Indiana Pacers: Myles Turner early season struggles aren’t anything to worry about
Myles Turner hasn’t been living up to expectations of some fans but I’m here to tell you that everything is fine with the Indiana Pacers center
The first thing I would say to Indiana Pacers fans; take a deep breath and RELAX. Myles Turner is fine. If you’re still worried about him, check out these highlights from the game against the Charlotte Hornets a couple of nights ago. And then, check out what he did against the Los Angeles Lakers last night.
Yes, of course, we would love to see Myles play like this every single night and many do expect it of him because the potential is definitely there.
Coming out of Texas, we knew two things about Myles Turner. A unicorn body with an outside shooting touch that was reliable made him the prototypical future NBA stretch 5. The second thing was that he was indeed very raw.
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I’m not talking Mo Bamba level of rawness but still pretty raw. Entering the league at 19 years old he made for one of the promising young players in that draft class. The year before was when Paul George had to sit out most of the season due to breaking his leg in a summer exhibition game for Team USA the Pacers had a down season.
(Even though they almost snuck into the playoffs on the final night of the season but ended up losing to the Memphis Grizzles. They lost in their Flo-Jo jerseys that night which they hadn’t lost in them all season until that game; the NBA actually allowed them to wear them that night even though they weren’t originally planned to wear them).
The Pacers ended up with the 11th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and Myles Turner. I had been fed up with the play of Roy Hibbert for years now and this was our opportunity at getting a top-level prospect that would help transition the Pacers into the modern style of NBA basketball. The paint roaming big men days were dying off in the NBA and Myles was perfect for the position the Pacers needed.
The rest is history as he fell to the Pacers on draft night. The Pacers are notorious for taking mid-to-late lottery picks and turning them into All star-level players such as Danny Granger and Paul George for example. Since Myles was selected around this area, Pacers fan’s expectations are always going to be associated with the label of All-star. People lose sight sometimes that he is still ONLY 23 years old and has time to figure this out.
Myles has made major improvements in his game from his rookie season. The biggest thing he has done is really reshape his body and improve his mobility on the court. His ability to run up and down the court and his lateral quickness look exponentially better than it had his rookie season. This allows him to alter and block more shots as well as being able to defend perimeter players at a much better rate when he gets switched onto them.
He developed into an elite shot-blocker in the NBA, being top 5 in each season and led the league last year in blocked shots. He already has that on his resume and have I mentioned he is still only 23 years old? The final thing I will praise in his development is his jump-shot mechanics look a lot better. The shot looks more fluid, smooth, and natural than it did coming into the league.
With all that being said, Myles does have areas of his game that he has to drastically improve if he does want to take that next step and become an All-Star. The one I’ve always been harping on has been his rebounding. His rebounding numbers are down this season from 7.2 rebounds from last year to a merely 5.3 rebounds per game this season.
The drastic drop from last season to this season is most likely the effect of also having Domantas Sabonis in the starting lineup. Sabonis is clearly the more superior rebounder compared to Turner which in theory is going to take away from his numbers. Personally, I’d rather have him alter or block shots in the paint because that’s what he is best at. My concern with his rebounding ties into the next part of what I think he needs to improve on and that’s playing better against the best big men in the league.
One matchup in particular that comes to mind for this Joel Embiid. The Embiid-Turner matchup is always going to be a pivotal one to me since at one point we may have to go through the 76ers come playoff time. Myles hasn’t really faired well in their meetings as he seems to be overpowered out and outplayed. Improving this area of his game and taking the stance where these types of players aren’t going to outplay him like that could take this Indiana Pacers team to a whole new level defensively.
Lastly, the one area Pacers fans are really wanting to see improvement in is his consistency on a nightly basis. Some nights he disappears on the offensive side of the basketball, only scoring a couple of points. Consistently rebounding against centers that a bigger than him is an issue that always arises. He dominates the smaller centers he plays against but on nights gets dominated by bigger opponents.
Myles may seem like he is trending downward of late but I can’t stress enough that everything is fine. There has been speculation of possibly moving him and to me, that’s the absolute worst thing we could do at this moment. The Pacers have played themselves into a 19-9 record which is 6th in the East. (This shows how deep the East is this year).
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They have done this without their best player Victor Oladipo to this point. It would be foolish to trade such a promising young player away without even seeing the full potential of this team first. Everyone that is worried about Myles Turner’s early-season struggles please take a moment, take a deep breath, and just relax. The Indiana Pacers and Myles Turner are doing just fine.