Victor Oladipo: Having the greatest Indiana Pacers season ever?

Jermaine O’Neal, 2003-04

Remember that hot minute in the mid-2000s when people wondered which was the better O’Neal, Jermaine or Shaq? It seemed crazy when it first came about at the time, and in retrospect, it seems even crazier.

That said, looking back on Jermaine O’Neal’s career — one that took a while to get off the ground and came crashing back down to earth with a sudden thud — he had a stretch of years where he truly was among the elite big men in the league.

At first glance, the best of those years makes a solid case for the best Pacers season in history.

Indiana fans remember O’Neal’s 2003-04 season fondly. To this day, it’s the only time a Pacer has been named to an All-NBA First or Second team (O’Neal was the Second Team center behind his much larger namesake). He also finished third in the MVP voting, another Pacer best during their time in the NBA. Thanks to his efforts, Indiana made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing a tough six-game series to the eventual champion Detroit Pistons.

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At first glance, O’Neal’s personal numbers were more than solid. He put up 20 and 10 with 2.6 blocks per game to boot, and he was clearly the best player on a 61-win powerhouse. According to CleaningtheGlass.com, the Pacers were 7.5 points better per 100 possessions with O’Neal on the court, which was among the best rates in the league. His defense that year remains the best of his career.

The issue here comes when you dive a bit deeper.

Even with a usage rate of 30.2, his true shooting percentage of 48.9 was unfathomably bad. Throughout NBA history, only eight times has a player controlled the ball that much and shot it so poorly, according to Basketball-Reference.

Making matter worse, other than O’Neal’s ’03-04 campaign, every other instance was a past-their-prime star dominating an offense off of reputation even though it was probably to the team’s detriment (unsurprisingly, the high comedy that was Kobe Bryant‘s last two seasons made the list).

So no, despite the accolades, it’s impossible to consider such an inefficient season to be the greatest in Pacers history. There is, however, one more very legitimate contender for the award.