Storyline 2: A Lamb must become a wolf
The dirty little secret about Victor Oladipo last year was that, despite the All-Star appearance, whatever was wrong with him before the big injury was throwing him way off his game.
Oladipo hit just 42.3 percent of his shots and 34.3 percent of his 3-pointers in the 36 games in which he appeared and the advanced stats painted a picture of a guy who was in the bottom tier of shooters. He posted just a .486 effective field goal percentage and .097 win shares per 48 minutes.
It’s entirely possible that Oladipo, even after given a full recovery from his torn quadriceps tendon, will prove to be a flash in the pan in terms of his effectiveness, riding one red-hot season to an undeserved reputation.
If that worst-case scenario happens, Jeremy Lamb is going to have to be the guy who steps up.
Lamb hit 44.0 percent of his shots and 34.8 percent of his 3-pointers last season, good for a better eFG% of .499.
But Lamb is a minus defender while Oladipo was First Team All-Defensive in 2017-18.
The early part of the season before Oladipo’s return will make or break the Pacers’ hopes to charge into the top four and earn a home playoff series in the first round. Lamb is the critical component in that effort.
If he can get some of that Pacers magic from a defense that was third in the league in Defensive Rating last season, everything will be fine even if Oladipo is never the same after his injury.
If not, well, we all saw what happened to Indiana after the injury, when they went 16-23 the rest of the way including playoffs.