Post by ahebrewtoo on Sept 26, 2018 13:09:54 GMT
Victor Oladipo walked into the lower-bowl area of Bankers Life Fieldhouse two hours into media day obligations.
“YOOOOOOOOOOO!” he belted out for all to hear.
Pacers GM Hebrew II was talking to a handful of reporters at the time. “There’s Victor,” he said with a big grin.
Oladipo: “Sorry, I thought we were playing.”
It’s easy to see why he was confused. He was back in their home arena after jetting across the country this summer (and even venturing to Israel) and like everyone on the team, he was decked out in full uniform attire.
Media day is when the majority of the photos, videos, and in-game entertainment elements are captured and stored away for later. That’s why Bol Bol was in an astronaut outfit and Morris Peterson was ready to hand out candy for Halloween.
Oladipo’s media day began at 10:00 a.m., lasted almost five hours, and included nearly two dozen stops throughout the arena. On his third stop, he arrived in the media room and immediately began recording a video for Instagram Story. “Hi everybody! Say hello to the media.”
Then he stepped up onto the dais, sat down, and proceeded to beatbox while the microphone made its way to a media member for the first question.
Last offseason it was about strategizing the way he trained and transformed his mind. When Oladipo is into something, he gives everything he’s got. When at work, he’s going 100 percent. More shots to shoot; more treatment to be done; more film to watch; and more songs to sing along the way. That’s why he doesn’t play Fortnite or any video games for that matter. He would rather watch film.
“When you step on the floor with Victor, it’s serious business,” Hebrew said. “And then he has this great way of saying, ‘OK, now we’re off the floor. Let’s have some fun.’ He hits that reset button of ‘I’m serious and having fun’ better than any person I’ve been around.”
Oladipo said he watched film of every game this past summer and is better equipped to handle the attention and ball pressure from other teams. Video coordinator Tim Dather can attest to Oladipo’s video consumption. He’s responsible for getting Oladipo’s 12.9-inch iPad loaded with clips after each game.
Oladipo took time to reflect on last season, what went well and where they could improve. Without expanding on it, he noted how there were some things that he would have done differently.
“I don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” Oladipo said. “I don’t want to go back and look at this year and think to myself, ‘Man, I could have did this better.’ Or ‘Man, I could have done that to help us.’ I had that feeling last year and I don’t plan on having that feeling this year.”
That’s one reason he hosted his teammates in Miami for a players-only camp. He was thrilled about the turnout and the interactions were memorable. “It was like guys didn’t miss a beat. It was like we had been together all summer. It was pretty cool.”
“He’s not really surprising much of us that’s been with him (since) Day 1,” Daniel Taurasi said. “He’s always had the talent, he’s always had the work ethic and the personality to go with it. We just had to wait for it to bloom a little bit and I think it did, and you guys saw it first hand.
“He’s in a good place.”
Oladipo’s positivity is contagious and spills into the locker room. He is at the top, though you wouldn’t know it by the way he carries himself, and it trickled down. That led to arguably the best locker room vibe last season, according to those who have been with the team for more than a decade.
More is being asked of Oladipo coming off a championship season where he was named the Playoff MVP. He may soon become the face of the franchise, under contract for the next two years; he is a leader; he helps set the standard. But he is a willing listener, too.
“I feel as though in teaching, you have to learn how to follow before you can lead,” Oladipo said. “That’s what I’m trying to do out here is listen, learn from my coaching staff, study, get better, and help bring the guys as well.”
Entering his third NBA season, Oladipo has firmly solidified his circle of trust. The guard is focused on himself, those that matter in his life and eliminated all other distractions. He now chooses movies over sports television programming.
“I remember two years ago when I was playing and it was just hard to do anything,” he explained. “It was just difficult. I don’t watch ESPN anymore. I don’t watch SportsCenter anymore. All the sports channel shows – I don’t watch them anymore because there was a time when I was playing before, where every time I turned on the TV and I heard stuff about the team I was on or myself, it was negative.
“Back then I wasn’t as mentally strong as I am now, it kind of paid a toll on me physically and mentally. Ever since then I stopped watching.”
