Turner working with Kevin McHale

[boomershadow]

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Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Kevin McHale traveled to the Athletic Performance Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas to work with Myles Turner.

The focus of the workouts with McHale was to go over techniques with Myles that will help him to become a greater interior scoring threat and to generate more free throw attempts. The advice that was given was meant to complement his skill-set as a reliable shooting big man and to use his athleticism to his advantage.

“Adding some post stuff, aggressive attacking. Using his skill. He has tremendous skill. Great hands. Great touch,” McHale said when asked what he wanted to emphasize when working with Myles. “Just try to put him in positions that he can attack more and get fouled more. Get into the paint more off the dribble, off the bounce. He is already a tremendous shooter in the pick-and-pop but in the playoffs, you need paint points.”

http://mylesturnerbasketball.org/kevin-mchale-travels-to-texas-to-work-with-myles-turner/

Thought this was pretty cool. Any chance the Larry Bird connection came into play here?

[Scoot McGroot]

Also, assistant Bill Bayno has been there with them too, so that's nice to add some solid continuity and get everyone on the same page.

[Tom White]

Let's hope he soaks up everything he can from McHale. That guy was always a pain in the butt for defenders, all the way back to his days at the University of Minnesota. Terrific footwork and talent around and under the basket. Not a bad defender either.

[SmashMouthRod]

Great idea. The team could contend if he can become a more dominant offensive player.

[Tom White]

I think it is a much better idea than when they had Bill Walton come in to work with Hibbert. I always figured Walton spent more time quoting the Grateful Dead and trying to be philosophical than actually teaching anything useful.

[Scoot McGroot]

I think it is a much better idea than when they had Bill Walton come in to work with Hibbert. I always figured Walton spent more time quoting the Grateful Dead and trying to be philosophical than actually teaching anything useful.

Meh. Walton may truly be a hippy, but he had a great, crisp, basketball mind at the time, and was always known for great footwork and basketball iq and placement when he played. Same for McHale.

[Jake0890]

Having deja vu here, I feel like a story always pops up about Turner working on his post game every summer... am I wrong?

His range has gotten consistently better through his time here, but still not convinced we've see any development of his back-to-th-basket game.

[Scoot McGroot]

Having deja vu here, I feel like a story always pops up about Turner working on his post game every summer... am I wrong?

His range has gotten consistently better through his time here, but still not convinced we've see any development of his back-to-th-basket game.

I don’t think the post game was a priority last year at all. All the Myles stuff was fitness and flexibility related.

[pacers33granger]

Having deja vu here, I feel like a story always pops up about Turner working on his post game every summer... am I wrong?

His range has gotten consistently better through his time here, but still not convinced we've see any development of his back-to-th-basket game.

Yeah he hasn't utilized it much really, but that could be more scheme than anything. When he did use it though his patience and timing was so much better than his first couple of years though.

[wildcat62]

McHale should be a great influence on Turner.

[basketballwacko2]

Having deja vu here, I feel like a story always pops up about Turner working on his post game every summer... am I wrong?

His range has gotten consistently better through his time here, but still not convinced we've see any development of his back-to-th-basket game.

Well isn't that what we want the kid doing rather than laying around getting fat and smoking dope?

[Topofthekey]

First of all, I don't know what is the point of me posting this - it's not like Nate and his staff are taking coaching tips from random posters on realgm

Having said that

I think they really need to make sure Myles take more 3pt attempts - he averaged 2.6 attempts the past season, and to me that is way too little

Ideally, he should be taking 4-5 attempts per game - that'll go a long way in helping to establish him as a legitimate 3pt threat, and when that happens, it'll really open up space for his teammates

I mean, this is not a case of hoping someone will develop a 3pt shot - he already has a pretty good 3pt shot, he just needs to utilize it a lot more

It's not too difficult to imagine him making the all star team if he manages to do that; he already made people notice his shot blocking ability, now he just needs to also make people notice his range

[Tom White]

First of all, I don't know what is the point of me posting this - it's not like Nate and his staff are taking coaching tips from random posters on realgm

Having said that

I think they really need to make sure Myles take more 3pt attempts - he averaged 2.6 attempts the past season, and to me that is way too little

Ideally, he should be taking 4-5 attempts per game - that'll go a long way in helping to establish him as a legitimate 3pt threat, and when that happens, it'll really open up space for his teammates

I mean, this is not a case of hoping someone will develop a 3pt shot - he already has a pretty good 3pt shot, he just needs to utilize it a lot more

It's not too difficult to imagine him making the all star team if he manages to do that; he already made people notice his shot blocking ability, now he just needs to also make people notice his range

I guess I'm about to show how "old school" I am. I would prefer the other guys shoot better from 3 range to help open up the underneath game for Turner. In other words to help keep the opponent from double-teaming Turner. His post game needs work.

