Pacers need the spacing Myles Turner only sometimes provides

Here and there, Myles Turner’s shooting unlocks a new level for the Pacers’ offense. His lack of consistency from three-point land holds them back.

Even in the pace-and-space age of basketball, not every NBA team has the ability to roll out a reliable five-man unit capable of spacing the floor. For many teams, it’s the center holding them back. The Indiana Pacers, with Myles Turner, don’t have anything to worry about in that department.

Indiana’s starting lineup of Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young and Turner contains five capable long-range threats—even if Young and Oladipo aren’t always so reliable.

Turner, who possessed some shooting ability coming into the league in 2015, has grown into a good shooter and might be on his way to elite—shall he attempt more than 2.4 threes a game.

He has floated to the three-point arc a lot more this season, especially post-All-Star Break—which has opened the floor up more for ball-handlers in the pick-and-roll.

It’s simple basketball: Turner’s man has to follow him into the pick-and-roll, but won’t roll back to the paint with Turner staying above the three-point line. In this specific instance—and it will happen when the big man doesn’t roll back to the rim—Jordan gets stuck on Oladipo.

Turner is getting better off the dribble, too, if he were to end up with the ball in a pick-and-roll with a guard on him.

Turner’s presence alone can impact how the offense runs, even if he never touches the ball. The video shows the types of things Indiana will be able to do with Turner behind the arc.

The play did end in a turnover, yes. If Domantas Sabonis was capable of playing with his right hand, however, this would have been a basket.

Here, Turner draws Amir Johnson away from the rim, allowing Young to get around Marco Belinelli and not have any trouble finishing at the rim.

There are other instances where Turner’s shooting ability impacts the offense. In the sample below, Jordan is originally guarding Turner but has to switch to Bogdanovic to contain the drive. Turner has since floated to the corner and ends up with Lou Williams on him

.Bogdanovic’s shot misses and Turner crashes the paint without Jordan realizing, allowing for an easy board and putback by Turner.

Turner can also have a big impact in transition. Seeing as though many bigs automatically retreat to the paint, Turner will have wide open above-the-break threes.

The speed of Collison and Oladipo will also generally push defenses towards the rim.

Here, Jordan has his eye on Oladipo and is in the middle of the paint. When Turner gets the ball, he has a good 10 or so feet of open space—allowing him to launch freely.Same here for Willie Cauley-Stein, who doesn’t find Turner until it’s too late.

Turner’s game has developed this season, and it has helped improve the Pacers’ offense. But he has also been very inconsistent, and the fluctuation sometimes puts a strain on the offensive production.

Indiana’s offense from the beginning of the season to Dec. 31 ranked seventh in the league with an offensive rating of 107.8. Since Jan. 1, they have slipped to 15th and 106.8.

There are two major reasons why the Pacers’ offense isn’t what it was at the beginning of the season: Oladipo’s pull-up shooting numbers have come back to earth and Sabonis is no longer making every shot.

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Oladipo’s early shooting gave the offense a ton of space, as defenders had to defend him at the three-point line. Now, with defenders a little more comfortable playing back, having Turner spacing the floor could be the key to a rise in offensive production.

If you have watched this season closely, Turner becoming the ultimate floor-spacer is just not going to happen willy-nilly. Turner is 22 and still figuring out how to be a good NBA offensive player on a night-to-night basis.

His coach, Nate McMillan, has shown that he may not be the guy to help Turner figure that out—especially when he chooses to close games with Sabonis over Turner.

Also, keep in mind that Turner is trying to figure out how to become a better rebounder and post player in general—all while playing for a playoff team that can’t afford to set aside many developmental plays and experiments.

So while it may be frustrating for Turner to not be shooting more threes, remember the circumstances. Had Turner come into the league on a bottom-dweller with nothing but time to develop guys, maybe he’d be further along.

But he’s on his third playoff team in three seasons—which has undoubtedly taught him things that other lottery picks haven’t gotten the chance to learn.

Next: An ode to streaking; Indiana Pacers style

Turner is getting there. He has improved in each of his three seasons. He may not be the dead-eye shooter that can take Indiana’s offense to the next level yet, but he may not be far away either.