Myles Turner still battling expectations after his best season in the NBA
By Ben Gibson
What is good enough for Myles Turner?
Myles Turner, despite where he finished in the NBA’s defensive awards, in clearly one of the best defenders in the NBA. The shot blocking had always been part of the Myles Turner experience, but it kicked into another gear this season as Turner led the NBA in that stat.
His season didn’t get started off with a bang, however. Early on, there were enough dud performances to warrant concern that the previous season was more than just a blip on what is hopefully a continuing upward pattern.
Turner assuaged many of those concerns during the when Victor Oladipo went down for nearly a month with his first injury of the season.
He put up a simple 10 and 10 double-double in the Hawks game when Oladipo went down, but it was in the stretch of games until the team captain returned that Turner early season struggles were clearly in his rearview.
Turner averaged 13.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks a game during Oladipo’s 11-game absence. He wasn’t taking over the team, but he clearly kicked things up a bit as the Pacers’ franchise player was on the mend.
Even after Oladipo’s return and in the games before the season-ending injury, his averages were above his career-highs or on the same level.
He cooled off a little in the 43 games after Oladipo’s more permanent departure, but his 3-point percentage crossed the 40% threshold as he started taking 3.3 of them a game.
But that second half of the season was highlighted by a tougher schedule and the fact teams saw without a reliable playmaker, shutting down Turner or anyone else offensively was an easier task. While his and other players’ averages might have been about the same, without anyone to take over in critical moments, Indiana struggled to break even.
And that’s what put the spotlight back on Turner, and his offense in particular.
Myles remains efficient even in games where his workload has increased, but he seemed hesitant to take more shots. While unselfishness is a virtue, sometimes it can be the most selfish thing you can do.
There were plenty of situations where it looked like an ideal opportunity for Turner to either take his favorite pick-and-pop shots or hoist up a 3-pointer, but he often passed the ball away even when the room was there to do more.
We all want Turner to shoot more and wonder if it’s just limited opportunities, but there’s no denying he is literally passing up some of those chances now.
As Jared Wade pointed out to me, it is odd that Turner’s regressed offensively, and more notable so in the playoffs. This playoff run Turner averaged just 9.8 ppg on only 8.8 shots per game. Overall, he shot 14-of-35 (40%). Scoring and FG% are career postseason lows, and his FGAs/game is well below the 10.1 and 11.0 he averaged during first two postseason runs at 20/21 years old.
The last two games against Boston (at home, perhaps notably) saw Myles Turner shoot a bit more. But the trend of him being less involved in the offense during the playoffs — and
especially being less involved in the playoffs as he has gotten older — is very, very strange.
Myles scored at least 14 points in 5 of the first 12 playoff games he started, including twice when he was just 20 years old. He has done that zero times in his last 7 playoff games (and scored single digits in four of the last seven games).
You can mine through old Nate McMillan interviews and go all Pepe Silva wondering if quotes about being a traditional center or being unselfish, but unless Turner is damaged goods, it’s hard to pass the blame to anyone to Turner when we know he is capable of doing more on the offensive side of the ball.