2018 Player Review

indmmontieth

Age: 22
Years Pro: 2
Status: Entering the third season of his rookie contract.
Key Stats: Played in 74 games, starting 19. Averaged a team-best 7.7 rebounds along with 11.8 points over 24.5 minutes per game

One year after being nearly an afterthought, Domantas Sabonis can now be regarded as a mystery. A good one, and one likely to bring a happy ending, but a mystery just the same.

Figured by many (prematurely) to be a mere throw-in to the trade that sent Paul George to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo last summer, Sabonis proved himself to be much more than that in his first season with the Pacers. Much more than a career backup, too. Much more than the mere offspring of a legendary player, as well.

And that's where the mystery begins. How long can he go on backing up Myles Turner at center when the advanced analytics indicate he had a better season than Turner? How long do they run the experiment of him and Turner playing together to see if it can work, especially when the analytics of that pairing were not particularly positive this season? And if they don't turn out to have good chemistry together as starters, what happens then?

Those questions should begin to answer themselves next season, but in the meantime the Pacers have two promising 6-foot-11, 22-year-old centers.

PHOTO GALLERY: Domantas Sabonis' 2017-18 Season in Photos »

The Pacers were impressed with Sabonis two summers ago, when he left Gonzaga after his sophomore season to enter the NBA Draft. Orlando took him with the 11th overall pick before trading him to OKC. Kevin Pritchard, however, says the Pacers had him rated about the sixth-best player in the draft, with scouting director Ryan Carr being a table-pounding supporter of the young center. Their admiration for Sabonis' game helped make OKC's offer for George an easy choice to accept.

Sabonis' father, Arvydas, is regarded as one of the all-time great centers, an agile 7-foot-3 specimen who could score and pass with equal flair. Domantas, his youngest son, is four inches shorter and left-handed, but at least shows some of dad's versatility to go with a blue-collar mentality that endears him to fans and teammates alike.

Still, it's understandable why most OKC fans didn't flinch when Sabonis was traded to the Pacers last summer. He had started the first 64 games his rookie season and turned in several strong outings — such as by hitting four 3-pointers three times within the first 30 games — but he faded as the season grew long and came off the bench the rest of the way. By the time the Thunder met Houston in the playoffs he was nearly forgotten. He played a combined six minutes in the first two games of the series, hitting four foul shots for the sum of his scoring, and didn't play at all the final three games.

He got a fresh start with the Pacers, and made an immediate impression on his new teammates upon joining the scrimmages before training camp. He and Lance Stephenson immediately found harmony as a pick-and-roll combo, causing Stephenson to exclaim to himself, "Oh, man, this guy is good!"

Indeed, Sabonis' work in pick-and-rolls brings out his goodness as well as anything. He sets man-sized picks, catches the ball in traffic, can score with either hand around the basket, and passes out of double-teams to open teammates when necessary.

"You hit the guy, once he gets it, basically it's a bucket," Stephenson said. "He can catch it, he can pass, he can do it all. I definitely underestimated him coming into the season."

It didn't take long for Sabonis to lift everyone else's estimations after the season began. He hit all seven of his field goal attempts in the season-opener against Brooklyn, then started the next eight games because Turner had suffered a concussion. He hit all seven of his shots again in the third game, and then made all nine in the fifth. Through 13 games he was averaging 13.3 points on 63 percent shooting and 9.5 rebounds.

He drifted back to reality as the season progressed and even appeared fatigued at times after the All-Star break. An ankle sprain kept him out of six games in March, perhaps giving him a needed rest, and he played well in six of the final eight regular season games — including a career-high 30-point outing off the bench at Charlotte in the second-to-last game.

Sabonis benefited from joining the Pacers in the same manner Oladipo did: He got more playing time and was given a greater role in the offense. Aside from rebounding, Sabonis led them in field goal percentage (.514) and double-doubles (15). Although he didn't shoot nearly as many 3-pointers as in his rookie season in OKC, he still hit 35 percent of his 37 attempts, as well as 75 percent of his free throws.

His lack of playoff experience showed in the series with Cleveland, but he appeared to grow out of it. He averaged just 5.7 points on 41 percent shooting in the first three games, then averaged 20 points on 74 percent shooting in the next three games before scoring just 10 on 3-of-10 shooting in Game 7 in Cleveland.

All in all, it was both an impressive and educational season for Sabonis, who is as sheepish off the court as he is bullish on it. His stock answer after every good performance was something along the lines of "just trying to do my job." Aggression is not an issue for him. Confidence might be at times, but then you have to remind yourself of the stat that overrides all the others: he's 22.

Experience has been his ultimate weakness, but he offers a promising template for future growth.

