Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner has emerged as one of the fastest rising stars in the NBA. His combination of scoring, rebounding and defense makes him one of the most versatile centers in all of basketball. These attributes are especially important in this new era of “positionless basketball,” where players are asked to contribute to more facets of the game than ever before.
The 2018-19 season is already Turner's fourth year in the league, and he is still only 22-years-old. He has the basketball IQ and seasoning of a player much further into his career than most players his experience, and Turner's game still has room to grow. Turner is already a dynamic presence for the Pacers, and he has yet to reach the prime of his career.
That could spell trouble for many of the teams at the top of the Eastern Conference, especially if the Pacers are able to keep their current core together. Turner is the perfect complement for players like Victor Oladipo and Bojan Bogdanovic. Along with Domantas Sabonis, the Pacers have two highly skilled big men who could potentially dominate the league for years to come if they stay together and avoid injury.
The Indiana Pacers are primed to be one of the powers of the Eastern Conference for the next few years, and Myles Turner figures to be a big piece of that puzzle.
Myles Turner's numbers may not be as gaudy or immediately impressive as players like Joel Embiid, but a closer look reveals that Turner is equally as important to his team as certain star players. He leads the NBA in total blocks (88) and block percentage (9.1%). Turner is also a close second to Hassan Whiteside in blocks per game (he averages 2.9 to Whiteside's 2.8).
His blocks per game average is a full block higher than Embiid, showing his defensive impact. Turner also has the third highest defensive rating in the NBA (99.3), behind only Whiteside and Russell Westbrook. Embiid is nowhere to be found among the league leaders, and his defensive rating is not in the top 20. Diving even further into advanced metrics, they also show that Turner is sixth in the NBA in defensive win shares (1.9, Embiid is again not in the top 20) and second in defensive box plus/minus (5.0, Embiid not in the top 20).
The numbers show that Turner is an elite defender and rim protector, a rarity in this era of the NBA. His offensive game still has areas that need improvement (he could benefit from being more aggressive shooting the ball, as he does so efficiently), but he is as close to a finished product on the defensive end as you will find for a 22-year-old in the NBA. The Pacers have players like Oladipo, Bogdanovic and others to carry the scoring load, and that allows Myles Turner to do what he does best — affect the game defensively and cause mismatches on offense if he has to.
If Turner can continue on this trajectory, the sky is the limit for both him and the Pacers as a team. Indiana is currently fourth in the Eastern Conference. Only four games separate them from the number one spot, currently held by the Toronto Raptors.
A second half of the season push could land them in the top spot, and at worst they would have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. This Pacers team took the eventual Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers to their absolute limit last year in the first round, losing only after an incredible performance by LeBron James in a Game 7 in Cleveland. With James out of the East, the conference title is up for grabs. Many believe that either Boston, Toronto, or Philadelphia will be the team to take the mantle, but Turner could be a big reason why the Pacers could end up shocking the world and winning the East.
Playoff series often come down to who can make shots in high pressure situations and who can defend another team's best player. Myles Turner has shown the ability to do both of these things, and he's done them this season.
Turner was able to hit big shots down the stretch in games against the Knicks, Bucks and Wizards, shots that helped the Pacers come away with wins in those games. He's also had five games this season with five or more blocks, showing that he has the ability to protect the rim when it matters most.
Myles Turner may not be the flashiest player in the NBA, and he may not be the star of his own team. He is still one of the better young players in the game, and a player that the Pacers will need to rely on if they have hopes of making the NBA Finals for the first time in nearly 20 years.
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