The Indiana Pacers may have finished 8th in the Orlando Summer League standings, but perhaps more importantly Joseph Young and Myles Turner left looking like two of the best players there.
On Friday NBA TV announced the Turner and Young both made the All-Tournament Team. Turner also finished 4th in the OSL MVP standings.
It isn’t two surprising that the Indiana Pacers duo found themselves on the All-Tournament team as Young was the league’s leading scorer with 22.5 points a game while Turner was third was 18.7 points a game. Turner also showed up on the rebound leaders list in fourth with 8.3 rebounds a game.
Both Indiana Pacers rookies made the most of their time on the court according to OrlandoMagic.com’s Josh Cohen.
"Turner was a force on both ends of the floor. He was consistent with his turnaround jumper (very comparable to LaMarcus Aldridge’s trademark shot) and he was efficient in pick-and-pop situations. Turner was also tenacious on the defensive end. Despite appearing in just three games, he ranked second in the league in total blocks. His teammate and fellow 2015 Pacers draft pick, Joe Young, deserves recognition also. Young battled an illness and delivered three straight impressive scoring performances."
Cohen had plenty of positives for Young as well.
"Young plays similarly to Isaiah Thomas (current NBA player). He is a potent scorer, especially in pick-and-roll situations. Young shot 42 percent from 3-point distance twice during his college career (Houston and Oregon) and he was second in the nation in total points (745) last year as a senior. Young creates offense with or without the ball. He is athletic enough to beat his man off the dribble and he is very comfortable coming off screens. Like Thomas, though, he needs to make sure his size doesn’t hinder his opportunity in the league."
Scoring wasn’t a question for either player coming to the NBA but with Young shooting 50.8% and Turner at 60.5%, it gives hope that neither will need to rely on volume-shooting as professionals to get their points.
Summer league success is nice but isn’t a guarantee of future success. With that said, both Young and Turner did their best to dismiss some of the concerns that had been directed their way before the draft. Both will need to improve their defense to compete against NBA teams but with Frank Vogel guiding them you know it won’t be for lack of supervision.
I joked before that Summer League is like “Whose Line Is it Anyway?”: The league where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter. But it is hard not to be encouraged by the two’s performance this week.
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