Victor Oladipo feels right at home in Indiana.
Here Tracy Walker Color Rush Jersey , he evolved from a high-flying, college acrobat for the Hoosiers into a legitimate NBA draft prospect. Here, he won over the hearts and minds of a basketball-crazed state. And here, he finally got a chance to tap into his full potential.
Now, five years after being taken No. 2 overall in the draft, the multi-talented guard has returned to his adopted home state, revived a rebuilding Pacers franchise and heads into the playoffs as the favorite to be the league’s Most Improved Player.
”To come out and get 48 wins after everything that happened is a great accomplishment,” Oladipo said after sitting out Tuesday’s 119-93 loss to Charlotte with a sore right foot. ”But there’s a lot more to accomplish and a lot more goals we want to accomplish starting this weekend.”
The only surprise bigger than the Pacers’ remarkable resurgence this season might be Oladipo’s transformation from a potential future star into an NBA All-Star.
Orlando saw the possibilities when it drafted the junior back in 2013 but wound up trading him to Oklahoma City in July 2016. With the Thunder, Oladipo served a one-year apprenticeship with eventual MVP Russell Westbrook – a year Oladipo credits with helping him emerge as the budding star he has become.
But when the Thunder got a chance to pair Westbrook with four-time All-Star Paul George of Indiana, they put Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis on the trading block. Things could not have worked out better for the players – or the Pacers.
Oladipo and Sabonis each played key roles in helping the Pacers shed the preseason projection of NBA lottery team, and Oladipo has finally found a place where he can be himself.
”I know it kind of came out of nowhere (for fans), especially after the trade. People were kind of down on Vic last year for some odd reason Anthony Miller Color Rush Jersey ,” said Kevin Durant, the Golden State star who grew up in the same Maryland county as Oladipo. ”To see the trade and how people viewed that trade, and then he just turned it up throughout the season. For me, I thought it was expected of him. I’m very excited for Vic and happy for him and I know he’s going to keep getting better as a player.”
Returning to Indiana certainly helped. Hoosiers fans revered Oladipo because of how he played the game. They embraced the passion and heart he showed on the court, the effort he made on defense and believed he spoke a language any true basketball fan respects. Time hasn’t changed that part of Oladipo’s game.
”He is himself every day, and then he’s just very positive all the time,” Myles Turner said. ”Even when things aren’t going well, he’s still talking, still getting guys involved, still hyping everybody else up.”
After spending four years looking for the right fit, Oladipo found it in Indy:
His scoring total increased by nearly 30 percent over his previous career best and 45 percent over last season. His averages of 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 are all career highs. His average of 2.36 steals is the highest single season average of anyone in the NBA since 2013-14 and his 77 steals were 18 ahead of George www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-oren-burks-jersey , who is second, heading into the final night of the regular season.
Even opposing coaches and players acknowledge Oladipo’s breakout season should make the fifth Indiana player to earn the most improved award since 2000.
”Oh, definitely,” Lance Stephenson said, almost scoffing at the question. ”In my eyes, he’s the MVP. He’s played terrific.”
Oladipo knows there’s still plenty more to do and his blazing speed and charismatic charm make the possibilities seem endless for the 25-year-old.
The next chapter begins in the playoffs. In his previous four seasons, Oladipo has won only one postseason game and he doesn’t want this season’s magical ride to end before he can celebrate winning his first playoff series with his teammates.
And the message he sent Tuesday night resounded throughout the state.
”We’re going to go in there and win,” he said. ”We’re not going to go in there and try to win. We’re going to go in there and win.”
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History is being made again in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
On the heels of the first back-to-back champions in two decades, the NHL will get a new champion in the salary-cap era that began in 2005. Among the Lightning, Capitals, Jets and Golden Knights, only Tampa Bay has won the Stanley Cup Baker Mayfield Browns Jersey , making this the first time the final four teams have combined for one title or fewer.
Tampa Bay is in the Eastern Conference final for the third time in four years, and Washington has made the playoffs 10 out of the past 11 seasons. Yet after one of Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh lifted the Cup every time since 2009, this crop of new blood is refreshing.
”They’re all good stories,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”The same old story sometimes can get old. Once in a while a new chapter is written, and it’ll be good. This year there will be a new chapter.”
The next chapter begins with the Capitals visiting the Lightning on Friday night, followed by the Golden Knights at Winnipeg on Saturday night. It’s a full turnover from the final four teams last year: Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Nashville and Anaheim.
The Jets became the fourth and final team to reach the third round when they beat the defending Western Conference-champion Predators on the road in Game 7 on Thursday night. Winnipeg is the final hope for Canada’s first Cup celebration since Montreal in 1993 and is in the conference final for the first time in franchise history.
”Having some diversity amongst the league is great, and I think it just shows the competitive balance throughout the league,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”Having good young players is a great place to start and you see that the teams that have good young players have gotten good fast. So I think it’s a good thing to have some fan bases have some extended postseason success. It just creates a better vibe.”
The Lightning are trying to create the vibe Hockey Bay hasn’t seen since winning the Cup in 2004. They fell short in a six-game loss to the Blackhawks in the 2015 final with this core Saquon Barkley Jersey Elite , led by Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman.
Even after missing the playoffs last year when Stamkos was out long term with a knee injury, Tampa Bay has plenty of recent playoff experience from recent runs and the additions of ex-Rangers players Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and J.T. Miller.
”We’ve been here in this situation before,” Stamkos said. ”There’s no panic or nervousness. We’re excited.”
Vegas hasn’t been in any situation before, building off the best inaugural season in NHL history by beating Los Angeles and San Jose to reach the West final. Among the four good stories remaining, none is as remarkable as the Golden Knights, who pieced together players from around the league to get further than anyone expected.
”I haven’t been around a team like this,” general manager George McPhee said. ”This feels like more of a team than any team I’ve ever been with at the NHL level.”
McPhee’s former team in Washington has the same feeling. The Capitals aren’t as deep or talented as in years past, but they’re in the East final for the first time since 1998, when McPhee was in his first season as their GM.
”I’ve had some teams that have been very, very talented and they weren’t necessarily the best teams,” said Trotz www.titansauthorizedshops.com/authentic-luke-falk-jersey , who is in the third round for the first time in 19 years as an NHL head coach. ”I think the belief in the group, or the chemistry in the group, is the intangible and this group has a good chemistry about it.”
What excites Jets coach Paul Maurice most about the fresh teams in the conference finals is the hope it keeps alive in the remaining cities. And each one can legitimately believe its team has a chance to win it all.
”That’s the great part about competition,” Maurice said. ”So that’s what’s the most exciting thing is you don’t know, right? There’s not a five-time Stanley Cup champion that’s just ran the first two series 4-0. It’s up for grabs. It’s right there.”
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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.
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