Myles Turner spent just one season with the Texas Longhorns, but made a big impact and left for the NBA with Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors in hand. Now with the Indiana Pacers, Turner's rookie season ended in the first round with a game seven loss to the Toronto Raptors. Above, he makes an appearance on Longhorn Extra to catch up with his college program.
The 6-11 forward led the 'Horns in blocks and rebounding, and was third in scoring while averaging more than 22 minutes per game. He went No. 11 overall in the draft, and picked up where he left off by averaging 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as a rookie.
In a phone interview with LHN's Lowell Galindo, Turner first recalled what it was like playing in a game seven.
"It was incredible to go out there and have that opportunity to play against the No. 2 seed and take them all the way to a game seven," Turner says. "A lot of people were saying we weren't even going to make the playoffs, or saying we would get swept. To be able to fight our hearts out like that and experience that playoff run my first year — I wouldn't trade it for anything."
He wasn't too nervous, but admitted to being a little "uneasy" when the Toronto crowd started getting fired up. Raptors celebrity fan Drake was in the house, and Turner said the rapper gave him a pretty hard time.
"To be honest, he was someone I looked up to and all that, but during the game he was talking a lot, like, 'aw you only had one shot' or 'your soft,'" Turner says. "Yea, (he was talking trash). I was walking down the floor, I was lighting them up for a little while. He starts talking trash to me personally. I wasn't sure what to do. But after game seven he came up to me and said, 'hey you had a great series, good job.' He was showing me some love, so I definitely respected that."
Turner's worn out from the long season and looking forward to taking some time off before the summer league starts up. Check out the clip for the rest of the interview.