Myles Turner still battling expectations after his best season in the NBA
By Ben Gibson
Which defensive stat stands out the most for Myles Turner?
While social media often wants to make the Myles Turner vs Domantas Sabonis debate into a “trade one or the other” debate, we’d also be kidding ourselves if we acted as if there wasn’t some debate on which way the franchise should go.
While Turner’s blocks aren’t as flashy as Sabonis’ offensive skills, it’s worth looking at their impact, especially playing with the starters.
It’s easy to look and the on-off numbers and think there’s less of a gap between Turner and Domantas Sabonis, you’d be mistaken. If you look at the starters (Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Thaddeus Young) with either center, there’s a noticeable difference.
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Not only was the team better defensively with Turner, but the team’s offense took a knock compared to playing with Myles. That trio with Turner had a positive net rating with Turner, but not Sabonis. If you add Oladipo to that, the numbers still favor Turner over Sabonis.
There are sample sizes at play, of course, but the eye test confirmed what the numbers said, as well as the words of Kyrie Irving in the playoffs.
Turner isn’t without his faults, of course, as he is a weak rebounder while Sabonis dominates the glass, but the idea that Sabonis should be starting didn’t hold water this season as it did before. Turner’s growth as a defender and slightly improved offense jelled better with the starting lineup.
This isn’t advocating to trade one or the other, but looking at the stats, one of the Pacers centers simply played better with the starters than the other.