Indiana Pacers: A comparison between Myles Turner and Rudy Gobert

The verdict

So in this oft-compared pairing who reigns supreme? Well on one hand Myles Turner fits the modern NBA much more with his three-point shooting at nearly 42%. In the modern NBA, three-point shooting is one of the most valuable skills that a player can bring to the table.

On the other hand, Rudy Gobert seems to have the edge on the defensive side of the ball. Keep in mind that this comparison takes a random year of Myles Turner (this season) against arguably the best season of Rudy Gobert (DPOY season). To Turner’s credit, he isn’t averaging highs in most of these categories and if you pick Myles Turner’s best season, the comparison looks much better.

The other factor complicating the analysis is that the Jazz were just a better defensive team than the Pacers. This matters when we look at statistics like plus/minus which can be impacted by a host of factors that are outside of the player’s control.

So in the age-old question of which is better, how do we answer?

Myles Turner is the clear choice. He fits in better as a modern big whereas Gobert has some inherent limitations based on his inability to reliability hit jumpers and shots from deep. And given that the Jazz got so much for Gobert, perhaps the Pacers should hold out on trading Turner until the next desperate Minnesota-like team comes along? Only time will tell.