Going into every NBA season, there are a number of X-factors that ultimately end up determining who is good and who is not, who is capable of making a run and who isn't, and who is a contender and who is a pretender.
Heading into the 2019-20 campaign, one of the most obvious ones was the health of Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo, who suffered a torn quad tendon in his knee in January and is on the long road to recovery.
The Pacers had a busy offseason, adding Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb, but they also lost Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young and Darren Collison, among others.
Still, the tradeoff looked like it was worth it, as Indiana improved its overall talent level. The thought was that once Oladipo returned, the Pacers could be a problem.
But that's just the thing: Oladipo needs to be there, and Indy is proving that early on.
The Pacers have gotten off to an ugly 0-3 start, including a pair of losses to a Detroit Pistons team that did not not even have Blake Griffin, not to mention an 11-point defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nobody expected Indiana to struggle this much right off the bat, with or without Oladipo. But, nevertheless, that is the story, and the Pacers' woes are proving that Oladipo is the most significant wild card in the Eastern Conference.
For some reason, Oladipo is still painfully underrated. Maybe it's because he plays in Indiana. Maybe it's because he doesn't have an extensive track record just yet. Whatever it is, Indy's play over the first three games of the season should change opinions on him everywhere.
This dude is flat-out good, a shooting guard capable of playing both ends of the floor at an elite level. He does basically everything well, and when he is on the floor, the Pacers are an entirely different team.
So different, as a matter of fact, that Indiana may very well end up being the most balanced team in the East with a healthy Oladipo.
Of course, the issue is that there is no timetable for Oladipo's return. While some have estimated late December or January, no one knows for sure. The longer he is sidelined, the deeper the Pacers' hole may get.
Fortunately, it's still the East, and Indiana should at least be able to stay afloat in the meantime (I refuse to believe the Pacers are this bad, even without Oladipo), but Nate McMillan's club isn't the slightest bit dangerous without Oladipo on the floor.
Some of this should seem obvious, but again, for whatever reason, this wasn't really a hot topic of discussion over the summer, and there were other key factors at play in the East (such as the health of Gordon Hayward, the 76ers' new roster, etc.).
But the Pacers' first few games have demonstrated that none of those were bigger than Oladipo's health.
If Oladipo can work his way back and play like the Oladipo we have come to know, Indiana will be a problem. If not? The Pacers will continue to have a problem.
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