Myles Turner: Phoenix Suns 2015 Draft Profile

Feb 4, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Myles Turner (52) shoots the ball as Oklahoma State Cowboys forwads Michael Cobbins (20) and Le’Bryan Nash (R) defends during the first half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

Weaknesses

Let’s start with something I just talked about as being one of Turner’s strengths: shooting potential. While the groundwork is there for Turner to become an NBA shooter, he still has to prove himself at a higher level of basketball. After all, Turner shot just 27.4 percent from three in his one year at Texas, and his shooting numbers got worse as the year went on.

Turner began his college career shooting 4-of-7 from three, but after that point he shot just 13-of-55 (23.6 percent). Additionally, Turner ended the year making just four threes in his final 32 attempts (12.5 percent), and in his last eight games, he shot just 1-of-11 (9.1 percent) from distance.

That’s (obviously) not very good at all.

Now, a lot of that poor percentage can be attributed to the situation Turner found himself in. Looking over his game log, there were a lot of 0-for-1 and 0-for-2 outings, where it’s quite clear he just never found a rhythm. After all, when he shot at least three threes, his three-point percentage went all the way up to 40 percent on the dot, and it wasn’t like it was a small sample size.

In games where he shot at least three three-pointers, Turner shot a combined 10-of-25 from three, playing at least 24 minutes in all but one of them. Additionally, Turner shot 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from three in games he played at least 25 minutes, which again, goes back to how he was used.

I cannot stress how much coaching may have played a factor in Turner’s season, and that’s one of the reasons he’s so intriguing as an NBA prospect. There is a very real possibility that most of the bad side of Turner can be attributed to his coach, who, in my opinion, did a really poor job with his team. And I’m certainly not the only one who feels this way.

A reminder once again that Rick Barnes is a good recruiter and a terrible basketball coach
— Ross Martin (@PCBearcat) March 19, 2015

I wish Myles Turner had gone to Duke. We could use him and he's have gotten way better development than under Barnes and terrible Texas.
— Dan Vance (@danvance) March 19, 2015

Rick Barnes is an awful Head Coach... His squad disappoints every year
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) March 13, 2015

However, a coach is a coach, and that doesn’t change the fact that Turner did struggle on offense at times.

Now, it’s interesting to see that Chad Ford lists rebounding as one of Turner’s weaknesses on his ESPN Player Evaluation. I would refute this, by saying it’s not so much his rebounding ability, but lack of mobility and explosiveness that gives the impression that he can struggle in this and other areas.

So much of rebounding is establishing a position early, which was hard for Turner given that he definitely struggles to move throughout the court. He’s not the type of guy that’s going to be able to take a few quick steps, throw his body into someone and record a rebound, and given that he doesn’t have the elite jumping ability to make up for his lack of mobility, that can make it difficult for him to control a game on the glass.