No signs? He was pretty good on the Magic thats why OKC traded Ibaka for him in the first place. He only looked like a scrub because he was playing with Russell "Black Hole" Westbrick. It was a slam dunk for the Pacers either way as George was telling everyone he was leaving. This may be the trade that gets Presti fired, but honestly his biggest mistake is keeping Westbrick on his team.
If people followed Victor at IU then this wouldn' be a surprise. When Tom Crean recruited Victor he wasn' even rated, he just started playing basketball at 15 or 16. Every year at IU he improved dramatically and was a catalyst for IU final 4 run in 2012. From being a Non rated recruit to 1st round pick in 3 years, nothing but dedication. I bleed Rocket red but I was born in Indiana and I can tell you, Victor will be a Superstar, not just a all star but Superstar. This year was his introduction.
I don't agree with this. He wasn't good with the Magic. That's why they chose Payton over him. He was inconsistent, didn't play defence in the last year he couldn't shoot etc He was the Magic's tank commander for 3 years. Ibaka was also an expiring contract so his trade value at that point was already much lower. It's extremely rare after a player has been handed the keys for years and given every opportunity, and he's not also very young to suddendly grow into an All star.
His rookie year was ruined by the stupid point guard experiment. But since then, his improvement in shooting has been steady: effective FG% 46% to 47% to 49% to 51% to 54%. 3 pt. percentage 33 to 34 to 35 to 36 to 37%. The only thing taking a huge jump in the last year is steals. He got in way better shape and McMillian wants his wings to challenge passing lanes. He is a workaholic that became a fitness freak too, and finally got a coach that wants to put the ball in his hands while not asking him to be a PG. Ironically, Paul George made a similar leap in his 4th year to what Vic did in his 5th year. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/oladivi01.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/georgpa01.html
Thank you. I said before that draft Oladipo would be the best NBA player. Missed it by one (Giannis).
If he was just a "tank commander" why did OKC agree to pay him 84M in 4 yrs? And even if Ibaka was an expiring contract he was still a commodity at the time, the deal was Oladipo, 13th pick and Ilyasova...that's a decent haul for a star. Oladipo now has been used as a major piece in trades for Ibaka and Paul George, that wouldn't happen if he was a scrub. He only played like trash because Westbrick kept hogging all the shots.
Westbrick really tanked Oladipo’s value. OKC would also be much better off if they played through George and WB complimented him instead of vice versa.
