The Indiana Pacers have made major moves this offseason in hopes of making a big leap in the Eastern Conference.
Larry Bird and the rest of the Pacers front office have had one of the busiest summers of all executives. And the results have been very impressive as Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young, and Al Jefferson are now in the fold to help out Monta Ellis and superstar Paul George.
But the biggest upgrade could probably be from within, coming from second-year player Myles Turner. The young big has been practicing with Team USA for a while now, and the uptick in his play has caught the attention of Pacers teammate Paul George and the rest of the national team.
George talked about Turner in front of reporters during Team USA’s practice.
“Myles looked good. Myles looked really good. I think the whole talk around that camp was ‘Man, you got a good one.’ And that’s coming from all the guys on the Olympic team. Everybody was just raving about how good Myles is and how lucky we are to have him. He’s earned the respect of the veterans, of the peers. He’s going to be good. He’s got it down now. He loves to work..”
Last season, Turner finished the year averaging 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks. But these numbers are deceiving due to his slow start, when he got things figured out late in the season, the block party started for Indiana.
His “per 36 minutes” from last year were very promising. According to Basketball-Reference.com, the center’s stats translated to 16.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks had he played that long during games.
Despite the presence of Al Jefferson, Myles Turner is still expected to get the nod as Indiana’s starting center when the season tips off.
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