[boomershadow]

First of all, I don't know what is the point of me posting this - it's not like Nate and his staff are taking coaching tips from random posters on realgm

Having said that

I think they really need to make sure Myles take more 3pt attempts - he averaged 2.6 attempts the past season, and to me that is way too little

Ideally, he should be taking 4-5 attempts per game - that'll go a long way in helping to establish him as a legitimate 3pt threat, and when that happens, it'll really open up space for his teammates

I mean, this is not a case of hoping someone will develop a 3pt shot - he already has a pretty good 3pt shot, he just needs to utilize it a lot more

It's not too difficult to imagine him making the all star team if he manages to do that; he already made people notice his shot blocking ability, now he just needs to also make people notice his range

I guess I'm about to show how "old school" I am. I would prefer the other guys shoot better from 3 range to help open up the underneath game for Turner. In other words to help keep the opponent from double-teaming Turner. His post game needs work.

I think the post-game needs work for the singular purpose of keeping other teams honest on defense. If all he does is shoot, the other team can guard him with a small ball 4 with no real downside for them.

That said, on offense he's a shooter more than he is anything else. He HAS to shoot the 3 more because that's his most potent offensive weapon. He's almost certainly never going to become a post behemoth, and in today's league there is very little need for that type of center anyways.

[Scoot McGroot]

First of all, I don't know what is the point of me posting this - it's not like Nate and his staff are taking coaching tips from random posters on realgm

Having said that

I think they really need to make sure Myles take more 3pt attempts - he averaged 2.6 attempts the past season, and to me that is way too little

Ideally, he should be taking 4-5 attempts per game - that'll go a long way in helping to establish him as a legitimate 3pt threat, and when that happens, it'll really open up space for his teammates

I mean, this is not a case of hoping someone will develop a 3pt shot - he already has a pretty good 3pt shot, he just needs to utilize it a lot more

It's not too difficult to imagine him making the all star team if he manages to do that; he already made people notice his shot blocking ability, now he just needs to also make people notice his range

I guess I'm about to show how "old school" I am. I would prefer the other guys shoot better from 3 range to help open up the underneath game for Turner. In other words to help keep the opponent from double-teaming Turner. His post game needs work.

So Dom shoots a lot more 3’s instead?

Nate mentioned that Myles will play the corner for 3’s more instead of being in the “dunkers spot” on the baseline, which it seems Dom will be in a lot more.

More than anything, Dom and Myles will have to better understand and utilize spacing this year. Too often in the few minutes played together Dom would roll with the roll to the center with the ball right as Myles would flash to the center too and lead to a quick double team.

[Tom White]

More than anything, Dom and Myles will have to better understand and utilize spacing this year. Too often in the few minutes played together Dom would roll with the roll to the center with the ball right as Myles would flash to the center too and lead to a quick double team.

That is the absolute truth.

I'll just add one more thought. Turner is certainly not working with McHale to improve his 3-pt shooting. If anything, McHale is teaching him about positioning and footwork. That speaks to me about work in the post. Maybe they are focusing on defensive work more than offensive, but McHale was very good at both.

[Scoot McGroot]

More than anything, Dom and Myles will have to better understand and utilize spacing this year. Too often in the few minutes played together Dom would roll with the roll to the center with the ball right as Myles would flash to the center too and lead to a quick double team.

That is the absolute truth.

I'll just add one more thought. Turner is certainly not working with McHale to improve his 3-pt shooting. If anything, McHale is teaching him about positioning and footwork. That speaks to me about work in the post. Maybe they are focusing on defensive work more than offensive, but McHale was very good at both.

Oh absolutely. If you're going to work with McHale, it's clearly on post moves and the sort. However, we can hope that his history of playing with, and fitting alongside, guys like Parish and Bird will also help Myles a ton, too. Either way, it appears they worked together for less than a week, and maybe only a day or two. We'll see what really happens.