Oladipo wants to be more than ‘3-and-D’ answer
It was a routine that worked for Kevin Durant. It rubbed off on Victor Oladipo.
While playing for Orlando, Oladipo was told a story about a road ritual Durant loved: On away trips, the former Thunder star sometimes would seek out a gym to shoot at not long after arriving in a city.
Oladipo has long admired Durant, a fellow Maryland native. After hearing the story, the next time on the road, Oladipo texted Laron Profit – then an assistant coach for Orlando – and said “hey, can you find me a gym?”
“That’s what gives me so much confidence that this kid is gonna find a way to maximize his talent,” Profit said. “He will put in the work. He will commit to his craft.”
If Oladipo doesn’t become one of the NBA’s best shooting guards, it won’t be from lack of effort. Oladipo, the centerpiece of the Thunder’s offseason, has all the attributes of a potential two-way star, but is he the answer to the Thunder’s “3-and-D” wing conundrum?
“I don’t just want to be a three-point shooter. I don’t just want to be a defensive stopper,” Oladipo said at Thunder media day. “I want to be one of the best players in this league, and in order to do that, you have to affect the game on both ends and do multiple things.”
For two seasons, Andre Roberson started 135 regular season games for the Thunder as the heir to Thabo Sefolosha at shooting guard. While Roberson provides length and
athleticism on defense at 6-foot-7, he’s a below-average perimeter shooter and shot creator, scoring just 22.8 percent of his baskets unassisted last season. In contrast, Oladipo scored 51.5 percent of his baskets unassisted last season, which would have ranked fourth on the Thunder behind Westbrook, Cameron Payne and Dion Waiters.
Defensively, Oladipo could improve simply by playing with better teammates. Roberson and Adams proved to be elite defenders in the postseason. Westbrook, when focused, can be a terror. Westbrook thinks he and Oladipo can be the best defensive backcourt in the league. Oladipo agrees.
It was the first thing Profit thought of when Oladipo was traded to the Thunder on June 23 as part of the deal that sent Serge Ibaka to Orlando. Profit, a University of Maryland product who shares D.C.-area connections with Oladipo and coached him three years in Orlando, is admittedly biased, but believes in the Westbrook-Oladipo pairing.
“They should scare people,” Profit said. “It should be like having two shutdown corners in the game, what they’re able to do athletically, switching.
“Athletically, I don’t think there’s any backcourt I’ve seen in this league (like them). It’s almost as rare as seeing two shooters the caliber of Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) in the same backcourt.”
The issue of shooting was the biggest worry of the Thunder offseason. The Thunder’s projected starting backcourt of Westbrook and Oladipo are respective 30.2- and 33.9-percent 3-point shooters for their careers. But Oladipo’s 3-point shooting has incrementally improved each season, and he caught fire toward the end of a herky-jerk final season in Orlando.
Last season, Oladipo’s shooting struggles came mostly as a bench player, a role that saw him shoot 27.1 percent from 3 over 20 games. But in 52 games as a starter, Oladipo shot 36.8 percent from 3-point range.
Profit says the move to the bench may have shaken Oladipo.
“It was a huge adjustment for him mentally,” Profit said. “He had to adapt to a different role.”
Every season Oladipo has been in the NBA he’s had to adapt. He played shooting guard in college but was drafted No. 2 overall in 2013 by Orlando, who played him at point guard as a rookie. In Year 2, he slid over to shooting guard when Orlando drafted Elfrid Payton. Last year, he played both positions and was asked to come off the bench a quarter into the season, then start again when Payton struggled. Profit said Oladipo “never got comfortable” in Orlando.
As Thunder coach Billy Donovan said, Oladipo “may have to wear a few different hats” for the Thunder because he’s so talented. But barring injury, Oladipo won’t have to fill in for long stretches at point guard with Westbrook running the show and Payne also as an option.
“That’s definitely something I’m looking forward to,” Oladipo said of being able to focus on a specific role.
“But at the end of the day, those three (seasons) were all a blessing because it prepared me mentally as a man.”
When asked if Oladipo can be the 3-and-D answer for the Thunder, general manager Sam Presti navigated around the question, emphasizing adding players and leveraging their strengths. Profit was more direct. He said Oladipo can create his own offense and create for others and will “flourish” as a full-time shooting guard.
The 3-and-D wing teams salivate over? The guy that can hit the 3-pointer and defend the other team’s best perimeter player? Before answering if he could be that guy, Oladipo took a few seconds to think.
“If you look at all the special players in our league, they all do multiple things. They don’t do one thing great; they do a lot of things great,” Oladipo said. “In order for me to do that, I have to continue to keep working hard, work on my shooting. But at the end of the day, I can’t limit myself...I’m just going to try to be the best Victor Oladipo possible and just continue to strive to be great.
“Now, if I come up short, then I know I’m going to die trying.”