The Indiana Pacers may have a ‘big’ problem.
There is no secret that the Indiana Pacers have a big man dilemma on their hands between Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. The hope this season was that new head coach Nate Bjorkgren would find a way to implement the two big men cohesively into the Pacer’s new up-tempo style of offense. However, overreacting to the first two preseason games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, both big men thrived when their counterparts were on the bench.
Both these big men function better when playing the center position, however, that is only possible when one of them takes a seat on the bench. On the offensive end, All-Star Domantas Sabonis does most of his damage in the paint and as the primary ball screener (he led the league in screen assists last season with seven per game) for his guards to play off of.
This results in Myles Turner being stuck in the corner essentially playing as a spot-up shooter which he clearly is not. Turner averaged 37% on catch-and-shoot shots last season which isn’t good enough to be utilized as a spot-up shooter night in and night out.
On the defensive end, Myles Turner thrives being the rim-protecting big man that he is as he is always one of the top shot blockers each season. This leaves Sabonis defending ‘stretch fours’ out on the perimeter and that isn’t ideal. Many times he finds himself defending players that are much quicker than him making it a very tough matchup for Sabonis.
Sabonis is best utilized on the defensive end as a center defending back to the rim players or centers that don’t use their quickness to their advantage, therefore not exposing Sabonis’s lack of lateral quickness.
This season I believe will be the last time we see Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis share a frontcourt if the aforementioned flaws are not fixed and this will be one of the toughest challenges that coach Bjorkgren faces this season.