The curious case of Myles Turner’s 3-point shooting

Myles Turner’s development is a major part of the Indiana Pacers future, and hitting 3-pointers more consistently is part of that.

Myles Turner is an ideal modern big man. Drafted 11th in 2015, he proved early that he is an impact player in the NBA. Turner’s been a steady force for the Indiana Pacers in his three seasons in the NBA.

However, Turner hasn’t taken the next step in his development like the other big men in the 2015 class such as Kristaps Porzingis or Karl-Anthony Towns. If Turner wants to take the next step in his development, developing a more tenable three-point shot will be key.

Over his career, Turner has proven himself to be a phenomenal mid-range shooter. From 15-19 feet, Turner is one of the best finishers in the NBA. Last season, Turner shot 48.6% on shots ranging from 15-19 feet. That is good for the seventh-best percentage in the NBA and the best among big men. Some names above Turner include Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving.

Interestingly, when it comes to three-point shots, Turner’s efficiency drops drastically. He is a career 34.6% shooter from deep and shot 35.7% from three last season, below the league average of 36.2%.

I’m not going to lie, Turner’s three-point woes don’t really make a lot of sense. From his mid-range shots to his threes, Turner’s mechanics remain unchanged. His base is compact, his release is quick and high and his footwork is very solid. It’s hard to understand how, given his elite mid-range shooting, the drop off is so drastic when he steps back a few feet.

Interestingly, Turner’s three-point percentage when shooting from 25-29 feet rises to 37.4% and drops to a paltry 31.8% when shooting right on the line — around 24 feet.

Most of Turner’s misses tend to miss long, which may point to why he is more comfortable from a bit deeper out. Curiously, Turner shoots better from the right wing (38%) than the left wing (34.4%). This seems backward since most right-handed players shoot better on the left side of the court due to their elbow being naturally aligned to the basket. Let’s dig in even more.

How Myles Turner shoots

Let’s take a look at the primary way(s) Myles Turner gets his shots:

Here we have the most common way Turner gets his shots, the pick-and-pop. One of Indiana’s ball handlers will run off of a Turner screen and Myles will flare to either the mid-range or the three-point line. He is very comfortable shooting these shots and he is most effective as a jump shooter when popping off of a screen.

Myles Turner’s face up jumper may be his most lethal weapon. His quick release and good lift make this a very difficult shot for any defender to contest adequately.

The last way Turner gets his shots is the simple catch and shoot, which ended up being the minority of his three-point attempts. Turner seemed less confident off of the catch and shoot when compared to the pick and pop. Interestingly, he seemed more effective from the left wing in exclusively catch and shoot situations.

Of course, there should be some drop off in percentage from mid-range to the three. However, the discrepancy shouldn’t be as large as it is; from elite at 20 feet to below average at 24. If the Indiana Pacers want Myles Turner’s 3-point percentage to improve, they may have to change up their play-calling. We’re going to take a look at the team that is the gold-standard for creating open three-point shots, the Golden State Warriors.

Different ways for the Pacers to get Myles Turner open

Nate McMillan should look at the way the Warriors get Klay Thompson his shots and implement them for Turner. In 2018, big men don’t have to be the ones setting screens, they could be the ones running off of screens. We’ve seen the Knicks use Kristaps Porzingis in this way.

Obviously, Myles Turner and Klay Thompson are very different players. Turner doesn’t possess the quickness that Thompson does, but he is quick for his size and could be used running around screens. Turner’s ultra-quick release is similar to Thompson’s, making these plays potentially effective.

In this play, Klay Thompson starts on the baseline and runs off of two down screens, getting a wide open look in the shallow corner. The corner three is the shortest in basketball and Myles Turner almost never takes them; only 8.9 percent of his looks from beyond the arc came from the corner.

In 2017, Turner only shot 14 corner threes, making four. The sample size here is too small to project how well he’d shoot from the corner but I have to imagine his percentage would rise if he took more from the corner. Turner’s gravity as a shooter coming off of screens would also open up cuts to the rim by the screeners.

The Warriors run their trademark action here, the low post-split. In this concept, the ball first enters in the post. The post up player is the playmaker here, as the passer and another player will “split” off of each other.

This action is dynamic, meaning there is not one set outcome. We see here David West sets a flare screen for Klay who subsequently gets a wide-open three-point shot. Klay could have also rejected the screen and cut backdoor or curled off of the screen to the rim. For the Indiana Pacers, Turner would be playing the Klay Thompson role. Not only would open threes breed for Turner, he’d have the option to cut backdoor for devastating slams.

Nate McMillan’s offensive playcalling is very vanilla. I’m not saying simple playcalling is inherently bad; we saw how well the Pacers did this season offensively in their current state. If the Indiana Pacers want to improve their offensive rating from 12th in the NBA (107.2), they may have to get a bit more creative.

This last clip is a play that I saw the Indiana Pacers run a few times, all to great results. The play starts with Turner faking the dribble handoff to Victor Oladipo. It then flows right into pistol action where Bogdanovic rejects the ball-screen, leaving Turner wide open for three on a pick-and-pop.

Next: Pacers might be signing Alize Johnson in the near future

In the end, maybe the only thing Turner needs to get to elite three-point status is to work on his game in the offseason. But even if that is the case, it won’t hurt the Indiana Pacers to get a bit more creative. Taking a page out of Steve Kerr’s book could help take Myles Turner’s offense to the next level.