Catching up with Myles Turner: On the Pacers' roster changes, upgrades defensively and his epic trip to Italy
Catching up with Myles Turner: On the Pacers' roster changes, upgrades defensively and his epic trip to Italy
Turner is entering his ninth season with the Pacers. "I have loved everything, man," he said of the team's offseason.
LAS VEGAS — Myles Turner has had an offseason to remember.
First, he’s healthy. That’s the most important thing.
After not being able to finish out the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Turner went into the offseason with a clean bill of health. So instead of the summer months being about rehabbing, it’s about cleaning up specific things in his game and improving. He’s now in the prime of his career and has two more seasons under contract with the Pacers for about $40 million after a contract extension in February.
“Yeah, I’ve had a great summer,” he told Fieldhouse Files Sunday evening in Las Vegas. “My body’s in a great place right now. I’m going to start hooping here in a little bit. I’ve been traveling and whatnot, able to enjoy the fruits of my labor.”
‘Been traveling’ is putting it lightly.
The 27 year old is livin’.
After the Pacers’ season concluded in April, he spent about a month in Colorado. He relaxed, explored and disconnected from technology as much as he could. Turner, and most players, typically take at least the first month off from working out and playing basketball after the seas
Then in mid-June, things really got interesting for the Pacers center. He went overseas to Italy for two weeks and had the trip of a lifetime.
Turner, along with ex-Pacer Oshae Brissett, were part of a small group taking advantage of an opportunity through the players association to connect with founders and executives from global luxury brands. Best of all, it was a siblings trip — his younger sister, My’a, is an aspiring model so she’s all about fashion and culture.
Now Myles is too, even more so than before.
They met designers, attended fashion shows, shopped, explored different cities and enjoyed incredible Italian cuisine.
During Turner’s trip, the Pacers added Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard through the draft, then added more pieces via free agency and trades. For Turner and the Pacers, deliberate player acquisitions to improve their defense, which ranked 26th last season, was critical.
“I feel like with our moves, it’s really going to help our defense,” Turner said. “It’s what we struggled with last year and we have like-minded people with Obi’s mentality, Bruce’s mentality, and I’ve seen a little dog in Jarace. You got to have that bravado in your locker room so I’m looking forward to that.”
For Turner, he’s as confident as he’s ever been and with eight seasons behind him, he knows exactly what he needs to do for himself on and off the court. That helped him improve both his comfortability and efficiency this past season. So, too, did being the solo 5 man and playing alongside Tyrese Haliburton, the best point guard during his career.
“Honestly just reps and staying in the gym and working on the little meticulous things,” he said of his improved efficiency. “Not going in there and just playing every day, but actually doing reps has been good.”
Turner and most of the Core Pacers are here in Las Vegas. For two weeks in July, it’s the center of the NBA universe. Those players are working out together in the morning, go to some games and then hang out in the evening. There’s all kinds of events hosted by the league, sponsors and their agencies.
The full conversation with Turner can be read below (for paid subscribers). It’s his first time talking about the team since exit interviews on April 10.