INTERVIEW: Myles Turner - The rare-breed NBA star

Jay Asser 08:39 16/02/2017
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Keeping Pace: Turner has been on the rise this season with the Pacers.

    By now, the word ‘unicorn’ has become a mainstay in the NBA lexicon. The origin of the term, in the context of describing basketball players, is unknown, but what is widely understood at this point are the qualities possessed by someone who’s referred to as the mythical creature: a varied skill-set blended with size, length and athleticism to create a unique, all-around game.

    As the NBA experiences a big man revolution, with an infuse of young talent ready to make the leap to superstardom, the most heralded names to be described as unicorns have been hard to miss: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

    Yet the same attention and hype those four have garnered hasn’t generally been there for another player who has shown to be plenty deserving.

    Whether it’s due to his relatively low draft selection (11th overall in 2015), or the fact he plays in Indiana, Myles Turner’s name isn’t often mentioned in the same breath as his peers.

    It will be unavoidable tomorrow (Friday), however, when he shares the floor with Towns, Porzingis and Embiid in the Rising Stars Challenges as part of the U.S. Team. Turner earned his spot in the exhibition, but he’ll tell you himself he’s still overlooked.

    “I feel like this market as a whole is overlooked. If you know what you’re capable of doing and you put the numbers up, then who really cares?” the 20-year-old told Sport360° at the NBA Global Games in London.

    There’s little Turner can’t do. An ability to score in a multitude of ways? Check. Shooting range? Check. Rebounding? Check. Rim protection? Check. And all of that comes in a 6-foot-11 package.

    GOING THE EXTRA MYLES

    On Indiana’s outlook for this season

    “I can see us going to the Eastern Conference Finals, man. Once we start getting, I guess our chemistry together a lot more, we can make it happen.”

    On taking advantage of mid-range shots

    “(Defences) prepare to close out long or protect the paint, but then the mid-range becomes a sweet spot so it’s good to take advantage of those shots.”

    On being a shot-blocker

    “It’s more natural. It’s not really something you can teach or there’s not a lot of drills you can do for it. You just have to kind of get it over time. I feel like it’s something I’ve always had.”

    The 20-year-old is a rising prodigy.

    In a sequence of plays, Turner is equipped to block a shot, run the floor, set a screen, stretch the defence as a perimeter threat and then back an opponent down in the low post for a bucket.

    His combination of size and skill is the exact mix which has produced such early success for the likes of Towns, Porzingis and Embiid. It’s also a formula general managers are beginning to prioritise more and more.

    “I think that’s going to be the future of the NBA,” Turner adds. “It’s a very different generation or a new era. I feel like the low-post, back-you-down, that kind of player is kind of extinct at this point. I feel like you can’t label guys as a centre, power forward or a point guard. We’re basketball players, man.

    “A lot of guys, especially kids now, are coming up working on all aspects of the game. I know that’s what I did and it’s panning out well for me. “The way I was raised and the way I was taught the game was to work on all aspects of my game, not just being a centre. So I feel like I would have had it back then too just because I worked on everything. It probably would have been a little overlooked, but I knew I was capable of doing everything.”

    Turner has certainly done a little bit of everything this season following a fairly promising rookie campaign. His first year as a pro wasn’t at the level of Towns – who earned Rookie of the Year honours after being drafted first overall – but for a 19-yearold, there were plenty of positives to take away from a season in which he averaged 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

    His ability to score was evident early on and hardly ever in question. While Turner’s points per game have bumped up to 15.4 this year, his average per 36 minutes has jumped by a modest 1.8 points, while both his field goal makes and attempts have slightly dropped by 0.2 and 1.0, respectively.

    Rather, the biggest changes to Turner’s game as a sophomore have been come in what have traditionally been contradictory areas: rim protection and 3-point shooting.

    After being deployed mostly as a four last season – 29 of his 30 starts came at power forward – Turner has been used almost exclusively at centre this year, starting all 53 games at the five.

    His blocks per game are up from 1.4 to 2.2, but more importantly, Turner is defending the rim better as opponents are shooting 47.3 per cent within five feet of the basket, compared to 50.7 last season.

    Indiana’s defence as a whole has been much worse this year – their defensive rating (points per 100 possessions) is down from 100.2 to 105.8 – but Turner has flashed longterm potential as a reliable paint presence.

    “The defensive side is a lot different. You have a lot more responsibility to anchor the defence and kind of tell everyone where to go and what to do,” he said. “I’m the head of the snake on defence.”

    On the other end of the floor, Turner has vastly improved his shooting consistency. He’s already fired 90 3-pointers this season after attempting all of 14 last year and is connecting on an effective 36.7 per cent of them.

    His mid-range shooting, an area in which he converted 41.0 per cent of the time last season, has also flourished with Turner’s mark of 46.2 per cent ranking ninth among all players in the league who’ve attempted at least 4.0 per game and 14th among those who average 3.0 or more.

    His playing style has drawn plenty of comparison to another Texas Longhorn, LaMarcus Aldridge. Pacers coach Nate McMillan, who coached Aldridge during his days in Portland, has been one of many to point out the parallel and Turner admits to shaping his game after the now-San Antonio Spurs star.

    “When I got to Texas, I watched a lot of LaMarcus Aldridge,” Turner said. “Just his patience and his poise. The fact that he’s such a great mid-range player and picks and chooses his spots on the floor to be effective from. That’s one thing I’ve seen from him.”

    Turner isn’t a finished product, but between him and already-established superstar Paul George, the Pacers have solid cornerstones for the future to build on.

    Recommended