When he looks at his phone each morning, ready to hit the reset button in his head, there is a text from his friend Rahesia McDonald. The two became good friends while in Bloomington at the same time. She spreads positivity daily with a morning message, which Oladipo then shares to his 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
“I remember reading them a lot and realizing that I need to share them because at the end of the day, it’s such a strong message,” he said. “A lot of messages hit home if you read them and they apply to everyone. I don’t think I’d be doing everybody in this world justice if I didn’t share that with the world.
“That’s why I try to start everybody’s day with positivity because at the end of the day, it’s a blessing just to open your eyes.”
He doesn’t care for comparisons or external expectations. He leaves that to the media and instead concerns himself with the moment, taking it one day at a time.
More than anything, Oladipo is motivated by internal goals and aspirations. He wants to be the best and he focuses on the process — not the end result — to get there.
When the Raptors dealt the third pick to Indiana last summer, one of his first reactions after “Hallelujah!” was something like, ‘Their loss. I’m just getting started.’ He was already thinking about what’s next.
“I’ve been through so much in my career that I’m constantly going to have a weight on my shoulder and play with that chip on my shoulder and play with that adversity and something to prove because I’ve been through too much where people have doubted me,” he said.
“As fast as it can be given to you, it can be taken away from you as well. That’s my mentality – to give it everything I have everyday and I can live with the results if I do that.”
When Oladipo is ready for bed to end his day, he’s turning on movies with dogs Zeus and Apollo by his side. Classics, actually, from his childhood. Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Shrek, and Mulan are always in the rotation. On Sunday night before media day, he fell asleep to Home Alone.
“It’s something about peace of mind, right? You sleep your best when you’re peaceful and during the year it’s really anxious a lot, obviously. When you were younger and you used to watch those movies, do you remember the peace that you were in? Like nothing else matters but that movie at the time and it was peaceful.
“When I put those movies on, my brain gets that relaxation again — to the point where I don’t even get through the entire movie. I just fall asleep because I’m so relaxed and I’m so calm because I’m back to that state of mind again where nothing else matters but watching a movie I’ve already seen a hundred times. I know the words to it, I know what’s about to come. It calms me down a little bit and I fall right to sleep.”
Positivity by day, comfort at night. With determination, hard work, and leadership in between. He’s comfortable and confident in his own skin.
“Every day, no matter what I’m doing, I want to win,” he said. “I might not have had that killer instinct in the past, but you better believe I got it now. I’m going to keep it and keep feeding it.”
“YOOOOOOOOOOO!” he belted out for all to hear.
Pacers GM Hebrew II was talking to a handful of reporters at the time. “There’s Victor,” he said with a big grin.
Oladipo: “Sorry, I thought we were playing.”
It’s easy to see why he was confused. He was back in their home arena after jetting across the country this summer (and even venturing to Israel) and like everyone on the team, he was decked out in full uniform attire.
Media day is when the majority of the photos, videos, and in-game entertainment elements are captured and stored away for later. That’s why Bol Bol was in an astronaut outfit and Morris Peterson was ready to hand out candy for Halloween.
Oladipo’s media day began at 10:00 a.m., lasted almost five hours, and included nearly two dozen stops throughout the arena. On his third stop, he arrived in the media room and immediately began recording a video for Instagram Story. “Hi everybody! Say hello to the media.”
Then he stepped up onto the dais, sat down, and proceeded to beatbox while the microphone made its way to a media member for the first question.
Last offseason it was about strategizing the way he trained and transformed his mind. When Oladipo is into something, he gives everything he’s got. When at work, he’s going 100 percent. More shots to shoot; more treatment to be done; more film to watch; and more songs to sing along the way. That’s why he doesn’t play Fortnite or any video games for that matter. He would rather watch film.
“When you step on the floor with Victor, it’s serious business,” Hebrew said. “And then he has this great way of saying, ‘OK, now we’re off the floor. Let’s have some fun.’ He hits that reset button of ‘I’m serious and having fun’ better than any person I’ve been around.”
Oladipo said he watched film of every game this past summer and is better equipped to handle the attention and ball pressure from other teams. Video coordinator Tim Dather can attest to Oladipo’s video consumption. He’s responsible for getting Oladipo’s 12.9-inch iPad loaded with clips after each game.
Oladipo took time to reflect on last season, what went well and where they could improve. Without expanding on it, he noted how there were some things that he would have done differently.
“I don’t want to leave any stone unturned,” Oladipo said. “I don’t want to go back and look at this year and think to myself, ‘Man, I could have did this better.’ Or ‘Man, I could have done that to help us.’ I had that feeling last year and I don’t plan on having that feeling this year.”