"If you went over there and said, 'Eat that wall and we'll win that game,' he'll say 'Can I use salt and pepper?'" Pritchard said at the start of training camp. "He's just that kind of a guy. He's physical, he's tough, he's super-motivated, his motor's high."

"I think he's still figuring out how strong he is, and agile," assistant coach Dan Burke added. "I think it surprises him sometimes how strong he is. He's coachable, a nice kid. He's a joy."

Sabonis is so coachable, so nice, that he says he's willing to come off the bench again next season. The ideal scenario might seem to find a way for him and Turner to play together and therefore address the team's greatest weakness from this season, rebounding, but Thaddeus Young seems to have the power forward position on lockdown if he returns. One could argue for moving Young to small forward, but if he hit 32 percent of his 3-pointers again, as he did this past season, it would only amplify the second-greatest weakness, 3-point scoring.

Something will have to give eventually. But no matter how the riddle of Sabonis is solved, it seems like a positive result for the Pacers. It's not as important when or where he plays as long as he plays substantial minutes.

"He changes the game, man," Oladipo said. "He's screening, he's rolling, he's finding the weakside...he makes the game a lot easier for me and everyone else."

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Player Review 2018: Domantas Sabonis

Age: 24
Years Pro: 2
Status: Was on a two-way contract between the Pacers and Fort Wayne, but signed an NBA contract in December that runs through next season.
Key Stats: Played in 25 games for the Pacers, averaging 1 point in 4.2 minutes. Played in seven games for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants early in the season and averaged 20 points and 8.9 rebounds in 34 minutes per game.

Alex Poythress is stuck in basketball purgatory, giving him legitimate reason to be both frustrated and hopeful - frustrated by his lack of opportunity with the Pacers so far, but hopeful he's shown enough to warrant more extended opportunities next season.

Poythress is one of the more interesting Pacers, a player with pedigree and potential, but one who has yet to establish himself in the NBA. Time will tell if that's because he's lacked talent or the right set of circumstances.

Poythress, a 6-8 forward, was a five-star recruit in high school, ranked among the top 10 players in the country by some groups because of his exceptional strength and quickness. He signed with Kentucky and was expected by some to join their parade of one-and-dones who enter the NBA Draft after one season of college ball, but it didn't work out that way. Although he started 31 of 33 games as a freshman, his stats were modest amid all that talent. And then he tore his ACL in a freak practice accident eight games into his junior season. He returned for his senior season, got his degree and earned the respect of his coach, John Calipari, who called him "one of the greatest kids that I've ever coached."

Poythress was capable of dominating in college, such as in this game against Duke in 2012 that drew raves from Dick Vitale.

He went undrafted, largely because of concerns about his knee injury but also over his lack of consistency, but he's gradually worked his way into the fabric of the NBA. He's been an All-Star in the D-League and he's starred in the G League, so the next step is to shine at least a little in the league.

PHOTO GALLERY: Alex Poythress' 2017-18 Season in Photos »

His first big moment in the NBA came against the Pacers, the team that signed him to his first NBA contract. Playing the final six games of the 2016-17 season with Philadelphia in the era before two-way contracts, he scored 15 points in 23 1/2 minutes against them in the second-to-last game of the season while hitting 5-of-7 3-point shots. Two nights later, he scored 18 points at New York in 31 1/2 minutes.

The Sixers didn't sign him, though, and the Pacers got him back on a two-way contract this season. He played seven more games in Fort Wayne and averaged 20 points and 8.9 rebounds before the Pacers locked him up with an NBA contract that runs through next season. Opportunities were scarce, however, playing behind veteran forwards. He got into 25 games, almost exclusively in the closing minutes of decided games. He played double-figure minutes just once, a 22-minute appearance at Detroit when he scored four points. His season-high point total was six when he hit a couple of 3-point shots while playing the final 2:06 against Sacramento at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Oct. 31.

At the end of it all, however, he averaged just one point over 4.2 minutes per game.

One can't help but wonder how he would fare with rotation minutes over an extended period of time, like he got those final six games with Philadelphia in 2016-17, when he averaged 10.7 points over 26 minutes. But that kind of opportunity is often difficult to come by for an undrafted player. Drafted players and established veteran players tend to get in the way.

Hence, purgatory. Poythress has proven he's too good for the G League, but hasn't yet proven he's good enough for the NBA. He turns 25 in September, so the clock is ticking. The lease on NBA limbo tends to be short-term, and he'll need to find a way to earn an extension.

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Player Review 2018: Alex Poythress

Age: 22
Years Pro: 3
Status: Entering the fourth season of his rookie contract.
Key Stats: Averaged 12.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks while playing 28.3 minutes per game. Missed 17 games due to concussion and injuries.

