Vanilla Gorillas, Young Boshes, And Big Shoes: Myles Turner, Deconstructed

This season's rookie class could be something special. There is talent and depth, size and skill, and the promise that there could be a few transcendent players in the mix. Oddly, though, some elements of each player's game and physical presentation feel familiar. Rookies Deconstructed is a series that means to take each rookie apart, identifying the building blocks we know and the natural comparisons that emerge and appreciating how they come together in ways that are radically and invigoratingly new. Because these are rookies, with just a fraction of a season under the belts, some comparisons are necessarily forward-looking.

All due respect to Draymond Green, but Chris Bosh is the model for a modern NBA big man. He began his career in Toronto as a somewhat one-dimensional post-scorer and offensive fulcrum. After teaming up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade his responsibilities were shaved back to the barest essentials, and the bas relief that was left revealed a game of newfound versatility, dimensions on dimensions. The NBA has changed over the course of Bosh's career, but his personal evolution didn't necessarily spark it. He just happened to become the right type of player at the right time.

The modern NBA big, with Bosh as standard-bearer, needs to be able to shoot. He needs to be able to shoot because spotting-up around other actions or pulling a defender's attention as a pick-and-pop threat is what creates offensive space, but also because, more and more, every player needs to be able to shoot. If your contempo-big can also offer a little post-up game, particularly the ability to make plays off the catch when diving in the pick-and-roll and pass from the low block when the defense collapses on him, well, then your cake is very nicely iced.

On defense, the same malleability is key—the ability to hold position in the post, defend the rim against intruders, deter ball-handlers with foot-speed and aggressive pick-and-roll positioning on the perimeter. The list of bigs who are capable of this versatility at one end is short. The list of bigs who can do it offensively and defensively fits on a post-it note.

The Indiana Pacers would very much like to see their rookie center Myles Turner to become a part of that group. Turner hasn't quite pushed his range out to the three-point line yet, but he's shot a scorching percentage on jumpers inside the arc and his scoring efficiency on post-ups has been roughly comparable to players like Nikola Vucevic and Marc Gasol. On defense, Turner already shows solid instincts as a rim protector and is challenging the 10th-highest percentage of opponent shots in the league this year. What separates him from Bosh, at least at this point, is experience and a certain amount of physical stiffness.

Turner just celebrated his 20th birthday last week and a fractured thumb caused him to miss a good chunk of the beginning of the season, which means that he is just now getting his bearings and his legs. Turner is listed at just eight pounds heavier than Bosh, on a frame that is just as tall. He doesn't have Bosh's lightness or the ballroom-dance footwork, but few players do. On a macro scale, Turner moves well enough to imply that the full breadth of this modern skill set is within range; it's not a stretch to imagine him hedging hard on pick-and-rolls or losing defenders on dives to the basket. It may just be a matter of time.

But right now, Turner moves more like Joel Przybilla.

Przybilla was never really healthy enough to fully inhabit his NBA potential. What manifested between his rehab stints amounted to suffocating rim defense from a seven-footer who moved just a little better than expected. Przybilla wasn't quite Chris Andersen in the running/jumping/leaping departments, but he wasn't Greg Ostertag either. He was long and knew how to use that length to compensate for any areas where his lower body was going to lose a foot race. You would never say that Joel Przybilla lumbered, which is impressive given how often that is the default setting for a man that large.

There was nothing modern or terribly beautiful in Przybilla's game—he blocked shots and rebounded and played through a number of simultaneous physical deteriorations. Turner can do the shot-blocking and rebounding part, with an offensive repertoire that is already much richer.

The comparison here is really about moving in space. Concerns about the kinetic aspect of the game have always been part of Turner's profile. He had an awkward gait in college that, with associated injury risks, scared off some teams in the draft. Athletic trainers helped Turner fix the underlying muscle imbalance that created it, and even in Summer League he looked far more nimble than he did in his one season at the University of Texas. Turner has more to offer than Przybilla, but becoming the player of Indiana's dreams means mastering his body. It means continuing to draw out that inner dancer until he's moving in space the way Bosh does.

Roy Hibbert is a big, big man. Last summer, the Indiana Pacers packed his bags with all the collected blame and responsibility for their playoff flameouts of the past few seasons and sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers for a second-round pick. Big, big shoes were left behind.

The frustration at Hibbert in the Pacers' organization and fanbase made for a stark contrast with the adoration that had been heaped on him over the previous six seasons. For a short time, the Pacers were really good, and Hibbert was right in the middle of it all. From 2012 to 2014, Indiana's defense was one of the best the league had ever seen. It helped to have Paul George and George Hill chasing opposing guards around the perimeter, of course, but Hibbert's towering presence in the paint was what really made the system work. Indiana's wings funneled penetration to the middle, and few drivers dared challenge Hibbert. The result was a deluge of contested midrange jumpers.

Hibbert's physical presence defined their defense, but his personality helped define the team. A gentle giant, Hibbert managed to be both intense and joyous at the same time. George, Hill, Lance Stephenson, and David West rounded out the team's best rotations, but Hibbert always carried the mantle for likability.

For all that Hibbert contributed at the defensive end, every minute he was on the floor was a compromise. His defensive abilities were powerful, but only within that narrow system; there was not much room in his collection of skills for adaptation or adjustment. At the other end of the floor, Hibbert offered very little on the offensive glass, and was both an inefficient post scorer and an inaccurate mid-range shooter. This left Hibbert hanging around the paint, mucking up the offensive spacing and not doing much to keep the defense occupied. Every time the Pacers ran up against their own limitations in the playoffs, Hibbert's own limitations seemed that much more glaring. He ensured that Indiana was good, and also that it was never quite good enough. After a while, the losing outweighed the likability and everyone stopped being fun.

The Pacers drafted Turner with clear eyes on him being Hibbert's replacement. With his shooting, rim defense, and potential for offensive mobility, Turner offered a clear counterpoint to what Hibbert provided. Still, Turner was in a difficult position from the moment he was drafted, and it's one he hasn't quite transcended in the nine months since Hibbert left for the west coast. The Pacers wanted to play a different this season—smaller, faster, more mobile and versatile. They also made clear that this identity overhaul would not involve a rebuilding period—they had designs on being both totally different and as good as ever, right away. At his hypothetical best, Turner is the perfect big man for the hypothetical team the Pacers want to be.

All of which is to say that Turner's challenge this season was almost impossibly steep—to be the anti-Roy Hibbert in aesthetics and style, but provide enough production to carry the team just as far. That and to help Indiana's fans forget a bad breakup with a player they used to love dearly. That's a lot to ask of one of the youngest players in this rookie class, or anyone else. The "be different" part came naturally to Turner, though, and his youthful exuberance is winning the battle for hearts and minds. Most importantly, he's really good, better than expected and sooner. Indiana needed a new giant, which is a big ask. Myles Turner appears up to the challenge.