Amidst a year of interesting and complex narratives for the Pacers, Myles Turner didn’t churn out as many headlines as many hoped. How did his 2017-18 season come together, and what does it mean for the future?
Before the trade heard ’round the world set forth the path for the 2017-18 Pacers, with Victor Oladipo’s emergence as an All-Star and Domantas Sabonis as a bright young big, Myles Turner had a case for the greatest storyline of the year. The No. 11 pick in 2015 likely has the highest ceiling of any player on the team and was meant to take over as the team’s leader after the Paul George era.
Of course, Oladipo decided to take the team for himself. Turner was injury-stricken early on and never lived out his expected potential this season, dipping well below his averages last year in most counting stats. At no point did Turner seem like much of a leader this year, nor did he take many games over as “the guy” on offense.
It isn’t necessary for Turner to have those traits and abilities to be a key piece on this roster. In fact, with the emergence of Oladipo, it may be a good thing that Turner fits well in a secondary role. But Turner still has to prove he can do a few more things before he solidifies himself as a cornerstone piece of this rebuild. Unfortunately, he came up short more often than he proved himself this year.
That all could have been made moot if Turner showed himself to be a force in the playoffs, though. In what was his third playoff series, the big man was hoped by many to be ready to step up and be a major part of their quest to upset the Cleveland Cavaliers. Once again, results were mixed, as Turner scored decently enough and was efficient, yet was often outplayed by his counterpart Domantas Sabonis over the final half of the series.
Moving forward, Turner still has time to morph into the elite big man many thought he could become after his rookie year. Pacers fans saw a few glimpses of that in 2017-18, but they also saw many things he has to improve in before making it to the next level.