Myles Turner's third NBA season brought a slight decline in his statistics and his public image. It might turn out to be the most meaningful season of his NBA career, however, if the realization that came over him doesn't float off with the summer wind.

Turner's scoring and rebounding averages dropped from the previous season as did his shooting percentage. His playing time took a hit, too, by three minutes per game, due largely to the capable backup help of Domantas Sabonis. It was Sabonis' presence, in fact, that raised some concerns about Turner's play because of their contrasting styles.

Whereas Sabonis is a physical, grinding center who wore battle scars on his face as a badge of honor, Turner has relied mostly on finesse throughout his three seasons with the Pacers. He's loved nothing better than to send rafter-scraping 3-point shots toward the basket on one end and sneak in from the weakside and block shots at the other. He's done those things well, and consistently enough to maintain the optimism of fans.

That changed a bit this season. Turner started out his Pacers career being just 19, which can be a good excuse for practically anything. Now he's up to being just 22, still plenty young. He's only two months older than Sabonis, who entered the draft a year after Turner, and younger than Ben Moore, a rookie this season on a two-way contract between the Pacers and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Still, at some point the clock runs out on age-related explanations for a player's shortcomings.

Turner has established himself as a good NBA player. He's a 6-foot-11 center with athleticism and shooting range. He hit 36 percent of his 3-pointers this season, and hit six-of-13 in the playoffs. He also finished third in the NBA in blocked shots with 1.8 per game, and led the league much of the first half of the season. He was averaging 2.5 blocks on Christmas Day, but averaged just 1.4 the rest of the season.

PHOTO GALLERY: Myles Turner's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

That's a great base to build from, but to become the All-Star he wants to be he'll need to add scoring weapons around the basket, particularly when posting up shorter players after defensive switches, and rebound more aggressively.

His rebounding averages have been suppressed somewhat by playing so often on the perimeter on both offense and defense, but he's blown his cover by proving he can do it when he's enthused about it. It's likely no coincidence that his best rebounding game in each of the past two seasons came in the season-opener at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, when pent-up anticipation filled the air — 16 against Dallas last season and 14 against Brooklyn this season. And it so happens his best rebounding game as a rookie (16) came on his 20th birthday, in a victory over New Orleans.

He had four fewer double-figure rebounding games this season than last, and that's where the realization factor comes into play.

That's where his realization comes into play. As the season progressed, Turner began to acknowledge the need to become a more physical rebounder. He identified Jan. 30 as a turning point, the date one of his teammates — whom he never revealed — called him "soft." It showed, because the following night, on Jan. 31, he had his first double-figure rebounding game since Nov. 29, and just his fifth of the season. He went on to have eight such games in a 19-game stretch, excluding the game against Toronto when he sprained his left ankle and played limited minutes.

He had no double-figure rebounding games in the last 10 of the regular season, however, and just one in the playoff series with Cleveland, the Game 3 victory at The Fieldhouse.
Kevin Pritchard spoke during the season of the need for Turner to have a more consistently aggressive rebounding mindset.

"There's a thing in the league called 'dirty rebounds,' where if it's between a couple of players he has to get it," Pritchard said. "He's fully aware of it, he works on it, but those kind of things are really done in the summer. We've made him aware. We feel like he can take a big step if he gets stronger."

Improved strength will help Turner score more easily around the basket, but he needs more agility, too. He showed  a reluctance to try to score in the low post until this season, and a lack of skill when he did try. That's been a sad irony given the presence of one of the NBA's all-time great post-up scorers, Al Jefferson, the past two seasons.

Finally, around the midpoint of this season Turner began acknowledging the need to work on that part of the game. And more and more, rather than lofting 3-point shots at the end of practice, he was seen working on post-up scoring.

"I have to be more effective down in the paint," he said late in the season. "I know what I can do on the perimeter, but for the team and myself to be successful, I've got to be able to make plays down there."

Those words soothed the ears of many Pacers fans, just as the sight of Turner scoring on an aggressive post-up move for a crucial basket in a victory at Boston on March 11 was soothing to the eyes.

Turner shows hints of becoming a dominant NBA player, but needs to become stronger and add to his scoring arsenal to do so. That process begins with the willingness to do so, and that seems to be what he took from this season.

That desire, should it hold, merits another season of patience and optimism.

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Player Review 2018: Myles Turner

Age: 23
Years Pro: 1
Status: Signed a two-way contract with the Pacers in January.
Key Stats: Played in two games for the Pacers for a total of nine scoreless minutes. Played in 43 games for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, averaging 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds.

Ben Moore's best quality as an NBA player is intrigue, but that only goes so far and lasts so long in the NBA. Especially for 23-year-old rookies.

Moore was a four-year player at Southern Methodist University but went undrafted last summer after averaging 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior. He showed up as a second-round pick in some mock drafts and impressed in pre-draft workouts, but ultimately lacked the right combination of size and skills to be selected.

