Indiana Pacers: 2017-18 player grades for Victor Oladipo

Strengths

Throughout the season and since it ended, there’s been a groundswell of support for the idea that Victor Oladipo’s All-NBA Third Team campaign is most directly attributable to his having played with Russell Westbrook in 2016-17. The thinking — based partially on things Oladipo has said himself — is that without the experience of watching the NBA’s Tasmanian Devil in action on a daily basis, the Pacers’ new star would never have raised his game to these heights.

That may very well be true. It also isn’t the reason he’s likely to find himself on more than a few MVP ballots.

The difference in Oladipo’s game this season from years past is simple: he went from being one of the less efficient players in the league to being one of the most. In his four years with the Magic and Thunder, Oladipo had a 52.7 true shooting percentage, and was never league-average in that category. This season, that number jumped to 57.7 percent.

The reason why was the result of a domino effect. Oladipo got himself in the best shape of his life in the offseason, and the increased explosiveness made his forays to the basket far more fruitful, resulting in his shooting 67 percent on shots at the rim after never previously topping 60 percent, according to CleaningtheGlass.com.

As Jordan Brenner discusses in his excellent breakdown, this naturally gave ‘Dipo more room to work on the perimeter as defenders needed to respect his first step that much more. This allowed him to shoot 37 percent from deep on 5.8 attempts per game, both career highs.

The result: Oladipo was one of eight players — all All-Stars — who combined a 57 true shooting percentage with a usage rate over 30. Combine that with All-NBA level defense (he was named to the First Team), and you get someone the Pacers aren’t likely to be letting go of anytime soon.