest, strongest defender. He wasn’t necessarily seeing the guy that he was matched up with (in prior seasons, or even earlier in 2017-18). He was seeing the best wing defender every single night. As he continued to play well and did some good things towards the end of the season, he was seeing two, sometimes three defenders.
“Even though it changes for guys like that, you still have to be productive. We still need your 23 points, your 24 points. You realize that after you go through a season like that, ‘Okay I’ve got to get stronger. I’ve got to build my body up to be able to take this physical play and this contact that I’m seeing out on the floor.’ He did. It’s something that throughout this season, he will have to continue to maintain. He’s going to see that right off the bat this season.”
Oladipo also said improving his flexibility was key in entering his 6th NBA season.
“Being able to take those poundings and those beatings, finding other ways to kind of preserve my body and not take as much poundings and beating, we will see how it works,” Oladipo says. “I’m just going to leave it all on the line and I’ll live with the results if I do that.
“I don’t want to leave any stone unturned and look back on this season and think, ‘I could have done this better or I could have done that to help us.’ I had that feeling last year and I don’t plan on having that this year.”
The Pacers will start their 2018-19 regualr season on Oct. 17 vs. Memphis.
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