Should Turner and Sabonis Start Together? Pacers.com

[Makar]

Sabonis with Turner struggled to play together and i think its more Turner problem, yesterday Sabonis play for Lithuania national team and his duo with Valanciunas was great, Sabonis play PF and was best scorer in the game 17pts +7reb in 21minutes, Lithuania easy won against Poland 79:61 on their court.

[boomershadow]

Sabonis with Turner struggled to play together and i think its more Turner problem, yesterday Sabonis play for Lithuania national team and his duo with Valanciunas was great, Sabonis play PF and was best scorer in the game 17pts +7reb in 21minutes, Lithuania easy won against Poland 79:61 on their court.

I don't watch much international basketball much ever so this could be a bit off the mark, but my gut reaction is that the real issue is the nba game itself, not the player playing center beside him. NBA power forwards are so quick and need 3 point range more than ever. Is this international game the same way?

[Boneman2]

Sabonis with Turner struggled to play together and i think its more Turner problem, yesterday Sabonis play for Lithuania national team and his duo with Valanciunas was great, Sabonis play PF and was best scorer in the game 17pts +7reb in 21minutes, Lithuania easy won against Poland 79:61 on their court.

I don't watch much international basketball much ever so this could be a bit off the mark, but my gut reaction is that the real issue is the nba game itself, not the player playing center beside him. NBA power forwards are so quick and need 3 point range more than ever. Is this international game the same way?

I believe so Boomershadow. The international game has influenced the NBA quite a bit in this area as foreign bigs are taught to play outside-in (ball-handling, passing, shooting) whereas American bigs were strictly inside players before the invasion. As it stands Dirk is the best shooting big-man ever and Sabonis' dad is the best passing big-man ever. Both players changed the NBA as far as bigs are concerned.

[8305]

They both need to improve as perimeter defenders. THats the biggest thing keeping them from playing together. They are both pretty skilled offensively, I think that will take care of itself as they play together.

[Scoot McGroot]

If you played Valanciunas with Sabonis in the NBA, you’d get demolished.

[8305]

If you played Valanciunas with Sabonis in the NBA, you’d get demolished.

I Agree, but don’t see how you’re point relates to the Turner/Sabonis pairing

[Scoot McGroot]

If you played Valanciunas with Sabonis in the NBA, you’d get demolished.

I Agree, but don’t see how you’re point relates to the Turner/Sabonis pairing

I was replying in line with the run of posts that imply that since Valanciunas and Sabonis work well together in international play, that its Turner that’s the problem.

[Moooose]

I hate to think about this but if Turner and Sabonis still would not be able to coexist this upcoming season, we might need to choose who to keep between the two. Both of them needs minutes to be able to develop further and both of them are proving to be worthy of a starter's position. Good thing is, they both have good trade values and the Pacers could actually capitalize on it.

Unless one of them learns to play the 4 like Thad does, they won't be able to stay on the floor together. They eat each other's spaces and the switching was terrible. Both of them cannot cover big men shooting from corner threes as neither is as quick as Thad. It'd be interesting to see how Nate would address this matter.

[Tom White]

I hate to think about this but if Turner and Sabonis still would not be able to coexist this upcoming season, we might need to choose who to keep between the two.

I think you are right about this. Hate to see it happen, but I'm not sure how to avoid it. I don't see either one being able to guard more mobile PF's, and cover distance. Sure, they both can improve, and both are young, but it looks like at some point the team will need to choose. At this point Sabonis is likely to be the more valuable player to the team. He just has better basketball instincts, probably in part because of him growing up around his dad. I also think he is the more mobile and agile player.

The good news is, if it comes to that, either guy would bring a nice return in a trade.

[Wizop]

design an offense and defense to fit your players. don't insist on players who fit a set playbook.

Tom Moore was a master of this with Colts.

Sent from my phone.

[Tom White]

design an offense and defense to fit your players. don't insist on players who fit a set playbook.

Tom Moore was a master of this with Colts.

Moore was indeed very good. But that only covered the offensive side of the ball. In basketball, I don't think there is as much you are able to do on defense to hide deficiencies. You've got to be able to play in space or you get burned, and I don't think football has a rule similar to defensive five second lane violations and such.

[Wizop]

In basketball, I don't think there is as much you are able to do on defense to hide deficiencies.

zone.

Sent from my phone.

[Moooose]

In basketball, I don't think there is as much you are able to do on defense to hide deficiencies.

zone.

Sent from my phone.

Other teams will be able to see that and look how to capitalize on the weaknesses of it. We'll see, but the limitations are not in the system, I think it is more on the physical attributes of both Myles and Domas. And besides, we still don't know what the future holds, there could be teams that are more than willing to overpay either of them. But yeah, I hope we could work it out.

[Pacersike]

Yes, they should. Because both of them are talented enough to make the positives outweigh the negatives.

And both of them are our Pacers now and deserve all the time they need to make it work.

Just have faith in them. When you get doubts about them, just keep repeating it will happen.

[cruwinas]

They should. Too good experiment not to undertake.

[Scoot McGroot]

They should. Too good experiment not to undertake.

Agreed. They’re both so talented and such good team players that it’s worth trying it until it’s proven it won’t work.

[pizza guy]

Domas played better defense on LeBron than Lance did. We're also discussing the team (coaches) that turned Bojan Bogdanovich into a defender capable of at least bothering LeBron for a full series.

Domas is capable. And he's such a smart player that he can learn how to best play team defense and maximize his strengths. Myles is not quick on the perimeter, I agree, but he is one of the better shot-blockers in the NBA and hopefully he comes in stronger this season, and more capable of holding his position down low.

If they can work in tandem well enough to be neutral defenders (which I think they absolutely can), the potential benefits of their strong offensive games, which very much complement each other, could be huge. They are young and will improve their individual games, but they can especially improve in the way they play off of one another. Domas is such a good passer and finisher, and Myles is such a good shooter, they should be able to learn each other well enough that they can help, move the ball, and punish teams.

At the end of the day, you've got to go back to some of the quotes about the Pacers targeting Domas in the trade and really thinking they got a steal. He had a great year here, and it was not by accident. They wanted this guy because they saw his potential, and they're going to give him the opportunity to show everyone why.

I think we see a Domas/Myles starting lineup at some point this season. And I think we'll see Tyreke Evans start at some point also. We might be bringing back the starters from last year, but I think KP is doing everything with next year in mind. And going forward, we're going to need to know what we've got in these guys.