Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from 2019 NBA offseason

3. Pacers will miss Young’s leadership

Thaddeus Young led the Indiana Pacers in Value Over Replacement Player in 2018-19 at 3.1, which was actually a better VORP per 82 games than Victor Oladipo put up (2.9) and beat Myles Turner by a second decimal place (3.13 to 3.10) on a per-82 basis.

He was the glue that held that Pacers locker room together after Oladipo left and his presence was a big part of the reason Indiana was able to play respectable basketball right up until everything fell apart during a brutal stretch of schedule in March, during which time the Pacers pulled a 2016 Grizzlies and went 4-13, including playoffs, after March 14.

It’s hard to see just what’s going to be that glue for Indiana until Oladipo comes back.

But worse than that, Young was a specific kind of player who thrives in coach Nate McMillan’s offense. He took most of his shots from in close — 75.1 percent of his attempts came within 10 feet of the rim, per Basketball Reference — and shot 56.4 percent on 2-point shots overall.

The short mid-range isn’t Domantis Sabonis’ game and the offense isn’t designed for a true stretch 4 like T.J. Warren, leaving a lot of role questions open.

That may presage a mismatch of coach and roster that will have the team underachieving and the chemistry beginning to fall apart before Oladipo can complete his comeback from surgery and be the focal point of the offense again.