He was regarded as a power forward at SMU, but at 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds he was going to have to be a wing player in the NBA. You need a 3-point shot to do that, but Moore didn't even attempt one in college until his senior season. Then he tried five and hit one. That was a problem.

He had and has plenty of positive qualities, though: a high energy level, passing and ballhandling skills, devotion to defense and the athleticism to play it, and a variety of ways to score. He wound up hitting 35 percent of the 54 3-point shots he attempted for the Pacers' G League affiliate in Fort Wayne this past season, so that provided a reasonable answer to one of the biggest questions about him.

PHOTO GALLERY: Ben Moore's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

Unless you attended one of his G League games, you probably have no memory of him. He appeared in just two games for the Pacers, for a total of nine minutes. He played 2 minutes, 54 seconds against Phoenix on Jan. 24, and 6 minutes, 23 seconds against Washington on Feb. 5. His totals for those two glimpses of opportunity: no points, one rebound, one assist, four fouls.

Judgement could be passed more reasonably on his play for the Mad Ants. Appearing in 43 games, he averaged 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds and showed off his energy level and offensive diversity on several occasions, such as when he scored 28 points against Wisconsin and when he finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Chicago's Windy City affiliate.

If nothing else, his shot selection and efficiency can't be questioned. He hit better than 50 percent of his field goal attempts over four seasons at SMU (54 percent), with the Pacers' Summer League team (58), with the Pacers in two preseason appearances (hitting 2-of-3 shots) and with the Mad Ants (55).

Guys like Moore — undrafted guys who played four seasons of college basketball — don't have it easy trying to find a crack in an NBA roster to slip through. Some teams regard them as over the hill before they even get started, and the drafted players are always going to get longer looks.

Stranger things have happened, though. Moore likely will get another shot in Summer League and will go from there. At the very least, he should be able to carve out a professional career somewhere.

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Player Review 2018: Ben Moore

Age: 33
Years Pro: 14
Status: The Pacers have a team option on the final year of his three-year contract.
Key Stats: Played in 36 games, starting one. Averaged 7 points in 13.4 minutes per game, shooting 53 percent from the field.

How do you put a price tag on Al Jefferson? His salary was as hefty as he used to be for a third-string center, although it should be remembered he signed in the summer of 2016 when NBA inflation was about as rampant as in Germany after World War I when people were burning cash to stay warm.

He only played in 36 games this season, only averaged 13.4 minutes, only averaged 7 points. It was in many ways as if his 14-year NBA career came full circle and closely resembled the production of his rookie season in 2004-05, back when TJ Leaf was seven years old.

And yet, Jefferson produced when called upon and was one of the league leaders in intangibles. Victor Oladipo probably deserves most of the individual credit for the Pacers' rare culture this season, being the grounded All-Star who brought energy and a positive aura to every practice and game, but Jefferson might rank second for bringing a professional attitude and a virtual mentoring program to the team. After all, if the guy who had scored more than 14,000 points in his NBA career and was still capable of playing well wasn't complaining about his role, who could?

Jefferson played just 484 minutes this season, barely more than half of what he played the previous season with the Pacers as a backup center and a drop in the bucket compared to the 2,553 minutes he rang up four seasons ago. There was irony in that, because he had prepared to renew his career over the summer by switching to a vegetarian diet and losing 40 pounds. He looked ready to go, but his destination had been moved.

PHOTO GALLERY: Al Jefferson's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

The summertime trade that brought Domantas Sabonis from Oklahoma City added a younger and more mobile center to back up Myles Turner. Nate McMillan, in an example of his straight-up method of communicating with his players, told Jefferson before training camp began that he would not be part of the playing rotation unless an injury intervened.

Jefferson appreciated his coach's honesty and understood the logic of the decision, so he accepted it.

"One, we're playing well," he said at the end of November. "Two, I have to be professional when my name is called and ready to go. If this is happening to me six or seven years ago, yeah, it probably wouldn't sit right with me. But I've been around a long time. Yeah, this is my first year being in this position, but it's not the end of the world. If we were losing and not playing well and if I knew the guys playing in front of me weren't better than me, then I'd have a problem with that."

Thing was, when Jefferson got to play he usually played well. He befuddled the young centers trying to guard him with old-school, low-post moves that utilized a wide array of head fakes and footwork, punctuated by well-timed releases from his huge, soft hands. He might be ill-suited for the job description for most of today's centers because of his limited shooting range and lack of mobility, but it cuts both ways. Today's young centers are ill-suited for defending someone with his veteran savvy.

"These young guys don't know how to guard guys like me no more," he said, a point he proved repeatedly.

