What Pacers’ Myles Turner can learn from Gregg Popovich on Team USA

Improving in the post

A common gripe among many Indiana Pacers’ faithful is the perceived lack of strength/lack of a proficient post game from Myles in his first four seasons here. To be completely honest, this is a bit overblown (in my opinion). It’s 2019, and the league no longer demands smashmouth, back-to-the-hoop centers in most instances.

Still, this lack of dominate post-men league-wide does leave an opening for players to create an advantage over their opponents if they’re able to improve in this area. For Myles, a lot of this improvement down low could come from working on his footwork.

Take, for example, a player like Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. There’s a clear argument that he’s got the best footwork in the league for a player at his position, and his size along with this footwork allows him to absolutely punish defenders around the basket.

The other guy that comes to mind that excelled in this area is Tim Duncan, arguably a Top 20 player of all-time. Gregg Popovich’s method of operating hinges on solid fundamental play. Duncan thrived under his coaching so magnificently that he eventually earned the nickname “The Big Fundamental,” largely in part for his perfect technique in the post that was shaped by Popovich’s coaching.

It’s totally unreasonable to expect Myles Turner to develop comparable skills to a guy as legendary as Tim Duncan, but there’s still plenty he can pick up on from Popovich that he could apply to his own personal play-style in order to become more of a threat down low.