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<\/p>\nThe Milwaukee Bucks pulled off arguably the most significant NBA offseason move in July when they waived and stretched the contract of Damian Lillard to create enough cap space to sign Myles Turner, one of the top free agents on the market.<\/p>\n
Turner had helped the Indiana Pacers make their first run to the NBA Finals since 2000, and the Pacers were a win away from winning their first NBA title.<\/p>\n
However, when star point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the finals, everything changed for the Pacers\u2019 offseason.<\/p>\n
The opportunistic Bucks took a chance on the center from the team that had eliminated them in the first round in each of the last two postseasons, signing Turner to a four-year, $108.9 million deal.<\/p>\n
Coach Doc Rivers and general manager Jon Horst sold reporters at the NBA Summer League on Turner\u2019s fit with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, saying it\u2019s strong enough to help the Bucks keep competing at a high level.<\/p>\n
Turner\u2019s first season in Milwaukee, however, did not go that way.<\/p>\n
Injuries limited Antetokounmpo to 36 games on the season, the fewest he\u2019s played in a season, and the Bucks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Individually, Turner averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 26.9 minutes.<\/p>\n
Those averages were Turner\u2019s lowest since his rookie season. The rebound average was the lowest of his career. Turner also took just 9.1 shots per game, which was the lowest since his rookie season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a rude awakening,\u201d Turner said in an interview with The Athletic and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel before the end of the regular season. \u201cIt was difficult throughout the year, obviously, with all the injuries and whatnot. But one thing I was really encouraged by was, honestly, the spirit of all of the guys, man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like, especially on the players\u2019 side, guys had the right approach, and that\u2019s made it more easy to go about the days for myself. It\u2019s obviously been a rough adjustment, but I think that kind of just comes with anything new.\u201d<\/p>\n
After acquiring Pascal Siakam in January 2024, the Pacers became one of the NBA\u2019s best teams and reached the Eastern Conference finals that season. They followed that with an NBA Finals appearance. With Haliburton running the show, Indiana had one of the NBA\u2019s most unique offenses and managed to do just enough defensively with Turner serving as Indiana\u2019s primary rim protector.<\/p>\n
While slightly chaotic and untraditional, Indiana was consistent and came into every game with a clear plan. With injuries disrupting this season from the very first game, the Bucks never found that consistency. That had a significant impact on Milwaukee\u2019s biggest free-agent addition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know myself, as a player, I\u2019ve always been a guy that thrives in situations where I know I can impact winning,\u201d Turner said. \u201cA lot of that comes in, some people call it rim protection, some people call it floor spacing. To me, they\u2019re systematic things. \u2026 I think we were more in an experimental year than just a firm system.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his career, Turner has never been a player who creates many of his own shots. Last season with the Pacers, 90 percent of his made shots were assisted. According to Cleaning the Glass, that number dipped below 80 percent in only two of his 10 seasons in Indiana.<\/p>\n
With the Bucks\u2019 best playmakers missing large portions of the season with injuries, Turner never found his place on the offensive end.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never a steady dose of one thing,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI think that consistency, that continuity, is what I\u2019ve had in the past, and that obviously made it a lot easier when I was there. But when you come into a new year, in this league, you have to adjust.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really in the business of making excuses. I\u2019ve never been a fan of that. You can try to blame your circumstances. You can try to blame the people around you. But at the end of the day, players are the ones that have to go out there and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the season progressed and the Bucks\u2019 top playmakers missed more games, the team simplified Turner\u2019s offensive package. It made him nearly exclusively a 3-point shooter, knowing his gravity would provide space for an offense in need of anything consistent.<\/p>\n
In his first season with the Bucks, Turner made 38.3 percent of his shots from 3-point range on 5.4 attempts per game. However, he also took 54 percent of his shots from 3, besting his previous career high of 44 percent in his final season with the Pacers, per Cleaning the Glass.<\/p>\n
Camping out behind the 3-point line meant Turner took only 23 percent of his shots at the rim, a career low for any season, and 22 percent of his shots from the midrange, the second-lowest percentage in a season in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one thing I provide is floor spacing, and with our lack of playmaking, me being able to kind of keep guys honest, (keep them) on the perimeter, it opened up the paint for us a lot more for any potential playmakers to actually get going downhill,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing I was asked (to do) more.<\/p>\n
