Indiana Pacers: Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner pairing shows promise
By Josh Wilson
How do Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner perform together on offense?
On the offensive end, the duo has not been very good throughout this season. We’ll use Sabonis as our centerpoint here for statistics, since he’s been the best player for the Pacers this year.
All lineup data considered here on out parses out anything that has only logged 100 minutes or lower.
Of the best offensive two-man lineups that include Sabonis, his best pairs are Doug McDermott, Justin Holiday, Aaron Holiday, and T.J. McConnell. Given that Sabonis plays a great amount of minutes in the second unit and that he is often the main piece on offense in these situations, this shouldn’t be surprising.
Of starters, though, the two-man lineup with Myles Turner has been near the bottom in terms of offensive rating. Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb, and T.J. Warren all post better two-man offensive ratings with Sabonis.
Turner and Sabonis post an offensive rating of 105.7 this season together (the best duo with Sabonis is 113.2). Their turnover percentage is second-highest among Sabonis duos and their pace is the lowest.
How do Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner perform together on defense?
On defense, things are good. For Sabonis, his best defensive partner is Turner, and together they post a defensive rating of 103.6.
Turner is a legitimately daunting rim protector (opponents shoot over 10 percent worse than their average within 6 feet of the rim) that carries most of the load here, but Sabonis is no slouch either, posting the team’s fourth-best defensive box plus/minus.
Overall, how has the pairing of Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis fared?
In terms of net rating, the pairing has been positive. Overall, the duo has posted a net rating of 2.1, which is OK, but not great. He has a net rating of 6.0 with Justin Holiday, 5.2 with Doug McDermott.
With starters, he has a 5.0 with Malcolm Brogdon and a 3.1 with T.J. Warren.
According to PBPStats, the team has been better off with Sabonis on the floor and Turner off.
It’s hard to say that Turner is being held back by Sabonis, too, as the team puts up a negative net rating when Turner is on the floor and Sabonis is off. The inverse is true when Sabonis is on and Turner is off.