Indiana Pacers Profile: The untapped potential of big man Myles Turner

Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner needs to be unleashed.

Welcome to Pacer Profile, the series where myself and 8.9 Seconds contributor Aaron Braaksma take turns breaking down and analyzing the players who will be suiting up in that notorious navy and gold for the Indiana Pacers during the 2020-2021 NBA Season.

Today’s Pacer Profile is covering Pacers big man Myles Turner, the former Texas Longhorn turned 2015 lottery pick has quickly become one of the better players at the position in the league and looks to make huge strides with new head coach Nate Bjorkgren. In this series, we will be looking at Myles’ current strengths, weaknesses, and his predicted production and role this season.

Strengths

Defense: Dominant Defensive Versatility

From a team defense perspective, Turner is ultra-valuable in this category as well due to his on-court communication, his near-perfect help defense IQ, and his constant threat of erasing opposing shots on blow-by scenarios. He genuinely makes everyone else’s job easier and allows a lot more mistakes from his teammates, thanks to his team defense expertise.

Turner’s most underrated defensive attribute is his ability to play drop coverage in pick and rolls. Alley-oops just aren’t that common, layups are almost certainly erased, and the most common shot in this pick and roll setup against Myles is a contested mid-range pull up, which NBA teams view as a defensive possession won every single time.

Offense: Hello Spacing!

Myles’ best and most noticeably positive trait offensively is his above-average three-point shooting at his position. At 6-foot-11, there aren’t many players at his height and position that already possess or show this much progression and potential as a shooter. We simply haven’t been able to fully see his full ability as a shooter, partially because of above-average surrounding talent, and former coaching schemes that weren’t exactly looking for his shot behind the arc.

This is almost certainly going to be a trend of the past though, as yet again the hiring of Bjorkgren comes in clutch. Coach Nate has said that the utilization of Myles as a “trigger man” is very enticing to him, meaning in the PnR situation, Turner would almost always pop to the wing or behind the three-point arc, ready to launch at will.

Not only is this great for Turner, who’s only been allowed to shoot about four treys a game at 35% in his best season, but it also enforces what is a beautiful part of his game that we are seeing blossom each year: his spacing.

When you have players like the post savant Domantas Sabonis, the slasher of rims that is Victor Oladipo, and the pick and roll maestro of Malcolm Brogdon, spacing the floor is vital to their abilities and impact to be fully maximized. With Turner floating of screens ready to nail jumpers with his beautifully mechanic friendly jumper, opposing rim protectors will see their overall value become mitigated.

Turner isn’t just a jumper though, as there have been instances where he seems to be a lethal lob threat, and he’s actually a positive in attacking closeouts due to his superior agility over closing out big men.

With all of this said, Turner still has some albeit fixable, legitimate weaknesses that are holding him back from being a perennial All-Star.