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Victor Oladipo at his best is a true No. 1 option

By Brett David Roberts

Feb 27, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) drives to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) drives to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 14, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) and guard Elfrid Payton (4) high five after Oladipo dunked against the Houston Rockets during the second half at Amway Center. Orlando Magic defeated the Houston Rockets 120-113. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo (5) and guard Elfrid Payton (4) high five after Oladipo dunked against the Houston Rockets during the second half at Amway Center. Orlando Magic defeated the Houston Rockets 120-113. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Simply, at this point Oladipo is putting on an exhibition with the basketball, and after he makes the adjustments towards being a high usage player the turnovers will begin to come down.

Presently, the Magic lived with Oladipo’s seven turnovers, because he was doing everything seemingly — and a lot of the blame goes to the chaos of the Magic offense, not an inability of Oladipo’s to structure four other guys who weren’t always accenting his penetration with solid off-ball movement.

Given the attention Oladipo drew, five or six assists should have been the absolute minimum amount of offense created — but the Magic failed to find the gaps in the Suns’ still-soft defense.

Oladipo is not yet Chris Paul with the rock in traffic. And when guys are not in the places the offense dictates they should be, it often results in a turnover for a guy like Oladipo or Elfrid Payton.

The inexperience of both Payton and Oladipo alone accounts for more than just a couple of the 12 turnovers the pair had between them, but the growth is evident when one of these guards erupts for 38 points like Victor did Wednesday night. He has done a lot of amazing things and his 13-rebound performance in the 93-90 loss to the Miami Heat on Feb 25 marked an effort that showed he can be an impacting player on the glass as well.

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    • Oladipo came up with three steals to go with his 38 points, and between he and Payton, the Suns guards looked rushed and bothered, but most particularly so in the first quarter. The issue is that Oladipo and Payton need to learn how to sustain the effort and hammer teams when the advantage is gained. The Magic led by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter but came out of the half flat and allowed the Suns back in it.

    Developing that killer instinct to put teams away and rush out to 20-plus point leads has to come next. There is a certain value in demolishing a team so badly that the entire fourth quarter is a formality, and that chance was there Wednesday night. Instead, the Suns clawed back in it, took the lead and put the Magic on ice in the final minutes with good execution and one standout defensive play by Knight on the inbounds.

    Next: So when does it equal 'wins'?