Just a year removed from the Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers are undergoing a hasty transition. The 2014-15 season was largely a lost one for the Indiana Pacers with the injury to Paul George, but they were given the 11th pick to play with as a vital offseason begins. 

Myles Turner may not provide an immediate impact at the age of 19, but the front office fell in love with his versatility and drive. A big man that can stretch the floor on offense and protect the rim on defense, he will prove valuable to the Pacers as he continues to mature.

There may be some growing pains -- most teams and evaluators consider Turner raw at this stage of his career -- but with or without David West and Roy Hibbert on the roster next season Turner is a fit.

The Pacers haven’t received official word from West that he will opt-out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent, while news broke a few hours after Indiana used the No. 11 pick that Hibbert would opt-in to the $15.5 million he’s owed for 15-16.

Turner represents the building block of an altered style. Larry Bird made it very clear after the season ended that the Pacers want to play faster, something impossible with West or Hibbert on the floor. Bird mentioned Paul George sliding over to the four at times, allowing the team to adapt to smaller opponents, but Frank Vogel’s defense favors size. Turner will give Vogel just that in the paint. He played in a disjointed system at Texas and has showed a better ability to get up-and-down the floor during workouts.

“I think it’s a perfect style of play for me,” Turner said. “I feel like I’m starting to get up and down the floor a lot better than I was at the collegiate level. I like playing fast. It’s what the NBA game is starting to turn into.”

He has plenty of room to grow, but his rise has already been fairly meteoric. Like Hibbert before him, basketball wasn’t always his expected career path. Turner played baseball before a growth spurt made basketball more realistic. It wasn’t all that long ago that playing in the NBA wasn’t on his radar.

“My junior year of high school,” he told RealGM on Wednesday of when the NBA become a possibility. “Once I finally started to create a buzz for myself. I started to perform better in high school, better against my peers in the AAU circuit. That’s when I realized that I might be able to do something special with this.”

Once Turner began to create a “buzz” things took off quickly. He was ESPN’s No. 2 overall prospect after his senior season at Euless Trinity High School in Bedford, Texas. 

“Basketball was something I did for fun when I was younger. It’s not really anything I really took that serious, and I think that there was a lot of obstacles in my way that were telling me I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said at the Barclays Center. “As far as whether it was people telling me that I’m not going to be any good at this, tall, lanky and goofy. Why are you playing? Whether it was having a big injury a couple summers ago. There were a lot of things that came my way, but I overcame it through my faith, hard work and dedication.” 

Basketball came later for Turner than almost all of his fellow draftees, but few have withstood as much. He endured the death of his middle school teammate and close friend Habram Rosario, who passed away of leukemia when Turner was in ninth grade. He wears No. 52 in Rosario’s honor.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here,” he said. “I wasn’t supposed to be here. I’ve been through a lot, and I’m happy to be part of the Indiana organization now, and I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to give everything to the city of Indianapolis and the organization itself.”

With the NBA placing less emphasis on defined positions, Turner could carve out a nice role for himself with the Pacers. Early on, he should be able to hold his own as a four or five. It remains to be seen exactly how far out his range will extend in the NBA, but making him a full-time stretch big wouldn’t be as big a project as with some bigs. 

“That’s one thing I pride myself on being able to do, defend multiple positions, play multiple positions,” he said.

The Pacers are adjusting their style of play, but with a fully healthy Paul George on the roster they plan to compete. Turner is ready to do just that.

“I’m a competitor,” said Turner, who then took another swing at his detractors. “I love proving people wrong. That’s one thing that’s always kept me going.”