Letting Myles Turner leave in free agency is proving just as big a problem for the Pacers as everyone outside the organization thought it would be. Somehow, adding Jay Huff in free agency hasn't done the trick. Neither has Isaiah Jackson nor Tony Bradley. The entire center rotation is in shambles.
That's what happens when you replace a starter of Turner's caliber with a hodgepodge of career backups. If fans weren't second-guessing the front office already, they certainly should be now.
Pacers gave the Bucks a gift and left themselves without a backup plan
Needless to say, the Milwaukee Bucks appreciate the oversight. Although Turner is off to a slow start offensively, he fits their scheme like a glove on both sides of the ball. He is the switchable rim defender the Milwaukee Bucks craved. So far, he hasn't had a game with fewer than two blocks.
His savvy screen-setting has also created open looks for himself and teammates and he has flashed surprising skills as a passer, accounting for two or more assists in each of the Bucks' four games. Turner had only two such streaks all last season and never averaged more than 1.6 assists per game as a Pacer.
In fact, in his 10-year career, he does not have another four-game stretch of two-plus assists and blocks apiece. That might sound like irrelevant trivia, but it also reflects how, even in an ice-cold shooting slump, he has found a way to contribute on both ends of the floor.
The Pacers' reluctance to pay Turner is all the more puzzling given their lack of palatable alternatives. In 646 games, Turner made 613 starts, averaged 14.1 points, blocked 1,412 shots, and made 756 3-pointers. Who have the Pacers replaced him with in the center rotation?
Jackson, who at 6-foot-8 is more of a power forward, has been the primary choice in the starting lineup so far this season. In his career, he has averaged 7.1 points and 1.3 blocks, and started 34 of 168 career games - the highest portion of any of Indiana's three options.
Huff has career averages of 5.4 points per game, 0.7 blocks per game, and three career starts. He is a respectable third-center backup, but that's the guy the team hyped up as its new rim protector? Yikes.
Eight-year veteran Tony Bradley rounds out the rotation. He clocks in career figures of 4.5 points per game, 0.6 blocks per game, and 18 starts. He has barely played in the NBA during the past three seasons.
Adding insult to injury, the Pacers also cut James Wiseman, a former No. 2 pick whose career has been derailed by health issues. While in theory he has the most upside of any center on the roster, he could not beat out the likes of Huff, Bradley, or Jackson. His departure throws cold water on the roster's last glimmer of real hope.
If that wasn't bad enough, Obi Toppin, a serviceable if undersized option at the five, is out at least a month with a hamstring injury.
Even if Indiana fans won't admit it, as much as they piled on Turner for a lackluster Finals performance and then for joining their fiercest rival, they probably wouldn't mind having him back. Perhaps the four-year, $109 million contract the Bucks gave him no longer seems like such an exorbitant cost for a starting-caliber center. A budding disaster, the Pacers' woes at the center spot have no fix in sight.