A question on everybody’s mind is, what are the Pacers going to do with Myles Turner? And not only what are they going to do, but what SHOULD they do with Myles Turner?
You’ve got a handful of Pacers’ fans that are thoroughly entrenched in the idea that Turner is playing at a high level and we aren’t going to find anything better in free agency. So pay the man his money and let’s keep moving forward.
On the other side, you have Pacers’ fans who think that what Myles is wanting would be an overpay and the franchise shouldn’t strap themselves financially when they want to be keeping flexibility in the coming years. Getting rid of veterans like Turner allow the Pacers to have maximum flexibility as they prepare for big changes in the coming years.
And all of this is true, to some extent. We don’t know if anything better will come available and we have data to show that Turner is playing well when Haliburton is on the court alongside him. But we also have years of data to support the idea that perhaps Turner is playing much better than he actually is and will regress to the mean over the life of the contract.
But there really is only one question fans should be asking themselves –
Is Myles good enough to be a foundational piece on a championship team?
Given the amount of money it may take to keep him, Pacers should be asking themselves if Myles Turner would be a foundational piece or merely a rotational piece, on a championship team? Would Myles command the kind of attention that would keep the heat off of players like Haliburton and Mathurin in the biggest moments. Would Myles be able to take the game into his own hands in certain situations when Haliburton or Mathurin are having off nights?
How you answer these questions is going to dictate which camp you are in. My hope, is that this is the only question that management is asking themselves. If they feel that Myles is everything above? Sign him to what he wants. Getting foundational pieces is too hard and we have data to support it likely will go well. If they feel that Myles is merely a rotational piece? Don’t do it. Rotational piece come and go every year on the buy-out market.
Ultimately, what Kevin Pritchard and co. believe the answer to this question is will dictate how the next few weeks play out.