Doyel: Myles Turner has tried to tell us what he is and what he’s not. Time to listen.
https://eu.indystar.com/story/sports...ss/8445689002/
INDIANAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks have the Indiana Pacers’ number, and No. 34 is why.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a near-triple-double – 30 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists – and the Bucks built an 18-point lead before holding off the Indiana Pacers 119-109 Monday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Malcolm Brogdon scored 25 points and Domantas Sabonis 21 for the Pacers (1-3). Chris Duarte, the NBA’s top rookie scorer, added 18 and is at 19.8 ppg.
INDIANAPOLIS – Myles Turner will never be the player we want him to be. After six years, it’s time to stop waiting. An All-Star? Turner? That’s the ceiling we envisioned, the potential we saw.
Turner has tried to tell us otherwise for six years with the Indiana Pacers, but not with words. The only person more wrong than we’ve been about Myles Turner ... is Myles Turner. He thinks he can score 40 points on any given night. He thinks he should get more touches.
Myles Turner doesn’t know who he is, which is the problem. He thinks he’s great, when what he is – what he’s always been – is pretty good. Nothing wrong with being a pretty good NBA player. Look what it’s gotten Turner: more than $72 million in career earnings when this contract ends in 2023, and he’ll still be just 27 years old. Before he’s done, he’ll earn a couple hundred million.
Maybe that’s why he gets confused.
We don’t have that excuse. It’s his money, not ours, and besides, everyone makes silly money these days. We know it doesn’t mean much. Solomon Hill left the Pacers in 2015 for $48 million, and hasn’t been heard from since. Luke Kennard has a $64 million contract. Jonathan Isaac’s contract goes for $80 million. Do you know where any of those guys are playing today?
Money doesn’t make a player great. Greatness makes him great, and Myles Turner just teases greatness. Every now and then he’ll have a game where you think: Holy cow this guy is special. This past Friday he scored 40 points against the Washington Wizards, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked three shots, made five 3-pointers. Only six players in NBA history have reached those metrics: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and DeMarcus Cousins.
Former MVP’s, future Hall of Famers…
And Myles Turner.
The Pacers played the next day. That was Saturday night, their home debut against the Miami Heat. Turner followed up his historic game in Washington, D.C., with four points and four rebounds against the Miami Heat. Not in the first quarter, silly. For the game.
Then came Monday night, against Milwaukee. Coach Rick Carlisle benched Turner for the fourth quarter. He finished with five points, four rebounds and the single softest moment of his career.
And that’s saying something.
Rick Carlisle benched Myles Turner for ... Goga Bitadze?
The first basket Myles Turner scored against Milwaukee, he was blocking out the Bucks’ Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Right, the other one. The Greek Freak’s brother. The shot bounces high off the rim and Turner, all 6-11 of him, goes up and taps it gently into the basket.
The wrong basket. The Bucks’ basket.
If it makes you feel any better, Turner wasn’t trying to score. He wasn’t confused, just incapable, grabbing at the rebound but instead bumping it into the rim, then smacking at his head with both hands in frustration. Turner’s been incapable quite a lot this season, mixing three incompetent games around that one night of shocking brilliance in Washington, D.C.
Monday night, the Pacers’ 119-109 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Turner scored almost as many points for the Bucks (two) as for the Pacers (five). Never mind rising to the challenge presented by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Turner was outplayed by Thanasis (eight points).
And by Goga Bitadze.
We all like Goga around here, right? Big personality, goofy, can shoot 3-pointers and block shots. He’s also the guy who told Pacers assistant Greg Foster to “sit the (bleep) down” last season, the seminal moment in a year where players hated coaches and coaches hated players and Rick Carlisle was brought in to clean stuff up.
Four games into the season, Carlisle has sent a clear message to Myles Turner. After Bitadze played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, the first words of Carlisle’s opening statement were these:
“The fourth quarter was encouraging,” he said of the only quarter Turner didn’t play.
Asked about playing Bitadze and Sabonis together for the entire fourth quarter, Carlisle ignored Sabonis. Talked only about Bitadze.