Jefferson played extended minutes in various stretches of the season when Turner or Sabonis were out with injuries. When doing so, he was often the Pacers' most entertaining player in a retro kind of way, lifting teammates off the bench with his arsenal of scoring weapons.

He scored 19 points in 22 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting in a loss at Detroit on Nov. 8 when Turner was out with a concussion. He scored 13 first-half points at Brooklyn on Feb. 14, sending Nets rookie Jarrett Allen a memorable Valentine with a one-handed pump fake and dunk that sent the Pacers' bench into hysterics. He showed his stuff to the home fans, too, scoring 20 points against Toronto at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 15. He hit 9-of-15 shots and grabbed 12 rebounds in 25 minutes that night, leaving the Raptors' backup center, 22-year-old Jakob Poeltl, dumbfounded.

Jefferson played in just two of the final 10 games and didn't make an appearance in the playoffs, leaving his status for next season uncertain. The Pacers might need the money that could go to him to land another free agent or to put into a trade. Kevin Pritchard, however, allowed in his postseason press conference that Jefferson could be brought back again.

"You look at him and he's not playing much but the influence he has on our team is gripping," Pritchard said. "He really has the team's ear. I didn't want to take a player like that off our team and out of our locker room." Pritchard made those comments shortly after the trade deadline had passed, but they still applied after the season ended.

Arguments for keeping Jefferson another season are abundant, statistically and otherwise.

With his playing time factored, he was one of the Pacers' most productive players, and nearly as productive as he had been in his prime. He was their most accurate field goal shooter (.534) and ranked second in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots on a per-minute basis. Delve into the advanced analytics and he fared just as well, ranking second to Darren Collison in WIN share, which measures how many victories a player contributes to the season, and second to Oladipo in Player Efficiency Rating.

Many of his contributions, however, went well beyond statistical measurement, advanced or otherwise. He was a leader in the locker room and on the practice court, providing calm, sage advice to younger players when needed. He often held court in front of his locker after games, keeping teammates relaxed with his gentle southern demeanor, lack of ego and sense of humor. He provided serious straight talk, too, backing up the coaches if teammates began to grumble in practice.

He might as well have been a coach when not playing. He tutored younger players on post moves in pre-game warmups and after practice. A case in fact could be made that he should have been utilized more, given the struggles Turner had scoring around the basket. Who better to teach the young dogs old tricks? And who better to offer advice from the sideline?

"He always tells me things like to attack quick," Sabonis said during the season. "He says I'm a lot quicker than the other guys, so don't always be banging into someone. If he sees a particular matchup, he's probably guarded that player a lot more than me, so he tells me what will work."

Jefferson wants to continue playing, believing he has a few good years left in him. And he wouldn't mind continuing his role from this season with the Pacers, even if it means erratic playing time. He told Pritchard in his exit interview the role of leader, mentor, and occasional destroyer of young and naïve centers suits him well.

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Player Review 2018: Al Jefferson

Age: 25
Years Pro: 3
Status: The Pacers have a team option on this final season of his rookie contract.
Key Stats: Played in a career-high 53 games, with one start. Averaged career-high 3.9 points while hitting 38 percent of his 3-point shots.

Joe Young's progress was apparent this season. Whether it was enough to earn a fourth season with the Pacers remains to be seen, however.

In many respects, Young is ideally suited for the No. 3 point guard spot on an NBA team because of his work ethic, upbeat attitude, and ability to contribute when required. He'll be challenged, though, by the flood of up-and-comers who flow into the NBA each season. Teams tend to grow impatient with experienced players who aren't in the playing rotation, preferring to give those spots to younger players (TJ Leaf, Ike Anigbogu) who might develop into something more or proven veterans (Al Jefferson) who can lend wisdom to go with their obvious talent.

Young, who will be 26 when next season begins, is practically middle-aged for the NBA, and that can bring a "crisis" for players who are caught in the squeeze between old and young. That's the treacherous middle ground he'll be trying to escape this summer when Kevin Pritchard decides whether to honor the team option on Young's contract.

The arguments in favor of that generally reside on offense, and the arguments against can be found on defense.

PHOTO GALLERY: Joe Young's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

Young had the best shooting percentages of his career this season, hitting 43 percent of his field goal attempts, including 38 percent of his 3-point shots. That last number was a drastic improvement from his 22 percent accuracy in each of his first two seasons. His rebound and assist averages on a per-minute basis were down, however.

It's always dicey to evaluate a player on garbage-time minutes, which is mostly what Young has received in his career. He's had stretches of meaningful playing time, however, such as the six-game run in late December and early January, that provide a window to his value and potential.

