Victor Oladipo: A new, young leader
Victor Oladipo has the leadership role for the Orlando Magic on his shoulders. It is not an easy one to learn. But the third-year guard is learning
The Orlando Magic’s win over the Chicago Bulls in January — and even the one in April — seemed to be the fruition of the Magic’s grand plan for the season.
Here was a team playing with purpose, energy and confidence. This was a team rocking and rolling to the breakneck pace that they were suddenly playing.
It was in those moments, where the Magic found the ball in the hands of their best players leading the way. That would be the solid backcourt and, when things got tight, it was increasingly in the hands of Victor Oladipo.
“The first thing you have to do as a leader is you have lead by example,” Aaron Gordon said early in the season whent talking about Oladipo’s emerging leadership. “That’s the first thing that you need to do. And that’s what he’s doing. He is speaking up. He’s being more vocal. He’s showing what it means to be a true pro and play 82 games very hard. I’m ready to follow him and I’m ready to help him any way that I can.”
Oladipo has had to lead by example. And he has thrived there, coming into his own in moments like that Bulls game.
It is growing as a vocal leader where Oladipo continues to learn and grow. Leading men older than him to wins is that much harder. Being able to lead while still figuring out who you are as a player is also difficult.
Whether he wanted it or not, Oladipo had to develop and grow into a leader for the team in just his second year of his career. He is probably the best player on the team (or potentially so depending on how you value Nikola Vucevic or Tobias Harris, or even rookie Elfrid Payton) and the one that has the cache of being a high lottery pick.
The path was harder as the Magic dumped all the veteran leaders in the summer — Arron Afflalo was gone in a trade and Jameer Nelson was cut — and the trust was put in this young player.
He had to grow and develop an intangible part of the game and the team was relying on him to do so.
“I think both those guys talent wise is high,” Luke Ridnour said about the Magic’s young backcourt. “They have the talent. It’s just mentally getting used to running the team — how do you do it? How do you get guys going and yourself at the same time. And also the long season witht he ups and downs of it and just trying to stay even-keeled and moving forward night-in and night-out.”
That has been the struggle for Oladipo throughout. And perhaps it is here where that experience playing point guard even for a brief moment was beneficial for Oladipo to learn ow to distribute and be a leader that lifts everyone up with him as he ascends.
Oladipo said at various times throughout the season how he needed to set the tone for the game on occasions and come out aggressive, working to get others involved afterward. He averaged 4.7 points per game and 1.7 assists per game in the first quarter, compared to 4.2 points per game and 0.9 assists per game. These numbers would certainly suggest Oladipo looks to score himself more late and dish it out more early in the game.
It is these thoughts, trying to figure out how best to get himself and his teammates involved and when to do those, has been something he is still learning how to do.
His back-to-back 30-point games showed that he was beginning to understand this balance.
Like with everything, there were growing pains involved in this too. The losing did weigh on the team, but it also left Oladipo determined.
“It’s something we all go through,” Oladipo said. “There will be spurts in life where it seems like you can’t get a win, whether it be on or off the court. But at the end of the day, you just got to keep pushing. You’ve got to keep getting better, you’ve got to stay in the gym, you’ve got to stay in your books or you’ve got to stay working because the best is yet to come. That’s how I look at it.”
At some point the Magic want to get out of the losing rut and turn the corner. They are entrusting a player like Oladipo to lead the way out from the bottom. A heavy responsibility for someone so young.
There were certainly times when Oladipo was not quite up to the task. He has his own learning to do still as a young player in the league. Players throughout the team will have to continue to pick each other up and fillin the gaps that might be missing. Vucevic and Payton and Harris (if he remains on the Magic) will have to do their part and carry their own load.
From the Magic’s veterans, still a key to this team as they continue to grow, there seems little doubt Oladipo will get there. The Magic certainly have invested in Oladipo expecting him to do so.
“Number one he is talented,” Willie Green said. “Any time you have that kind of talent, it takes maturity. When you put both together — talent, maturity, work ethic — the sky is the limit. I think he is starting to realize that.”
Waiting for maturity is a process. It can be a long one.
As Oladipo enters his third season, more responsibility will be put on him to be that leader off the floor and on it. This does not just mean closing out games. The Magic put that trust in him more and more as the season ended. The rest of it will come very soon.
Oladipo has already vowed to follow teammates throughout the summer and make sure he is working out with them and getting on the same page. Those words are a big sign of his acceptance of this leadership role.
So too have been the ways he finished games at the end of the season. Trust is growing in him and no matter who the coach is, Oladipo will be the guy leading them on the court.
“He has put the time in, the preparation in,” James Borrego said. “He’s comfortable no matter how the defense is playing him. We’ve seen him drive it, kick it and make that wide open shot for Tobias Harris on a game winner. He’s driven it and got into the lane against Chicago’s length to make a shot. [Against Toronto late in the season], Lowry plays off him and he makes a three. That’s growth. That’s maturity. That’s confidence. To do that in his second year, he’s got a bright future ahead, in that moment especially.”