Doyel: Move to Turner gives Pacers an identity

• Nuggets at Pacers, 7 p.m. Saturday, FSI

This move is going to work – this move already is working – even though it shouldn’t. Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird spent the last two years plotting the team’s transition from big to small, and he spent this past offseason reshaping the roster in that image, giving coach Frank Vogel a team heavy on wings and light on proven post players.

Abandoning the futuristic small-ball movement after 45 games to revert to a lineup straight out of 2012, with twin towers in the post? It’s a disaster. Or should be.

But isn’t. And won’t be.

Because Myles Turner is that good.

He’s that good right now, this 19-year-old rookie scoring 20 points in his first NBA start on Thursday night as the Pacers pummeled the Atlanta Hawks 111-92. The future is scary for the Pacers if they can tighten up a few issues. They need a point guard, and they need better leadership out of Paul George, and please, please bear with me.

Today is a day to celebrate if you’re a Pacers fan, because today is the day the Pacers finally have an identity. Until Vogel made the lineup move that will define this season, inserting Myles Turner for Lavoy Allen – who had been starting for undersized power forward C.J. Miles – the Pacers didn’t know what they were.

Big or small? Offense or defense? Ideally a team can do all things, but at its core it needs an identity – and until Thursday the Pacers were identity-less. They tried to be everything, which made them nothing.

Insider: Myles Turner replaces small ball for Pacers

Now they are this: They will protect the rim at a high level with Turner and Ian Mahinmi at one end, and they will space the floor at the other with Paul George among all those wings, and with Turner being such a great shooter out to 20 feet.

“It’s something I believe will be good for us,” Vogel said after the game. “We dominated the glass, dominated with defense, and I think this team will be able to score the ball better than any team we’ve had.”

As for Turner’s first game as a starter …

“Lot of what I expected,” Vogel said. “He’s confident offensively, which we need. Like to see him rebound a little bit more. I thought he played a good game. It’s going to be a little bit of a roller coaster … but overall a really solid performance.”

This is exciting, if you’re a Pacers fan, because Myles Turner is going to be a star. I'll tell you which NBA star he's going to be like in a minute, but first understand that this entire season – Bird’s franchise shift from big to small – was undermined by Paul George. Remember when George balked at playing power forward this summer? Bird answered: “He don’t make the decisions around here.”

Um …

Yes he does.

Paul George didn't want to play power forward, and look what transpired. From the opening week he complained about it, and eventually Vogel had to play a much smaller guy at the four – C.J. Miles is 6-6; George is 6-9 – so his best player could get what he wanted without tearing apart team chemistry.

That really happened. Don’t be mad at me for pointing it out, OK?

An hour after the game Thursday night, in an otherwise empty Pacers locker room, Paul George emerged from the shower. He dressed, pulled on a specially made Pacers beanie that had "King George" written in gold letters, and listened as I asked him if Myles Turner at power forward means Paul George got what he wanted.

"Yeah," he said.

How do you think that looks, I asked.

"Looks good," he said. "We feel comfortable that way."

No, I said. How does it look for you, that you got what you wanted.

"At the end of the day," he said, "it's just about us being all together and playing well."

Being all together, yes. Without naming names Bird has complained about the team’s leadership at various times this season, to me and other media members, an indirect shot at George. Because if a team has a truly dominant superstar, he’s the leader. He has to be. For better or worse, a top-10 player in the NBA sets the tone for his franchise.

Paul George is a top-10 player in the NBA. The tone he has set?

He makes the decisions around here.

That’s dangerous territory, because they won’t always work out as well as this one will. And this one will. Myles Turner is no flash in the pan, and his debut as a starter – 20 points in a blowout of the Hawks – was no fluke. In his last six games Turner is averaging 19.7 points and 2.7 blocked shots while shooting 64 percent from the floor.

He might not keep up that pace the rest of the season – but he might. On a per-minute basis, Turner is second on the team in scoring behind only Paul George. Give him the minutes, and he will be Robin to George’s Batman, a superhero the Pacers have lacked all season. Monta Ellis was signed to be that guy but has fallen short (though he’s averaging 18.2 ppg since having some undisclosed work done to his surgically repaired knee six games ago). C.J. Miles can be that guy when his shot is falling, but his streakiness is legendary. George Hill is a very good third or fourth option, but simply not a star.

Myles Turner will be a star.

He could be LaMarcus Aldridge, I’m saying, and people a lot smarter than me have been saying that for years. His coach at Texas, Rick Barnes, told him that Aldridge – an ex-Longhorns star – was his prototype. Paul George, unprompted, told me before the season that Turner “has that LaMarcus Aldridge game.”

Doyel: Is Pacers rookie Myles Turner better than we think?

The numbers back it up. Check out their freshman production at Texas.

Aldridge in 2004-05: 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds in 22.2 minutes.

Turner in 2014-15: 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds in 22.2 minutes.

Check out their first-year numbers in the NBA, and remember that Aldridge spent a second year in college while Turner jumped straight to the NBA after one season:

Aldridge in 2006-07: 9.0 ppg, 5.0 rbg, 1.2 blocks.

Turner this season: 9.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.3 blocks.

Per 36 minutes? Turner is better – much better – than Aldridge was as a rookie. See for yourself:

Aldridge per 36 minutes in 2006-07: 14.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.9 blocks.

Turner per 36 minutes: 19.1 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.7 blocks.

Aldridge took off as a second-year player, averaging 17.8 ppg, and since then he has gotten only better. Four-time All-Star. Second-team All-NBA last season.

Turner has to prove he can get there, but the trajectory is clear. And if you’ve seen him in the last two weeks, your eyes confirm what the numbers are telling you: He’s a rising star right now, and a big-time star in the future. He’s a pick-and-pop savant, teaming with Monta Ellis for a bucket late in the fourth quarter that gave the Pacers a 107-92 lead.

And he’s feeling good about it.

“I was pumped,” he said of his first NBA start. “I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life.”

Myles Turner is the real thing, and the Pacers are about to get – the Pacers just did get – a lot better. That’s great news, but it’s not the only news from Thursday night.

Also: Paul George has joined Bird and Vogel as the team’s leading decision-makers.

The Pacers future – Myles Turner and more – just got fascinating.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel

Nuggets at Pacers, 7 p.m. Saturday, FSI