During that time, when injuries created opportunity for him to play at least 12 minutes per game, he averaged 8.8 points on 55 percent shooting, including 57 percent from the 3-point line, and hit all nine free throw attempts. He only averaged 1.2 assists, however, against 0.7 turnovers.

He scored his career high of 20 points in that stretch in a 24-minute appearance against Minnesota on Dec. 31, when he hit 7-of-11 shots, including 3-of-4 3-pointers. That performance was overshadowed by the fact the Pacers ended the calendar year with a 17-point defeat, but it still spoke well of Young's improvement.

"Al Jefferson told me, you've got to be ready at all times," Young said after that game, referring to the fact he had not played in 16 games to that point of the season and had not scored in double figures since Dec. 5 of the previous season. "Just being ready, being patient, not pressuring myself. Just being ready, that's all it is. Coach is trusting me to bring intensity.

"But it's all about my team. It's not about what I did, it's about getting better and getting back on the winning road."

Young later got the first start of his NBA career in a home game against Phoenix, on Jan. 24 when Darren Collison was out with an injury. Playing 34 minutes, he finished with six points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and three turnovers. Collison returned the next game and Young's playing time was reduced to scraps most game. There were a couple of more highlights, though. He scored 17 points while hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers in a homecourt loss to Washington and 11 points in a homecourt victory over New York.

One of the more curious stats of his season was that he never had more than three assists in a game, despite playing 20 or more minutes seven times. His career high for assists remains the eight in got in a game at Golden State as a rookie two season ago. His best stretch of play, in fact, remains the three consecutive games on that road trip in which he averaged 14 points on 51.5 percent shooting, 6.7 assists, and two turnovers.

He hasn't shown the frustration of the ebbs and flows in his career to the outside world, but Jefferson spoke of Young's improved professionalism over the course of this season — an example of how a team culture can mold individual players. Young has shown a charming eagerness and enthusiasm since his pre-draft workout for the Pacers in 2015 but hadn't always appeared to take the job seriously enough. He did that this season.

He still needs to take defense more seriously, though.

He often picked up his assignment fullcourt, without being asked, as an expression of his enthusiasm for playing and to make life more difficult for the opponent. Some of the players he harassed complained to him on the court, wondering what the fuss was about.

Young wasn't a strong defender, though. The advanced analytics, in fact, identified him as the team's worst, particularly in one-on-one situations in the halfcourt. He reportedly worked hard last summer to strengthen his core muscles to help him become a better defender, but needs further improvement to survive another season in the league.

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Player Review 2018: Joe Young

Age: 29
Years Pro: 4
Status: The Pacers have a team option, with a minimal guarantee for next season.
Key Stats: Averaged 14.3 points while shooting 47 percent from the field, including 40 percent from the 3-point line, in 30.8 minutes per game. All were career highs.

Bojan Bogdanovic had the best and most satisfying of his four NBA seasons and did what he was hired to do by the Pacers. Still, he might be the most vulnerable of all the starters to offseason changes.

Regardless of his fate, Bogdanovic provided his share of thrills with 40 percent 3-point shooting and a more complete game than was anticipated. Viewed up close, however, it was as interesting for the manner in which he was integrated into the team chemistry as anything else.

It would have been easy for him to become a bit of an outcast. He's from another country. English ranks third on his list of spoken languages. He's introverted by nature, and while polite at all times, he never seemed particularly eager to talk with anyone.

His teammates kept drawing him in, though. When he made that panic-stricken pass that cost the Pacers a victory over Boston at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Dec. 18, he was clearly depressed as he hurriedly left the locker room. Some of his teammates sent encouraging texts that night and into the next morning, while others offered verbal reassurance. He responded with a solid 19-point outing in a victory at Atlanta two nights later.

PHOTO GALLERY: Bojan Bogdanovic's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

The successful manner in which he had been absorbed into the mix was best on display following a victory over Milwaukee on March 5, when he scored 29 points. Upon dressing and speaking with reporters, a joyful Bogdanovic shouted, "All right, brothers!" as he left the locker room — most likely words he had never spoken in the locker rooms during his previous stops in Brooklyn and Washington.

"All right, bro!" Myles Turner responded.

A scoring average is just that, an average. No player shoots with similar accuracy in every game, and for most shooters the season brings some wild swings between net-scorching and rim-clanking that meet in the middle. Bogdanovic, though, seemed prone to extended fluctuations to arrive at his 14.3 regular season norm. He averaged 15.2 points on 52 percent shooting in October and November, but 11.7 points on 41 percent shooting in December. He managed to go scoreless in 24 minutes in a home game against Charlotte late in January, but that shamed him into a strong finish.

"I was really ****ed off, and I tried to tell myself that I have to be aggressive and the team needs me," he said in recalling that game. "I'm a starter and I'm playing heavy minutes. That was kind of a big game for me even though I was scoreless."

