Jermaine O’Neal Can Make Myles Turner An Even Better Player

Former Indiana Pacers player Jermaine O’Neal wants to work with Myles Turner this summer to improve the second-year Indiana Pacers center’s game.

Myles Turner is the Indiana Pacers next star player, there is little doubt in that. The question is how bright will he shine?

One former Indiana Pacer player, Jermaine O’Neal, wants to help Turner reach his full potential.

He reached out to the second-year center over Twitter this weekend, offering to teach Turner a thing or two about the playing in the post.  It isn’t official, but it shouldn’t be hard for the two to link up this offseason either.

Turner is doing fine as is, averaging 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks a game, but if there is a weakness in his game, it would be his post play.

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It isn’t that Turner doesn’t score from there — he makes 63.7% of his shots taken in the post — but he only takes two or three shots from there a game.

That is still the most on the team, but Al Jefferson (who also is mentoring Turner) would easily surpass him if he played as many minutes as the starter did. Turner can often get points against most other centers, but when he faces players like DeMarcus Cousins or Steven Adams, his he isn’t working and scoring out of the post nearly as much.

Part of this is because he is 20 years-old and doesn’t have the body of most NBA players. Turner is still on the slimmer side for most NBA big men as he is still a college-aged kid. The other part is Turner doesn’t have a repertoire of post moves like O’Neal had back in his playing days.

Why A Better Post Game Matters For Myles Turner

While we know that shots from the post aren’t the most efficient shots, we also know that applies to the average player. Myles Turner isn’t the average player, we know that from how well he shoots from mid-range already, another inefficient shot. So-called “bad” shots aren’t so bad if a player can make them.

Making Myles a bigger threat out of the post helps the Indiana Pacers in two ways. First off, it gives Turner another way to score more points, something he already does well. But on top of that, once he starts attracting more double-teams in the post, that allows him to become a distributor from there. Turner averages one assist a game now, but O’Neal was averaging over two during his prime with the Pacers.

Another reason I personally want to see this happen in O’Neal isn’t embraced like he deserves after the Malice in the Palace. He should be getting a bobblehead during the 2000’s Decade game next month, but apparently, there still is some hard feelings between O’Neal and the Pacers, or at least things aren’t where they should be. Seeing O’Neal getting involved in some way is nothing but a positive, especially if it makes the team better.

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Giving Myles Turner more tools to work with is only going to make him a better player, and when that happens, he will make the Indiana Pacers a better team.