Myles Turner is the Defensive Player of the Year
- Chris Poindexter
- Jan 19, 2019
- 2 min read
We are more than halfway through the Indiana Pacers’ season and while there are a lot of things up in the air about how they are playing there is one thing that is clear, Myles Turner is the Defensive Player of the Year. A lot of the time Turner is underrated when it comes to what the Pacers do and is often unfairly compared to Domantas Sabonis. Turner’s value came to the surface recently when he missed 4 games due to a shoulder injury. Through this stretch, and the 6 games around it, Turner’s presence could be felt. During the 6 games that he played the opponents’ offensive rating was an abysmal 102.88. During the 4 games that Turner missed the opponents’ offensive rating rose significantly 120.79.
He leads the league in blocked shots at 108 and is averaging 2.8 blocks per game. That is 1 more block per game than last year.
He is averaging 7.2 rebounds per game also. Allowing for those fans that hate on Turner because he does not do enough on the boards to finally put a sock in their mouth. On the offensive end he is finally stretching the floor by making 38.7 percent of his threes. Turner has improved this season on both the defensive end and the offensive end of the floor.
You can see he is more valuable to the Pacers than anyone could have realized. With Turner down low the other Pacers’ players are able to play more aggressive on the three point line knowing that if their opponent gets passed them that Turner is there protecting the rim. So at this point in the season no player’s defense has affected their team like Turner’s has the Pacers and that is why he is the Defensive Player of the year. Also if you do not believe me take it from Indiana Pacers' great Reggie Miller who said he thought Turner was the Defensive Player of the Year on his Instagram story before the Pacers vs 76ers game on January 17.
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