A big game, because it sparked a run in which he scored in double figures in a career-best 16 consecutive games. He averaged 18.9 points over that stretch, shooting 53 percent from the field while hitting 49 percent of his 3-pointers.

He also had four games in which he played 30 minutes or more and failed to grab a rebound. One of those, unfortunately, was in Game 7 of the playoff series with Cleveland when he played 37 minutes. He also hit just 1-of-9 shots in that game, including 1-of-7 3-pointers.

His only made shot gave the Pacers their first lead midway through the first quarter. That hopeful moment didn't lead to anything, however, as he missed two 3-point attempts and failed to handle a simple pass on the perimeter in the remaining minutes.

That final game left a stain on an otherwise solid season. He scored 20 or more points 15 times — the Pacers won 12 of those games — and peaked at 29 during the regular season. His most meaningful performance came in Game 3 of the playoffs, when he hit 11-of-15 shots and 7-of-9 3-pointers to score 30 points, picking up the slack for a struggling Victor Oladipo to help the Pacers take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Overall, however, his play declined in the postseason, when his scoring average dropped from 14.3 to 12.4 and his shooting percentage from 47 to 39.5.

His defense was better than expected, but still below average. Regarded as one of the league's worst at his position when he arrived, he responded to Nate McMillan's demands and assistant coach Dan Burke's instructions to be respectable in most games. Still, the advanced stats were not kind. While he rated as the Pacers' third-best offensive player, he was the worst defender among the 10 rotation players at the end of the season. He also rated as the second-worst rebounder in that group, barely beating out point guard Darren Collison.

With a contract containing only a minimal guarantee for next season, his fate likely will hinge on what small forwards become available in the offseason. There's an argument for bringing him back, as a reserve if nothing else, but that decision ultimately lies with Kevin Pritchard and the Pacers' front office.

player-review-2018-bojan-bogdanovic

Player Review 2018: Bojan Bogdanovic

Age: 26
Years Pro: 5
Status: Has three years remaining on his contract.
Key Stats: Averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals over 34 minutes per game. Led the NBA in steals and takes a streak of 64 consecutive games with a steal into next season.

Amid the pile of stats that can be employed to measure Victor Oladipo's season, perhaps the best is the simplest: The Pacers couldn't win without him. Literally.

Oladipo was unable to play in seven games this season and the Pacers lost all seven, by an average of 14 points. It's probably more accurate to toss out the last game, the season-ender to Charlotte that was meaningless in the standings and included the absence of two other starters, but the point is the same. The Pacers also lost to Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Minnesota, Milwaukee, and Washington when Oladipo was nursing an injury and came close only against the lowly Mavericks, losing by six points at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

With him, the Pacers won 64 percent of their games with a 48-27 record. Had they carried that through the season, they would have finished with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and played Miami in the first round of the playoffs instead of Cleveland.

It's likely no player this side of LeBron James was more valuable to his team than Oladipo was to the Pacers. It was more than his 23.1 points per game, most on the team by nearly nine points. It was more than his league-leading 2.4 steals per game, highest average for any Pacers player since Micheal Williams averaged 2.9 in the 1991-92 season. It was his joie di vivre. His spirit. His relentless positivity.

PHOTO GALLERY: Victor Oladipo's 2017-18 Season in Photos »

"He's infectious," Kevin Pritchard said. "He's positively infectious."

Oladipo wasn't voted a co-captain by his teammates before the season began. That honor went to a pair of holdovers from the previous season, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner. Oladipo, however, emerged as the team's most influential player as the season progressed because of that "positively infectious" attitude. He didn't just break into song in the locker room following victories at The Fieldhouse, he did it when he arrived for morning practices across the street at St. Vincent Center in the dog days of the season.

The Pacers missed that when he didn't play, along with all those things that show up in the box score.

Oladipo is the leading candidate for the NBA's Most Improved Player award. If he wins, he'll follow in the upwardly mobile footsteps of former Pacers Jalen Rose, Jermaine O'Neal, Danny Granger, and Paul George. He would be a worthy winner, certainly. He set personal bests in shooting accuracy, scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocks, but not turnovers or fouls. His playing time was in line with each of his four previous NBA seasons, so it wasn't simply a matter of being on the court longer. It was a matter of his involvement in the offense, which is exactly what he was seeking, as he stated when he first met Pritchard following the trade that brought him to the Pacers with Domantas Sabonis for George.

Oladipo's usage rate of 30.1 meant he shot the ball, turned it over, or drew a foul on that percentage of the Pacers' plays. It far surpassed his previous season (21.4) in Oklahoma City, when he played in the long shadow of Russell Westbrook. Myles Turner's usage rate of 20 was a distant second among the Pacers' starters, an indication of the free rein given to Oladipo in the offense.

