The 2019-20 season was not particularly a good season for Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner — at least in the first few months. In a recent interview, Turner shared the reason behind early struggles.
In today's game, big men with an efficient shooting stroke are invaluable. Turner knows this and had been working on his 3-pointer. However, when the 2019-20 season fired off, he didn't expect to camp around the perimeter the entire game. This proved to be the major obstacle that he had to overcome. Per Josh Wilson of FanSided:
“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.”
In addition to this, the 24-year-old revealed that the Pacers staff, too, were unclear with their marching orders. Initially, they told him to work on his back to the basket game — like a traditional big man. But when training camp came, they told him that he needed to work on his shooting stroke from deep.
“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.”
In 55 games (55 starts), Turner averaged 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists. He shot 45.1 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from deep. He knocked down 1.4 3-pointers per game on 4.2 attempts — both of which are career-highs.
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