https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/9...idates-2018-19
Kevin O Pacer Love, Kevin O Turner, Kevin O Sabonis, Mr Kevin O Small Market Love:
Also click the link, love the words on Middleton. Khris Middleton is fantastic, and it blows my mind no one appreciates how good he is. With great coaching, and a a little more shooting, the Bucks are SOOOO close to becoming great.
Kevin O Pacer Love, Kevin O Turner, Kevin O Sabonis, Mr Kevin O Small Market Love:
Also click the link, love the words on Middleton. Khris Middleton is fantastic, and it blows my mind no one appreciates how good he is. With great coaching, and a a little more shooting, the Bucks are SOOOO close to becoming great.
Myles Turner, Pacers
Remember last summer when Victor Oladipo got swole one month into the NBA offseason? Probably not. I didn’t care until the regular season when Oladipo made a leap and we learned that his training improved his flexibility and biomechanical range, which made him visibly more dynamic on the court. Oladipo’s teammate, center Myles Turner, is undergoing a similar physical transition turning from doughy to jacked while changing his diet and using yoga to improve his pliability.
Turner has always had skill: He was an elite high school recruit who had shooting range, natural instincts in the post, and rim-protection ability. Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis are the premier bigs from the 2015 draft class, but Turner, drafted 11th, is good in his own right. He’s just never made the leap from good to great as a rebounder or an interior scorer, which is partially due to his lack of strength. The hope is the work he’s done this summer helps him make tougher plays, hold box-outs, and finish through contact. If it helps him even 75 percent as much as it did Oladipo, Turner might finally be in line for the type of season fans have been waiting for the past two years.
Domantas Sabonis, Pacers
If Turner doesn’t break out for the Pacers, then his teammate Domantas Sabonis will need to for the franchise to make a collective jump this season. Sabonis will anchor a reloaded Indiana bench unit that features newly signed playmaker Tyreke Evans and shooter Doug McDermott. That might not be as glamorous as a starting job, but maybe Sabonis could push for a finishing role. Though he was a reserve, he occasionally ended playoff games over Turner, depending on matchups.
Sabonis’s sophomore campaign was a far cry from his flopped rookie season with the Thunder. In Oklahoma City, he was used as a de facto spot-up shooter and played the type of shoddy defense you’d expect from an inexperienced rookie big man. After being part of the much-ridiculed package sent to Indiana for Paul George, Sabonis made considerable strides entering his sophomore season, getting much stronger and quicker. Suddenly, he was the Pacers’ best rebounder, and a player coaches could trust to do his job on defense. If he can avoid careless fouls moving forward, he’ll be able to stay on the floor for longer stretches.
Pacers head coach Nate McMillan also empowered Sabonis as a screener and cutter, which unlocked some of the finishing and playmaking ability scouts saw from him at Gonzaga. The next stage for Sabonis is to improve his off hand to become even more dynamic around the rim and in the post; as it is, he almost exclusively uses his left hand. In spite of his deficiencies, though, he dropped at least 20 points three times after the All-Star break last season. Minimal enhancements to his game can make those impact scoring nights more frequent.
Sabonis struggled as a spot-up shooter in Oklahoma City, but Indiana shouldn’t forget about his shooting. Sabonis shot 35.1 percent from 3 last season, but on only 37 attempts, a low number made more egregious by the 107 midrange shots he took from deeper than 16 feet, which he made only 34.6 percent of. The sooner Sabonis’s game catches up to math, the better: His 3-point attempts led to 1.05 points per shot, while his attempts from midrange garnered a not-so-nice 0.69 points per shot. When Sabonis sets a screen it makes zero sense for him to pop to 18 feet when he’s equally capable from 3. If it sounds like Sabonis is a more complete big man than Turner, it’s because he very well might be. The Pacers should start using him like it.
Remember last summer when Victor Oladipo got swole one month into the NBA offseason? Probably not. I didn’t care until the regular season when Oladipo made a leap and we learned that his training improved his flexibility and biomechanical range, which made him visibly more dynamic on the court. Oladipo’s teammate, center Myles Turner, is undergoing a similar physical transition turning from doughy to jacked while changing his diet and using yoga to improve his pliability.
Turner has always had skill: He was an elite high school recruit who had shooting range, natural instincts in the post, and rim-protection ability. Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis are the premier bigs from the 2015 draft class, but Turner, drafted 11th, is good in his own right. He’s just never made the leap from good to great as a rebounder or an interior scorer, which is partially due to his lack of strength. The hope is the work he’s done this summer helps him make tougher plays, hold box-outs, and finish through contact. If it helps him even 75 percent as much as it did Oladipo, Turner might finally be in line for the type of season fans have been waiting for the past two years.
Domantas Sabonis, Pacers
If Turner doesn’t break out for the Pacers, then his teammate Domantas Sabonis will need to for the franchise to make a collective jump this season. Sabonis will anchor a reloaded Indiana bench unit that features newly signed playmaker Tyreke Evans and shooter Doug McDermott. That might not be as glamorous as a starting job, but maybe Sabonis could push for a finishing role. Though he was a reserve, he occasionally ended playoff games over Turner, depending on matchups.
Sabonis’s sophomore campaign was a far cry from his flopped rookie season with the Thunder. In Oklahoma City, he was used as a de facto spot-up shooter and played the type of shoddy defense you’d expect from an inexperienced rookie big man. After being part of the much-ridiculed package sent to Indiana for Paul George, Sabonis made considerable strides entering his sophomore season, getting much stronger and quicker. Suddenly, he was the Pacers’ best rebounder, and a player coaches could trust to do his job on defense. If he can avoid careless fouls moving forward, he’ll be able to stay on the floor for longer stretches.
Pacers head coach Nate McMillan also empowered Sabonis as a screener and cutter, which unlocked some of the finishing and playmaking ability scouts saw from him at Gonzaga. The next stage for Sabonis is to improve his off hand to become even more dynamic around the rim and in the post; as it is, he almost exclusively uses his left hand. In spite of his deficiencies, though, he dropped at least 20 points three times after the All-Star break last season. Minimal enhancements to his game can make those impact scoring nights more frequent.
Sabonis struggled as a spot-up shooter in Oklahoma City, but Indiana shouldn’t forget about his shooting. Sabonis shot 35.1 percent from 3 last season, but on only 37 attempts, a low number made more egregious by the 107 midrange shots he took from deeper than 16 feet, which he made only 34.6 percent of. The sooner Sabonis’s game catches up to math, the better: His 3-point attempts led to 1.05 points per shot, while his attempts from midrange garnered a not-so-nice 0.69 points per shot. When Sabonis sets a screen it makes zero sense for him to pop to 18 feet when he’s equally capable from 3. If it sounds like Sabonis is a more complete big man than Turner, it’s because he very well might be. The Pacers should start using him like it.
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