That’s one reason he hosted his teammates in Miami for a players-only camp. He was thrilled about the turnout and the interactions were memorable. “It was like guys didn’t miss a beat. It was like we had been together all summer. It was pretty cool.”
“He’s not really surprising much of us that’s been with him (since) Day 1,” Daniel Taurasi said. “He’s always had the talent, he’s always had the work ethic and the personality to go with it. We just had to wait for it to bloom a little bit and I think it did, and you guys saw it first hand.
“He’s in a good place.”
Oladipo’s positivity is contagious and spills into the locker room. He is at the top, though you wouldn’t know it by the way he carries himself, and it trickled down. That led to arguably the best locker room vibe last season, according to those who have been with the team for more than a decade.
More is being asked of Oladipo coming off a championship season where he was named the Playoff MVP. He may soon become the face of the franchise, under contract for the next two years; he is a leader; he helps set the standard. But he is a willing listener, too.
“I feel as though in teaching, you have to learn how to follow before you can lead,” Oladipo said. “That’s what I’m trying to do out here is listen, learn from my coaching staff, study, get better, and help bring the guys as well.”
Entering his third NBA season, Oladipo has firmly solidified his circle of trust. The guard is focused on himself, those that matter in his life and eliminated all other distractions. He now chooses movies over sports television programming.
“I remember two years ago when I was playing and it was just hard to do anything,” he explained. “It was just difficult. I don’t watch ESPN anymore. I don’t watch SportsCenter anymore. All the sports channel shows – I don’t watch them anymore because there was a time when I was playing before, where every time I turned on the TV and I heard stuff about the team I was on or myself, it was negative.
“Back then I wasn’t as mentally strong as I am now, it kind of paid a toll on me physically and mentally. Ever since then I stopped watching.”
When he looks at his phone each morning, ready to hit the reset button in his head, there is a text from his friend Rahesia McDonald. The two became good friends while in Bloomington at the same time. She spreads positivity daily with a morning message, which Oladipo then shares to his 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
“I remember reading them a lot and realizing that I need to share them because at the end of the day, it’s such a strong message,” he said. “A lot of messages hit home if you read them and they apply to everyone. I don’t think I’d be doing everybody in this world justice if I didn’t share that with the world.
“That’s why I try to start everybody’s day with positivity because at the end of the day, it’s a blessing just to open your eyes.”
He doesn’t care for comparisons or external expectations. He leaves that to the media and instead concerns himself with the moment, taking it one day at a time.
More than anything, Oladipo is motivated by internal goals and aspirations. He wants to be the best and he focuses on the process — not the end result — to get there.
When the Raptors dealt the third pick to Indiana last summer, one of his first reactions after “Hallelujah!” was something like, ‘Their loss. I’m just getting started.’ He was already thinking about what’s next.
“I’ve been through so much in my career that I’m constantly going to have a weight on my shoulder and play with that chip on my shoulder and play with that adversity and something to prove because I’ve been through too much where people have doubted me,” he said.
“As fast as it can be given to you, it can be taken away from you as well. That’s my mentality – to give it everything I have everyday and I can live with the results if I do that.”
When Oladipo is ready for bed to end his day, he’s turning on movies with dogs Zeus and Apollo by his side. Classics, actually, from his childhood. Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Shrek, and Mulan are always in the rotation. On Sunday night before media day, he fell asleep to Home Alone.
“It’s something about peace of mind, right? You sleep your best when you’re peaceful and during the year it’s really anxious a lot, obviously. When you were younger and you used to watch those movies, do you remember the peace that you were in? Like nothing else matters but that movie at the time and it was peaceful.
“When I put those movies on, my brain gets that relaxation again — to the point where I don’t even get through the entire movie. I just fall asleep because I’m so relaxed and I’m so calm because I’m back to that state of mind again where nothing else matters but watching a movie I’ve already seen a hundred times. I know the words to it, I know what’s about to come. It calms me down a little bit and I fall right to sleep.”
Positivity by day, comfort at night. With determination, hard work, and leadership in between. He’s comfortable and confident in his own skin.
“Every day, no matter what I’m doing, I want to win,” he said. “I might not have had that killer instinct in the past, but you better believe I got it now. I’m going to keep it and keep feeding it.”