“Goga gave us a nice lift,” Carlisle said and continued for several sentences about Bitadze’s impact in a 10-point loss to a Milwaukee team missing three starters. Every word he said about Bitadze, every over-the-top compliment, was a message to Turner:
Wake up.
That’s what I heard. No telling what Turner heard. He’s the same guy this preseason who called himself a "20-point scorer" despite coming off a 12.6 ppg season that matches his 12.7 ppg career average.
Same guy who scored 40 against Washington, matching the accomplishment of some of the greatest players in NBA history (and Cousins, who was heading for the Hall of Fame before an Achilles’ injury), and then had the temerity – the lack of self-awareness – to say this:
“This is something that I want people to get accustomed to," Turner said of 40 points, 10 rebounds, five 3-pointers and three blocked shots. "I think this is the way I can play, night in and night out.”
In the other three games this season, Turner has scored a total of 18 points. He has grabbed 15 rebounds. He has blocked eight shots and committed nine turnovers and gone 2-for-10 on 3-pointers. He was LeBron for a night in Washington, D.C., which is more than most people can say. But the other three nights he’s been Solomon Hill in Slovenia.
Meanwhile, Goga Bitadze was challenging Giannis at the rim, at both ends, grabbing three offensive rebounds on one possession before scoring. Goga was going to the floor for a loose ball in the fourth quarter and getting into it with half the Bucks roster, drawing a joint technical foul with local guy George Hill of the Bucks. On that one play, Bitadze showed more disposition, posture and presence, to use Carlisle’s words for “toughness,” than Turner had shown all night.
And this was after Turner had disappeared against the Heat, remember. Which came one day after he’d scored 40 against the Wizards and humbly told us to get “accustomed” to it. Because that’s the way he can play, night in and night out.
Is anyone else thinking what I’m thinking? The iPhone has an emoji – you know, those silly little faces that convey emotion – that would fit perfectly right here.
It’s a face. A green face. Poor little emoji, it just heard Myles Turner say we should get accustomed to his greatness. And that emoji’s about to be sick.
Larry Bird once compared Myles Turner to Reggie Miller
He’s a nice guy, Myles Turner. Never done a bad thing to me, or to anyone in this market. Not that I’ve heard about, anyway. That’s a reason – that’s the reason – you’ve not read a story like this from me, or from anybody, in his six-plus years here. We like nice people. We also like the way he blocks shots, more than anybody most seasons.
But enough is enough.
Larry Bird started this whole thing by declaring in 2017 that Turner is “going to be great. To me, I think he’s got a chance to be one of the best players or maybe the best player (in the franchise’s history). You’ve still got Paul (George) with a bunch of time left, too, and you had Reggie (Miller) here with all the other great ones. But being a 20-year-old and doing what this kid is doing just blows my mind.”
Crazy words, but they echoed something then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers had said earlier that season:
“Turner is going to be a superstar,” Rivers said. “I think no one will argue that. In fact, it will probably happen quicker than any of us thought. He’s special.”
Nothing happened. Nothing different, anyway. For a player with shocking inconsistency – his point totals in four games this season: 9, 40, 4, 5 – Turner has been remarkably consistent. His scoring averages in six seasons: 10.3 ppg, 14.5, 12.7, 13.3, 12.1, 12.6.
Over 36 minutes per game? He’s a metronome. These were his first four seasons: 16.3 ppg, 16.6, 16.2, 16.7. And over the past two, with Domantas Sabonis sharing time on the court, Turner’s scoring per 36 minutes has been 14.8 ppg, and 14.6.For six years he’s been trying to tell us what he is – and what he’s not – but Larry Bird told us to expect more, and at times we think we’ve seen it ourselves. He scored 30 points in the 2016-17 season-opener. That was exciting. The next time he reached 30? Friday in Washington, D.C.
Five years later, is all.
It’s time we come to grips with what Myles Turner is: A pretty good NBA player most nights, and two or three times a year a great one, but he’s more likely to disappear than dominate.
