Indiana Pacers Rumors
The NBA calendar consists of two seasons — the one in winter where you play games in pubic arenas that count and the one in the summer that is nearly as structured and demanding in which you where you grind in private gyms. The offseason is a misnomer, rendered moot by the natural evolution of players competing to get better. What the Pacers did a few weeks ago, however, pushed the envelope beyond anything that’s occurred in franchise history. Every player except Bojan Bogdanovic, who is playing for his national team in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in Europe, flew to Miami to work at the request of Victor Oladipo, who has established his summer base in the city.
It wasn’t the type of open-gym session that is popular throughout the NBA, where players come and go at their leisure and mix with players from other teams. … This was different. “That was the first time I’ve been part of something like that as a team in the NBA,” said Doug McDermott, the four-year veteran who signed a three-year deal with the Pacers earlier in the summer. “I thought it was great what Vic did. We did something every night to jell as a team.”
Oladipo organized the week’s activities and picked up the dinner tabs, putting his money where the mouths of others have been while describing his evolution into both an elite player and leader. Bring up the Miami workouts to the players who attended the Pacers’ annual golf outing at Brickyard Crossing on Wednesday and Oladipo’s name came up most often — and not just because of the free meals.
JH: With LeBron out of the East, has your mindset changed? What is your ultimate goal for next season? Giannis Antetokounmpo: The goal is still the same. Of course you have LeBron in the Western Conference. We still have great teams like Boston, Toronto, Philly, Indiana in the East. We just have to continue getting better every day as a team. We have a great team, we have a great coach, and hopefully we will have a great season and take another step forward this year.
Dmitry Planidin: NBAers in today’s #FIBAWC qualifiers: Cedi Osman vs Slovenia (19p/11r/3s), Ersan Ilyasova vs Slovenia (14p/6r), Forkan Korkmaz vs Slovenia (24p/5r/3s), Alex Len vs Montenegro (13p/7r), Svi Mykhailiuk vs Montenegro (15p/5r), Dario Saric vs Poland (17p/7r/4a), Ante Zizic vs Poland (13p/8r), Bojan Bogdanovic vs Poland (22p/5a)
