Nate McMillan sees plenty of similarities between LaMarcus Aldridge and Myles Turner’s games. In a recent radio interview, the new Pacers head coach went so far as to say, “It was almost like those guys were cloned.”
McMillan is as qualified as anyone to make the comparison. He coached Aldridge through the first six-and-a-half seasons of his career and spent the past season coaching Turner in Indiana.
The Pacers’ new head coach added that Turner is further along in his development than Aldridge—now a perennial All-Star—was at this stage in his career.
The 20-year-old out of Texas finished his rookie campaign strong, averaging 10.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in just over 28 minutes during the Playoffs.
From USA Today:
McMillan, who coached Aldridge for six-and-a-half seasons in Portland, didn’t flinch at the chance to compare the two.
“It was almost like those guys were cloned,” McMillan said. ” … the one thing that I loved about LaMarcus was the fact that he worked extremely hard. He stayed in the gym after practice, he was early to practice, and he really worked on developing his game. Myles Turner is exactly the same type of player. This kid loves to play.”
[…]
“He’s in the gym early, he stays late,” McMillan said. “He showed us that he will be able to step out to that three-point line and shoot the basketball. He might be, probably, a little ahead of LaMarcus at this stage.”
