Clean Sweep: The Nightmare is Finally Over

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When Victor Oladipo went down with a ruptured quad back in February, I started looking towards next season, but at the same time, I was interested to see how well the team would do without him. I saw mixed results. Frustrating, mixed results.

I realized he is undoubtedly the Pacers best player, and losing him (for the season) was a crushing blow, but I also saw how the team rallied and made it work without him when he was out for 11 of the 36 total games he played, finishing 7-4 in that span. They had a cast of young talent and depth. However, there is a big difference between losing him for 11 games, and losing him for the rest of the season-- and it showed.

The team went up and down ever since. It was as if they were snake bitten, losing players left and right, particularly key players like (Domantas) Sabonis for a short period of time. The offense suffered tremendously. They couldn't score with a Kardashian even with the addition of Wesley Matthews, who was inconsistent at best.

By season's end, they went from the 3rd seed to the 5th seed, their same seed last year, and finished 48-34, the same record as last year. Okay, considering Vic wasn't there for most of the season, this was actually admirable. *Sigh* Then came the playoffs. Going into the first round against the Celtics, I had mixed thoughts.

Due to the fact that Indiana had some depth despite Vic, and seeing that Boston themselves somewhat underachieved in the regular season, a part of me thought that gave them a chance, depending which Pacers team showed up, which leads me to the other part of me. The other part that wasn't so optimistic was thinking the Pacers had an up and down season without Vic, plus, I factored in politics.

What do I mean by that, you ask? Well, Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, by most would be considered a "star," and everything is about the "stars," who the people want to see versus letting these guys compete, but I digress.

To tell you the truth, I didn't even watch that BS, and with good reason. Checking the scoreboard after each game, the Pacers was swept by the Celtics, but in a way that was a good thing, which leads me to today's topic. That embarrassing defeat means the nightmare season is finally over, and I'm hoping the Pacers get Vic some help-- some solid, sufficient help-- this off-season, and stop being cheap, bringing in players who are adequate at best and playing this by-committee stuff on the court.

They don't have to be "stars"-- you don't have to be a "star" to have talent, plus I understand Indiana isn't a big market town-- but surround this man with some solid talent. I've been saying this since last off-season; two major reasons being one man can't do it alone, and just in case he suffers an injury that will put him out for a while or a season-ending injury, the team can still thrive and be able to compete. I don't think it's a good idea to have a team dependent on one person, anyway.

Personally, I say blow the team up. The only ones I would keep is Vic (of course), Domantas Sabonis, I wouldn't mind if they brought Bojan Bogdanovic back, and I want to see what becomes of Aaron Holiday. The rest of them are either expendable or GTFOH.

You know, I once asked someone who their favorite basketball team was, and he replied that he didn't have a favorite team, he just liked certain players. I've been sitting on that thought for a while now, and I'm considering taking that same approach. We'll see. For now, I'm glad the nightmare is finally over.