For the most part, he didn't abuse it. He was as much a point guard as a shooting guard given how often he initiated the offense. That only made sense for someone who's probably the quickest and fastest player in franchise history and provided the best hope for a layup or dunk. Besides, he finished with a career-high assist average.

Oladipo stumbled at times during the season, but always found a way forward. He struggled with the burden of his enhanced role early on and had some poor shooting games as he occasionally strayed from the offense while looking too intently for his shot. He had a 31-point game at Philadelphia that drew raves but followed with a three-game stretch in which he hit just 21-of-59 shots. He followed that with 25-point and 28-point games against Chicago and Houston, but then hit just 20-of-53 shots over the next three games.

He hit stride in December, when he built his All-Star credentials. A 27-point game against Chicago was followed by a 33-point game against Cleveland, which was followed by a 47-point game in an overtime victory over Denver.

That led to a much-hyped matchup against George and Oklahoma City on Dec. 13, the Pacers' only national television appearance (ESPN) of the regular season other than two games on NBA TV and the first before a capacity crowd at The Fieldhouse. Oladipo wasn't ready for that spotlight, however. Defended mostly by George, he hit just 9-of-26 shots, including 1-of-9 3-pointers, while forcing jump shots. The most damning stat was that he didn't attempt a single free throw.

"You get on this kind of stage, you start playing for you and not playing together, which is what we've done," coach Nate McMillan said after that game. He didn't single out anyone, but it was obvious who was on his mind.

Oladipo bounced back with a pair of 38-point games before the month ended. He hit 10 free throws in each one, revealing the key to his offensive success: attacking the basket and getting to the foul line.

Oladipo went through another slump early in March, shortly after the All-Star break, when he appeared fatigued, but he finished the season well. He had one clunker, a season-low five-point game at Toronto in which he hit just 2-of-9 shots in 21 minutes, but came back two nights later to score 27 on 12-of-15 shooting in a victory at Charlotte.

By then the trend was obvious. He always bounced back.

He opened the series with Cleveland with a brilliant 32-point performance in which he hit 6-of-9 3-pointers and added six rebounds, six assists and four steals. He was effective in Game 2 as well with 22 points in an appearance limited to 28 minutes by early foul trouble. But he struggled again over the next three games, combining to hit just 12-of-50 shots.

Just when it seemed the pressure was becoming too much — from both Cleveland's double-teaming defensive tactics and the playoff spotlight — he unleashed a triple-double in Game 6 (28 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, along with four steals) and then 30 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and three steals in Game 7.

Oladipo has a chance, a realistic chance, of becoming to Pacers fans what Reggie Miller has become: an icon to stand the test of time. He arrived four seasons too late to play his entire career for the Pacers as Miller did, and he might not have as many fictional-quality playoff moments as Miller did, but if he continues to grow and finishes his career for the franchise and doesn't lose his unique combination of mojo and humility, he could become just as popular. His reputation ultimately will be determined largely by how he performs in the clutch moments of the postseason, but he's a better athlete than Miller and equally dedicated toward improvement.

It once looked like Jermaine O'Neal could become The Next One. Then it looked like Paul George could be it. They ultimately lacked the depth of Miller's confidence, maturity, and sustained health. That's not entirely their fault — we're all a product of our genetics and upbringing — but Oladipo shows indication of possessing the "it" qualities found in all of the great ones.

It's difficult to imagine him wrapping his hands around his neck and glaring at a heckling fan, as Miller did toward Spike Lee in 1994 while scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game in 1994 or providing a back-page tabloid headline by shouting "Choke artists!" while running off the court, as Miller did after scoring eight points in 8.9 seconds in the Garden in 1995.

It's not difficult to imagine Oladipo compiling his own "moments," however, not after his performances in four of the seven playoff games this season. He has that kind of persona and that kind of skill, although it would boost his cause immensely if he would improve his form. His percentages were decent, and improved, but still not great. He hit 48 percent of his field goal attempts, thanks largely to all those layups he slithered through the lane to get, along with 37 percent of his 3-point shots, and 80 percent of his free throws.

The stat lines will improve in a meaningful way if he bumps up those percentages a bit. It wouldn't hurt to cut down on turnovers, too; he averaged 2.9, easily the most on the team. Still, one would have to be neurotic to be too critical. He had a great season — as good a season as George ever had with the Pacers all things considered — and he's capable of continuing to improve.

Meanwhile, the positive flair is a given.

"I've learned from Victor Oladipo, no matter how your day goes, no matter what's going on in your life, you always have the right to hit the reset button," Pritchard said at his postseason press conference.

Oladipo will hit that button again next season. As long as he stays healthy, the Pacers should be positively infected once again.