Myles Turner is a disappointment, but he doesn’t have to be. Let’s accept what he is, and hope Pacers President Kevin Pritchard deals him before the rest of the league figures it out.
https://eu.indystar.com/story/sports...ss/8445689002/
INDIANAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks have the Indiana Pacers’ number, and No. 34 is why.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a near-triple-double – 30 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists – and the Bucks built an 18-point lead before holding off the Indiana Pacers 119-109 Monday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Malcolm Brogdon scored 25 points and Domantas Sabonis 21 for the Pacers (1-3). Chris Duarte, the NBA’s top rookie scorer, added 18 and is at 19.8 ppg.
INDIANAPOLIS – Myles Turner will never be the player we want him to be. After six years, it’s time to stop waiting. An All-Star? Turner? That’s the ceiling we envisioned, the potential we saw.
Turner has tried to tell us otherwise for six years with the Indiana Pacers, but not with words. The only person more wrong than we’ve been about Myles Turner ... is Myles Turner. He thinks he can score 40 points on any given night. He thinks he should get more touches.
Myles Turner doesn’t know who he is, which is the problem. He thinks he’s great, when what he is – what he’s always been – is pretty good. Nothing wrong with being a pretty good NBA player. Look what it’s gotten Turner: more than $72 million in career earnings when this contract ends in 2023, and he’ll still be just 27 years old. Before he’s done, he’ll earn a couple hundred million.
Maybe that’s why he gets confused.
We don’t have that excuse. It’s his money, not ours, and besides, everyone makes silly money these days. We know it doesn’t mean much. Solomon Hill left the Pacers in 2015 for $48 million, and hasn’t been heard from since. Luke Kennard has a $64 million contract. Jonathan Isaac’s contract goes for $80 million. Do you know where any of those guys are playing today?
Money doesn’t make a player great. Greatness makes him great, and Myles Turner just teases greatness. Every now and then he’ll have a game where you think: Holy cow this guy is special. This past Friday he scored 40 points against the Washington Wizards, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked three shots, made five 3-pointers. Only six players in NBA history have reached those metrics: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and DeMarcus Cousins.
Former MVP’s, future Hall of Famers…
And Myles Turner.
The Pacers played the next day. That was Saturday night, their home debut against the Miami Heat. Turner followed up his historic game in Washington, D.C., with four points and four rebounds against the Miami Heat. Not in the first quarter, silly. For the game.
Then came Monday night, against Milwaukee. Coach Rick Carlisle benched Turner for the fourth quarter. He finished with five points, four rebounds and the single softest moment of his career.
And that’s saying something.
Rick Carlisle benched Myles Turner for ... Goga Bitadze?
The first basket Myles Turner scored against Milwaukee, he was blocking out the Bucks’ Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Right, the other one. The Greek Freak’s brother. The shot bounces high off the rim and Turner, all 6-11 of him, goes up and taps it gently into the basket.
The wrong basket. The Bucks’ basket.
If it makes you feel any better, Turner wasn’t trying to score. He wasn’t confused, just incapable, grabbing at the rebound but instead bumping it into the rim, then smacking at his head with both hands in frustration. Turner’s been incapable quite a lot this season, mixing three incompetent games around that one night of shocking brilliance in Washington, D.C.
Monday night, the Pacers’ 119-109 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Turner scored almost as many points for the Bucks (two) as for the Pacers (five). Never mind rising to the challenge presented by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Turner was outplayed by Thanasis (eight points).
And by Goga Bitadze.
We all like Goga around here, right? Big personality, goofy, can shoot 3-pointers and block shots. He’s also the guy who told Pacers assistant Greg Foster to “sit the (bleep) down” last season, the seminal moment in a year where players hated coaches and coaches hated players and Rick Carlisle was brought in to clean stuff up.
Four games into the season, Carlisle has sent a clear message to Myles Turner. After Bitadze played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, the first words of Carlisle’s opening statement were these:
“The fourth quarter was encouraging,” he said of the only quarter Turner didn’t play.
Asked about playing Bitadze and Sabonis together for the entire fourth quarter, Carlisle ignored Sabonis. Talked only about Bitadze.
