Orlando Magic Starting 5 Breakdown: Victor Oladipo
By Luke Duffy
About Last Year
Oladipo began last season with a facial injury, and it forced him to miss some time. In all he played 72 games, and he started all but one of of those as well. Although that was less games played than his rookie season (80 total), he did actually play more minutes (2,573 compared to 2,487 as a rookie), which shows us that his importance to this team continued to grow at a pace you would expect.
His 17.9 points per game was a solid return, while his 34 percent three-point shooting was up a tick from his rookie season. Essentially, there were improvements all-around to his game, while also adding a keener understanding of who he is on the court for this team.
The experiment of playing him as a point guard petered out after year one, and so Oladipo was able to grow in his preferred shooting guard position. He also shot 82 percent from the line, which is a healthy number.
Interestingly, he touched the ball a total of 4,718 times last year, a number that put him 38th in the league. While that number may not mean much to some, it still put him above the likes of Paul Millsap and LaMarcus Aldridge, two All-Stars.
While Payton actually touched the ball more times (5,555), that is to be expected from a point guard on a rebuilding team. The point is, this team wants Oladipo to have the ball often to heavily influence the outcome of games for them, and that experience will be invaluable heading into this season.
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