Written by Joseph Nardone at Bloguin
When Myles Turner was coming out of high school, many had him projected to be an excellent college player that would eventually turn into a very high NBA draft pick. A five-star recruit by every reputable scouting service in the land, Turner decided to take his talents to play under Rick Barnes at Texas. Then a ho-hum freshman season unfolded, which made many change their minds on how well (or poorly) Turner would perform as a NBA player.
Using hindsight, it wasn’t that Turner had a horrible freshman season. It was simply that he didn’t live up to our expectations — and hell hath no scorn like not living up to the hype built by others.
In fact, while Turner was a top-five “lock” heading into his freshman year, by the time he was declaring himself early for the draft, Turner’s stock dropped so much that he ended up being the 11th overall pick. That’s not a horrible spot to be selected, but it simply shows how much less people thought of him from one year to another.
Count me in as one of the many puzzled — cough — experts. I had pretty much given up on Turner as pro by the time the Indiana Pacers selected him. Even with knowing that players under Rick Barnes have historically done better after they removed him from the equation, there was little reason to believe Myles Turner would be an impact player.
Well, at the very least, there was little reason to expect Turner to be a valuable player this early in his NBA career.
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