In an alternate universe, where Karl-Anthony Towns stays in school and Kristaps Porzingis plays tennis, everyone in the NBA is drooling over Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers right now.

On Monday, he humiliated LeBron James in a way maybe five or six human beings ever have. Two weeks ago, he dropped 31 points on the Golden State Warriors, and Indiana outscored the defending champs by one point in the 28 minutes Turner was on the floor. The next night, against DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings, the rookie recorded an 11-point, six-rebound, five-block bonanza—the rare box score 19-year-old’s don’t post unless their name is Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Andre Drummond, etc.

The Pacers lost all three of those games, but defeated the Atlanta Hawks in Turner’s first career start last Thursday. He scored 20 points and Indiana won by 19. This has the making of a special situation. Over his last 10 games, Turner is averaging 15.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks.

As the NBA’s sixth youngest player, the still-growing Turner is nearly seven-feet tall with a 7’4” wingspan (about an inch shorter than Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis). He runs like a scared horse, and is about as aggressive and antsy as you’d expect any teenager with limitless energy and physical ability to be. Watch him in transition and it’s impossible not to get giddy. He glides up and down the court, snatches lobs from mid-air and constantly places pressure on the other team.

All the highlight-worthy blocks are sexy, but consistent effort caked over sound principles is a far more useful way to donate your time. Turner’s beginning to utilize verticality, and that’s great. Over the past couple weeks, he’s shown improvement peeling off his man to help at the rim.

But sometimes Turner has blinders on, and his eagerness to block a shot (instead of boxing out his own man) allows Indy’s opponent to feast on the offensive glass. The Pacers are an average defensive rebounding team when Turner’s off the court, but plummet to one of the worst units in the league with him activated. 

His rebounding isn’t there, and he’s yet to stretch his range behind the three-point line—zero makes on two attempts. But Turner’s unforeseen confidence has started to work in his favor from the mid-range, where he’s knocking down contested jumpers without hesitation. Nearly all his field goal attempts are either at the rim or in the deserted middle ground, and he’s well above league average from both spots. (Leave him open above the free-throw line and live to regret it.)

Most players, especially really young ones, tend to perform better when beside the best talent their team has to offer. Turner’s only appeared in one game with Paul George, George Hill, Monta Ellis and Ian Mahinmi also on the floor. That’s right: 21 minutes this entire season; that might be the team’s very best five-man unit.

Indiana’s offense craters when lineups featuring Turner and George share the floor (318 minutes worth), but its defense is fantastic. Right now, it looks like this combination is Indiana’s entire future: a 25-year-old, top-15 player teaming up with an athletic, rangy big who can shoot, dive and defend.

Turner’s development can change everything. Today, they’re a well-coached amoeba in danger of wasting George’s prime. It’s too early to definitively state whether Turner will be good enough to serve as George’s sidekick (or equal), but it’s fair to wonder how much higher he’d go on draft night if teams knew then what they know now.

Do the Orlando Magic draft him? The Sacramento Kings? What about the Detroit Pistons or Charlotte Hornets? Turner has the skill-set to evolve into either a stretch four or five, and it’s far from hyperbolic to envision him making half a dozen All-Defensive teams over the next 10 years.

The only lottery pick who’s seen less action this season is Oklahoma City’s Cameron Payne. Turner barely has 500 minutes under his belt. But so much of his play lets your mind wander.  Some extremely useful skills have already shown their face in his game, and Indiana—a club that essentially needs to build through the draft—could be closer to their next Conference Finals than they thought.

And if worse comes to worst, and George turns into the NBA’s next disgruntled superstar, Indiana can feel a tiny bit better about cashing out with Turner in their back pocket as the organization’s next franchise player.

When that’s an absolute worst-case scenario, things aren’t really that bad.