Indiana Pacers news: Hazy expectations prevented Myles Turner from being prepared

The Indiana Pacers did not adequately prepare Myles Turner for his role change

Myles Turner has not had a career year by any means with the Indiana Pacers. Heading into February, he was frequently mentioned as a possible trade piece at the deadline.

Following the trade deadline passing and Turner sticking on the team, his performance has ticked up a bit, but it’s hard not to look at his body of work this season and scratch your head at his fifth-year downturn.

After averaging 13.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists last season, he’s putting up 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists this season.

On paper, that’s a pretty alarming step back for a player who should be entering his prime years, but most of it boils down to a role change for Turner. Welcoming fellow big man Domantas Sabonis into the starting. lineup alongside him, Turner was asked to space the floor much more this year than he was in previous years.

His shot profile looks drastically different this year, with nearly 45 percent of his shots coming beyond the arc. Last season, those shots made up about a quarter of his attempts.

Speaking on the Pull Up with CJ McCollum podcast, Turner talked to McCollum about the struggle of sliding into a new role.

"“This year I was a full-time power forward, and that was a huge adjustment for me. Like I’m used to shooting threes on the perimeter, but being out on the perimeter the entire game, that was an adjustment I just didn’t see coming, even like this offseason. So obviously I struggled like the first like month, maybe month and a half of the season, just to kind of find my niche out there, find my role, and just from a productivity standpoint, there was a lot of criticism.”"

Fans already knew Turner struggled with the adjustment — that was plain to see — some of that was even expected before the season began. Turner also spoke about the fact that the Pacers were not very clear with what was going to be expected of him this season when he entered the offseason.

"“In the summertime, you know, the organization and [McMillan], he told me to work on my post ups and said we need you to start posting up more, we’re going to start feeding the ball in the post, yada yada… So I spent like an entire summer working on my post moves, working on just counters, this and that. Then I get to the season and it’s like ‘yo, we need you to go on the perimeter, we need you to space the corner, we need you to shoot more threes.’ So, you know, I spent an entire summer working on a completely different package and then I come in before the season for training camp, and the address that this is how I’m going to be used.”"

Unclear expectations make it difficult for a player to roll in drills and workouts that prepare them for their role in the upcoming season.

While you hope that a player can be as versatile as possible and fill into any role that he’s asked, telling Turner he’s going to do a lot of post ups and then asking him to shoot more 3-pointers than he ever has before per game is a huge diversion.

It’s no wonder Turner looked out of place and out of sorts. It’s no wonder it looked like he didn’t prepare, he didn’t and he couldn’t have.

Turner didn’t seem to hold any ill will toward McMillan or the team for the slight miscommunication or quickly changing expectations. Rather, Turner assessed the situation in conjunction with McMillan and the team and looked to find a way to make an impact no matter the circumstance, no matter the role.

"“So that conversation was really awkward at first, but as the season progressed we watched film together, we kind of were trying to figure it out together in a sense. Because by no means did I want to not feel useful out there or anything like that, you know.”"

The bigger question, really, is why were the expectations so unclear for Indiana until the season arrived? Why did it take so many months to land on the idea of Sabonis taking up the interior while Turner expanded his game?

The Pacers struggled quite a bit in the early going of this season, and it seems as if the team came into the season a bit more disheveled than you’d generally hope.

The marriage of Sabonis and Turner in the frontcourt has not been without its growing pains, but there is reason to believe the duo will be a net positive moving forward. Statistics suggest that the more threes Turner shoots, the better the duo performs in terms of net points per 100 possessions.

Though Turner will likely be frequently mentioned as a trade option at the NBA Draft and throughout the summer, I’d like to see the Pacers give him a full offseason to prepare with clear expectations and see how he falls to form next season before they completely give up on him.