Indiana Pacers: Should we be worried about Myles Turner?

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner is seen by many as a future NBA All-Star, but he has not continued his progression toward that goal early in the 2017-18 campaign.

After the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George last summer, it was assumed by many observers that Myles Turner was going to be the new face of the franchise.

The expectation was that Turner would not only become the team’s new leader, but his statistical production would continue to climb as he would now have more opportunities with Paul George gone to the Western Conference.

Whispers of a potential 2018 All-Star berth for Turner grew louder, but now that we are more than 20 games into the 2017-18 campaign, we see that things have not quite gone as planned for the 21-year-old center.

Turner’s play so far this season has inspired some quizzical reactions from fans and media — some are wondering what is wrong with him, some are already giving up on him as a possible franchise cornerstone and some are calling for him to be pulled from the starting lineup.

So, what’s the reality? Should Pacers Nation be concerned about Myles Turner? In a word: no.

It’s true that Turner is not stepping up to become an All-Star candidate this season, but the numbers do not reveal the gloomy picture that some are trying to paint for Turner.

Here is a table containing Myles Turner’s statistics (per game) throughout his NBA career thus far, courtesy of Basketball-Reference.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/30/2017.

Before we even get into the numbers themselves, it should be pointed out that Turner sustained a head injury in the first game of the year that caused him to miss the next seven games — his rhythm and conditioning have clearly been affected by the layoff.

Turner had a monster opening night (21 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots), but is just now getting to 100 percent after recovering from the concussion he suffered on Oct. 18.

Even without considering Turner’s injury and recovery period, his statistics have been solid if not spectacular. His 47.6 percent shooting from the floor is respectable, and his current 37.8 percent marksmanship from beyond the arc is excellent (on a career-high 2.5 attempts per game).

Turner is showing a slight decline in free throw attempts and free throw percentage, but his efficiency from the line is still good (he’s shooting 78.6 percent from the charity stripe so far in 2017-18).

Normally, one of the biggest concerns about Myles Turner’s game is his rebounding, but he’s grabbing more boards per minute this season (0.26) than he did last year when he hauling down 0.23 rebounds per minute.

Turner’s scoring average is down to 13.9 points per game (from 14.5 in 2016-17), but he’s actually scoring more on a per-minute basis this season — he’s just playing a little less due to foul trouble and the emergence of Domantas Sabonis as a force off the bench.

The final statistic that may not be getting enough notice is Turner’s shot-blocking productivity. After missing seven of the club’s first eight regular season games, Turner just recently qualified for the NBA leaderboards, and his 2.5 blocks per game average is No. 1 in the league.

The bottom line is that Myles Turner is contributing significantly to the Pacers’ surprising start, even if he is not putting up numbers worthy of All-Star recognition.

Next: 2017-18 Week 7 NBA Power Rankings

Turner’s “struggles” have been greatly exaggerated, and besides that, the team is winning. Ultimately, that is really all that matters.