Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo put the world on notice in the first round of the playoffs last year, pushing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in a series that many feel the Pacers should have won.
Coming into this season, Indiana was considered a sleeper in the Eastern Conference largely because of Oladipo. The 26-year-old has a terrific all-around game, possessing a great feel for the game offensively and outstanding defensive chops. However, one area where Oladipo truly struggles—and we saw this against the Cavaliers last spring—is consistency.
This season, Oladipo has actually taken a fairly significant step back, and it has a lot to do with the fact that he is just not consistent.
Overall, he is averaging 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals over 32.5 minutes per game while shooting 42.8 percent from the floor, 34.8 percent from three-point range and 72.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Compare that to last year, when ‘Dipo registered 23.1 points, 5.2 boards, 4.3 assists and a league-leading 2.4 steals across 34 minutes a night while making 47.7 percent of his field-goal attempts, 37.1 percent of his long-distance tries and 79.9 percent of his foul shots, and it's like an entirely different player.
What's strange is it's not like the Pacers went out and drastically altered their roster over the summer. They definitely made some great moves, bringing in Tyreke Evans and Doug McDermott for offense and signing Kyle O'Quinn to help them up front, but none of those guys should have an effect on Oladipo. Not negative, anyway.
Let's take Oladipo's last two games, for example. Over those two contests, he shot just 8-of-31 from the floor and went just 3-of-5 from the free-throw line. As a matter of fact, Oladipo has not gotten to the charity stripe in two of his last three contests, with all five of his foul shots coming in a win over the Phoenix Suns this past Tuesday.
That is not the Oladipo we saw last year, and it may have a lot to do with the knee injury that he sustained earlier in the season.
At the start of the 2018-19 campaign, Oladipo had a stretch of 13 straight games with over 20 points from Oct. 19 through Nov. 11. He then had a miserable eight-point performance against the Miami Heat on Nov. 16 before leaving the Pacers' game against the Atlanta Hawks the very next night.
He proceeded to miss 11 straight games, and since returning, he has been very up and down.
So, is Oladipo still not 100 percent, or is he doing what he did in the first round of the playoffs last year when he averaged 27 points per game and went 20-of-37 from the floor in Games 1 and 2 against the Cavaliers and then followed that up by averaging 15.7 points off of a 24 percent clip in Games 3, 4 and 5?
It's something that Indiana needs to figure out, because without a healthy Oladipo, the Pacers go from being legitimate Eastern Conference contenders to potential first-round fodder if they draw a 4 or a 5 seed.
While we don't really know for sure what is going on with Oladipo, his inconsistency is something that we have seen before, so it's hard to judge if it's just the product of the knee issue or if it's last year's playoffs on a larger scale.
Indiana is very deep, but its problem is that it does not have a whole lot of starpower, which is likely what is going to doom the Pacers against teams like the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics in potential playoff matchups.
The Raptors have Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry. The Celtics have Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, not to mention Gordon Hayward, who seems to be looking better. The Milwaukee Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Philadelphia 76ers have Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler.
For the Pacers, it's just Oladipo, and a possibly compromised Oladipo, at that.
Indiana has more depth than the Bucks and certainly has more depth than the 76ers, but if ‘Dipo isn't consistent, that probably isn't going to matter, as you need stars to win in the postseason.
That's why Oladipo needs to get it together now.
Seeding is also very important for the Pacers, as they don't want to have to end up getting the 5-seed and potentially battling a team like the Celtics or the 76ers on the road in the first round.
So, if Oladipo is not able to develop any sort of consistency starting soon, Indiana could find itself in some trouble come April.
This month, for example, ‘Dipo is shooting just 68 percent from the free-throw line, which is just not acceptable for a star shooting guard. If he isn't shooting the ball that well from the floor, he at least needs to make his foul shots, and he isn't doing that regularly.
Record-wise, the Pacers are looking good right now. After all, they are 29-15. But, recent blowout losses to Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto may lend credence to the notion that something is wrong right now.
It may be up to Oladipo to get it figured out.
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