“Goga gave us a nice lift,” Carlisle said and continued for several sentences about Bitadze’s impact in a 10-point loss to a Milwaukee team missing three starters. Every word he said about Bitadze, every over-the-top compliment, was a message to Turner:
Wake up.
That’s what I heard. No telling what Turner heard. He’s the same guy this preseason who called himself a "20-point scorer" despite coming off a 12.6 ppg season that matches his 12.7 ppg career average.
Same guy who scored 40 against Washington, matching the accomplishment of some of the greatest players in NBA history (and Cousins, who was heading for the Hall of Fame before an Achilles’ injury), and then had the temerity – the lack of self-awareness – to say this:
“This is something that I want people to get accustomed to," Turner said of 40 points, 10 rebounds, five 3-pointers and three blocked shots. "I think this is the way I can play, night in and night out.”
In the other three games this season, Turner has scored a total of 18 points. He has grabbed 15 rebounds. He has blocked eight shots and committed nine turnovers and gone 2-for-10 on 3-pointers. He was LeBron for a night in Washington, D.C., which is more than most people can say. But the other three nights he’s been Solomon Hill in Slovenia.
Meanwhile, Goga Bitadze was challenging Giannis at the rim, at both ends, grabbing three offensive rebounds on one possession before scoring. Goga was going to the floor for a loose ball in the fourth quarter and getting into it with half the Bucks roster, drawing a joint technical foul with local guy George Hill of the Bucks. On that one play, Bitadze showed more disposition, posture and presence, to use Carlisle’s words for “toughness,” than Turner had shown all night.
And this was after Turner had disappeared against the Heat, remember. Which came one day after he’d scored 40 against the Wizards and humbly told us to get “accustomed” to it. Because that’s the way he can play, night in and night out.
Is anyone else thinking what I’m thinking? The iPhone has an emoji – you know, those silly little faces that convey emotion – that would fit perfectly right here.
It’s a face. A green face. Poor little emoji, it just heard Myles Turner say we should get accustomed to his greatness. And that emoji’s about to be sick.
Larry Bird once compared Myles Turner to Reggie Miller
He’s a nice guy, Myles Turner. Never done a bad thing to me, or to anyone in this market. Not that I’ve heard about, anyway. That’s a reason – that’s the reason – you’ve not read a story like this from me, or from anybody, in his six-plus years here. We like nice people. We also like the way he blocks shots, more than anybody most seasons.
But enough is enough.
Larry Bird started this whole thing by declaring in 2017 that Turner is “going to be great. To me, I think he’s got a chance to be one of the best players or maybe the best player (in the franchise’s history). You’ve still got Paul (George) with a bunch of time left, too, and you had Reggie (Miller) here with all the other great ones. But being a 20-year-old and doing what this kid is doing just blows my mind.”
Crazy words, but they echoed something then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers had said earlier that season:
“Turner is going to be a superstar,” Rivers said. “I think no one will argue that. In fact, it will probably happen quicker than any of us thought. He’s special.”
Nothing happened. Nothing different, anyway. For a player with shocking inconsistency – his point totals in four games this season: 9, 40, 4, 5 – Turner has been remarkably consistent. His scoring averages in six seasons: 10.3 ppg, 14.5, 12.7, 13.3, 12.1, 12.6.
Over 36 minutes per game? He’s a metronome. These were his first four seasons: 16.3 ppg, 16.6, 16.2, 16.7. And over the past two, with Domantas Sabonis sharing time on the court, Turner’s scoring per 36 minutes has been 14.8 ppg, and 14.6.For six years he’s been trying to tell us what he is – and what he’s not – but Larry Bird told us to expect more, and at times we think we’ve seen it ourselves. He scored 30 points in the 2016-17 season-opener. That was exciting. The next time he reached 30? Friday in Washington, D.C.
Five years later, is all.
It’s time we come to grips with what Myles Turner is: A pretty good NBA player most nights, and two or three times a year a great one, but he’s more likely to disappear than dominate.
Myles Turner is a disappointment, but he doesn’t have to be. Let’s accept what he is, and hope Pacers President Kevin Pritchard deals him before the rest of the league figures it out.
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