Indiana Pacers: Can Myles Turner be Indy’s second star?

Victor Oladipo led the Indiana Pacers to a surprising playoff berth last season. Can Myles Turner be the player to help Indy take the next step?

This isn’t how the rebuild was supposed to go. After the Indiana Pacers traded away Paul George in the summer of 2017, the keys to the franchise were in the hands of Myles Turner. Most assumed that, after a promising sophomore season, he would become the number one option and face of the franchise.

How quickly plans can change. In just one season it became clear that the Pacers were Victor Oladipo‘s team. At the same time, Turner regressed across the board and struggled to have a major impact in Indiana’s surprising playoff push.

While the team added some potential impact players this offseason, they still don’t have a bonafide second star to pair with Oladipo. Without that, it will be hard for them to push past the first-round exit they saw last season.

With a freshly-signed contract extension worth up to $80 million, the Pacers are paying Turner to be that second star. He remains their best shot at a support act for Oladipo, but there are more questions about his game now than there were a year ago. After a disappointing season, is there still a chance Turner could develop into the player many thought he would be?

According to teammates, he’s on the right track. Last summer, Oladipo shocked the NBA world with reports of his insane work ethic and pictures of his physical transformation.

This year, it sounds like Turner has been a similar revelation in the gym. As per the Indy Star, Oladipo said of his teammate:

"“Myles is amazing. He’s changed his body. You can see it… he’s more confident. His head is in the right place.”"

While that physical transformation is undoubtedly important, it’s Turner’s skills on the court that are the biggest concern. He’s shown flashes of potential in different aspects of the game, without truly excelling at any of them to this point.

Is he a rim protector? He averaged a healthy 2.1 blocks per game in 2016-17, and still 1.8 per game last season. But his defensive rating of 104.6 over the season was far from elite, ranking him behind players like Patty Mills, Rudy Gay and Doug McDermott. Defensive analytics can be patchy, but Turner posted that rating playing for a top-ten team in defensive rating with a mark of 98.3.

Can he be a go-to scorer? His career-high scoring average of 14.5 points per game doesn’t inspire confidence, but Oladipo averaged just 15.9 points in the year before his breakout. Turner’s field goal percentage and true shooting percentage both dipped last season with a lower usage rate, but he did score 78.1 percent of his field goals unassisted.

A catch-and-shoot stretch big? Turner is one of the better mid-range shooters in the league, but he hasn’t consistently shown that range past the three point line. He shot 43.5 percent from 20-24 feet last year; that dropped to just 34.6 from 25 feet and beyond.

Turner was on an upwards trajectory until last season, when his production started to wane. It’s impossible to know why that might have happened, but he’ll need to leave it all in the past. All that matters now is whether or not he can find his way back onto the right track.

What was a contract year for Turner is now his last season before a big pay rise. Can he justify the money he’ll soon be earning? It’s not impossible, but he’ll have to prove himself sooner rather than later. If he can’t, the questions about his game will continue to linger with every paycheck he cashes.