Pacers Victor Oladipo will no longer have a minutes restriction

INDIANAPOLIS — Patience remains the key word surrounding the return of Indiana Pacers superstar Victor Oladipo. Not just for fans waiting to watch the two-time all-star return to form but for Oladipo himself -- who is hellbent on helping lift this franchise to new heights.

Fortunately for all involved, Oladipo is ready to take the next step in his recovery from the ruptured quadriceps that kept him sidelined for more than a year. Pacers coach Nate McMillan revealed Wednesday that doctors have cleared Oladipo to begin playing 32-34 minutes per game. Starter minutes.

“He’s pretty happy about that,” McMillan said of Oladipo, who returned for a seven-game stretch before the NBA All-Star break. “But we’re going to be smart about it. I can play him as many minutes as I want, but we’ll look at how he comes out of those games with increased minutes and adjust accordingly.”

McMillan warned that just because Oladipo’s playing the same number of minutes he used to doesn’t mean anyone should expect the same level of production.

“I know he will work his way back to the Victor we saw, and if not be even better once he gets fully healthy and gets back into his rhythm,” the coach said after practice at St. Vincent Center. “I know that takes time. I’ve seen that from a lot of guys who have been off for a long period of time, a whole year. Sometimes it takes you about that long to get back.”

The Pacers, McMillan said, are still learning how to play with Oladipo and vice versa. McMillan is still learning what lineups and rotations will work best with his star returned. He is still trying to figure out how often to get Oladipo the ball without taking away too many opportunities from a team with plenty of other mouths to feed.

"You want to involve him," McMillan said. "You’re certainly going to try and involve him. But we’ve had other options that we’ve developed this season. ... We’re not a one-man, or two- or three-man band. We’re the Pacers. We play the game the right way. There's only one ball and we have to sacrifice out there. I think we’ll slowly work into a rhythm with that first group."

Ideally, McMillan said, Oladipo would have returned in the preseason and they could have sorted all of this out earlier in the season. Instead, the Pacers have just 27 games left to conjure up some chemistry and secure homecourt advantage for the first time in the McMillan era.

It's a reachable goal, Oladipo said. Ahead of Friday night's game in New York, the Pacers occupy the No. 6 seed and sit just 3.5 games behind the fourth-seeded Miami Heat. There's still plenty of time for the Pacers to go on a run and catch the Heat.

Oladipo, who spent about six hours a day during the all-star break at St. Vincent Center working on his game and rehabbing his leg, believes he is making progress in melding with the rest of the Pacers.

"They're starting to get used to me being back out there, but now it’s time to focus on bigger goals," Oladipo said. "The first half of the year is over now. The playoffs are around the corner, so it’s time to change the mindset of this team. Time to change our approach. It was great before, but now it’s got to be even greater if we want to achieve what we want to. The goal here is to win a championship. That's our goal."

Watching Sabonis grow

Though he’d rather have been participating in this past weekend’s NBA All-Star game, Oladipo said he tuned in to watch his buddy, Domantas Sabonis, make his all-star debut. Though Sabonis took only one shot and finished with two points along with six rebounds, Oladipo couldn’t have been prouder watching the big man on the court in Chicago.

“I don’t care how many points he scored, he’s supposed to be known as one of the best in the world because he is,” Oladipo said. “It was like watching my little brother out there. When they called his name, I was cheering like I was there.”

“It’s like when you have a kid almost — I’m not saying Domas is my kid (laughs) — but you watch him grow up. You watch him grow. It’s kind of crazy to actually experience it with Domas. He came in the league as a little kid basically. And I’ve watched him grow into an all-star. So it’s like ‘Dang.’ … Hopefully him and I can share that moment together one day.”

More change on the horizon

Fans should get used to seeing the Pacers playing more zone defense in the coming weeks. After introducing zone concepts in the final two games leading into the all-star break, McMillan said the plan is to continue deploying a zone defense periodically as an auxiliary weapon to keep opponents off guard.

“I thought last game against Milwaukee, I liked the way we used it,” McMillan said. “Disrupting them a little bit and changing it up. Sometimes when a team is executing or are hurting you, changing it up and being able to do that and go to a zone or some type of press is good to have.”

Initially, McMillan said, the plan was to insert the scheme this week. However, after the Pacers dropped five in a row, well, desperate times.

“It was like, look, ‘Why not add it as soon as possible?’” he said. “So we put it in two games before the break. “We’re just working on one zone right now, but the plan is to add another zone to our defense.”

Follow IndyStar Sports reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter: @jimayello.