\u201c(There was) a lot more standing around than what I have been used to or a lot less time with the ball in my hands. Again, as a screen setter, most guys are switching me. In the past, I was able to kind of take the switch, roll and post up, whereas here, that\u2019s clogging up the paint. So, it\u2019s two different ways of looking at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After this interview, it was revealed that Rivers would step down as the head coach in Milwaukee, meaning the veteran big man will work with a different coach next season. But while reflecting on his first season in Milwaukee, Turner found himself thinking he should have done more to advocate for his role and usage within the offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to throw Doc under the bus and say he said, \u2018Myles, you\u2019re not allowed to do this,\u2019 or, \u2018Myles, you\u2019re not allowed to do that.\u2019 I think a lot of it was me, maybe being a little passive and kind of acquiescing to others when I could\u2019ve stepped up in a different role quicker for myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I do think there is a push and pull. It goes both ways. You could put me in a better position to be successful, and then I could be a little more assertive in ways that I have been in the past. There was definitely a lot of frustration on both ends. I think the frustration came more from not figuring it out fast enough, kind of just sinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Due to injuries, Myles Turner and Giannis Antetokounmpo only played together in 34 games for the Bucks this season. (John Fisher \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
While his first season in Milwaukee did not go as planned, Turner still believes in what could be, especially in terms of pairing with the Bucks\u2019 two-time MVP.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo and Turner played together in only 34 games, but the time they spent this season only strengthened Turner\u2019s belief in what they could do if given a chance to play together for a full season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential is absolutely there,\u201d Turner said. \u201cWe do complement each other. I\u2019ve seen what he\u2019s been able to do with Brook (Lopez) and their success, and I\u2019m able to do similar things as him. So, I definitely still see a vision, but it would be nice to actually feel the vision, actually be able to play it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of questions are left to be answered with where we\u2019re going in the future. It\u2019s my responsibility as a player to just keep growing my game. Obviously, I was able to kind of see what the situation was this year, but I pride myself on being able to adapt, being able to change. So now that I got a year under my belt, it\u2019s a matter of just making a proper adjustment on my end, because I don\u2019t want to be sitting here with the same sentiment next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Bucks posted an offensive rating of 122.4 (93rd percentile) and a defensive rating of 114.3 (65th percentile) in the 1,433 possessions (693 minutes) that Antetokounmpo and Turner shared on the floor this season. The pairing works, but for them to further explore it, both players will still need to be in Milwaukee \u2014 and Turner admitted that will be a question hanging over this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be direct clarity, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d he said. \u201cI think that no one really knows what we\u2019re gonna do right now. I think that\u2019s not taboo. I think that\u2019s a universal thing that the organization, the coaches, we gotta kind of figure out what direction we want to go in the future. A lot of questions obviously will be answered this summer, depending on what direction the organization wants to go, whether it\u2019s the Giannis thing or whether what\u2019s going on with players, our coaches. I think a lot of that will provide me a lot more clarity going into next season when that happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me personally, you gotta be as professional as possible and just roll with it. I did sign a four-year deal, and with that being said, I plan to honor it, that commitment. All I can do is kind of sit here and wait for direction and go out there and voice my opinion during exit meetings and whatnot. I think we\u2019re in wait-and-see-what-happens mode right now as opposed to what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Milwaukee Bucks pulled off arguably the most significant NBA offseason move in July when they waived and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,102,121,3871,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-711820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-milwaukee","11":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","12":"tag-milwaukeebucks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116414954656992056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}