The Indiana Pacers have played extremely well of late after losing their first three games as they are now 5-4 after winning five of their last six. A lot of this winning has to do with the great play of Paul George but they have also gotten nice contributions from other players including rookie Myles Turner. Turner has a fractured thumb now and is expected to miss about a month and in his absence Jordan Hill will likely have a bigger role, according to Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star.
Turner fractured his thumb in the first quarter of the Pacers game against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday and it he reportedly has it heavily wrapped as he waits for it to heal. The rookie was averaging 15.9 minutes per game and 6.1 points so while he wasn't the biggest of factors he was still making a difference for the Pacers.
With Turner out head coach Frank Vogel expects Hill to play an even bigger role than the one he has already been playing. Hill is averaging 9.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game so far this season but those minutes should go up without Turner in the fold. Turner has been the backup center for the Pacers so far this season but they have actually been playing three big men off the bench including Turner, Hill and Lavoy Allen. It would seem as though both Allen and Hill would be the guys that benefit the most here but Hill is the one that Vogel named and he is ready for a role increase.
"I'm ready for it,i t's tough that Myles is gone, but now we can't have a slump. We still have to continue to compete and play well," said Hill.
Hill has been spending most of his time this season at the power forward spot but he has plenty of experience playing center and should be able to fill in just fine for Turner. Hill is not quite as good a defender as Turner is but he does bring more to the table on offense and on the glass so the Pacers should be able to adapt just fine. The biggest issue here is that Turner was getting a lot of experience as a rookie playing a lot of minutes and learning the game so this injury will set back his development a little bit. In the short-term though, the Pacers won't lose much of anything with Hill expected to get more playing time.