It was hard not to feel the energy at Indiana Pacers Media Day. Head coach Nate McMillan opened things up, offering insightful responses to questions as per usual. But the day really began when Victor Oladipo stepped up to the podium.
Oladipo made his first impression on the media before even getting on the mic. Entering the room from the side, Oladipo started off the day with a grand entrance — capturing video of the media to post on his Instagram story. It was a quiet room to start. His infectious energy eventually spread throughout the group.
It didn’t take long to see the storylines develop. There were questions on the now LeBron James-less East and typical prodding on the players’ summer improvements. Many of the questions were regarding the team’s one-week getaway to Miami at the end of August. The answers to those were perhaps the most telling about this group.
Before we get into that, here’s some background. While down in Miami continuing his offseason work, Oladipo invited the team down to spend some time. They worked while there, but it was more about bonding and getting to know each other off the court.
Offseason gatherings like this are uncommon in the NBA. Players have friends on the team they work and hang out with, but it can be hard to get 15 rich adults with free time in the same place at the same time — especially if they only kind of like each other. Every single one of Oladipo’s teammates came, however, excluding Bojan Bogdanovic — who was tending to the needs of the Croatian National Team.
First-year Pacer Doug McDermott said he had never been a part of anything like that in his four NBA seasons. McMillan hadn’t seen it either. The Pacers sent some video coaches down, but McMillan said he wanted to stay away so the players could handle it on their own.
“I think Victor understands how important it is for the team to be connected,” McMillan said. “He told us about this in July, that he wanted to do it, and he talked with the players about coming in.”
As McMillan said, Oladipo felt it was important to get the group together before the season and get to know his teammates better.
“I think it was really important. I think it was a great start to our season. Getting us all together and being able to step outside our comfort zones and get to know somebody that you might not already know. Maybe that will essentially get us over the hump,” Oladipo said.
The key to that is the “get us over the hump” part. Right after falling in seven games to Cleveland in the first round of last season’s playoffs, Oladipo already began working towards the next season — asking his trainer, “When do we start?”
When reflecting on the season, Oladipo didn’t feel like he had done enough to push the team to its ceiling. He won’t let that happen this season.
“I don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” Oladipo said. “I don’t want to go back and look on this year and think to myself, ‘Man, I could have done this better.’ Or ‘Man, I could have done that to help us.’ I had that feeling last year and I don’t plan on having that feeling this year.”
Thaddeus Young, entering his third season with the Pacers, has become enthralled in the culture in his time.
“For us as an organization, us as a franchise, we believe in culture and we believe in what we call our three T’s — togetherness, toughness, and trust,” Young said. “We all trust each other, we’re all gonna be there for each other.”
Young also said the team, from the front office executives, to the trainers, to the players, everyone communicates and tries to keep each other in the loop.
It goes beyond the talk, too. Being around the team for three hours on what you could call the first day of the season, there was constant laughter. Teammates new and old ribbing each other from across the room and just genuinely enjoying each other’s company.
whole squad out here pic.twitter.com/BI9CcOQmGL
— Dylan (@ByDylanHughes) September 24, 2018
There’s a lot that goes into a successful season. For us observers, the Pacers winning 50 games and getting past the first round may be considered a successful season. But for the team, it feels different. With a leader like Oladipo, making sure he does turn over all those stones, it’s hard to imagine any stagnation — much less a negative regression.
On paper, the top tier Eastern Conference teams like Bosto, Torontos, and Philadelphia have the Pacers beat. But sometimes, just sometimes, a team will wad up all that paper and sink it into the trash can from halfcourt. In a sport like basketball, talent will almost always decide the winners and losers. Indiana has talent, too, but what may separate them from the competition come April, May, and possibly June will be the chemistry.
When a group of people come together and love being around one another, it’s hard to break that apart.
