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INDIANAPOLIS — Myles Turner is not a legitimate threat to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Sorry, Indiana Pacers, fans, but it’s true.

It isn’t that he’s unworthy. He is. The budding 6-foot-11 star out of Texas impacts the game in a way few others can. As his nightly block parties attest, he more than passes the eye test for a DPOY candidate.

He breezes through the background check, as well. His credentials are either flat-out gaudy (league-high 2.7 blocks per game) or good enough to rank him above or among the game’s elite (99.6 defensive rating, third best in the NBA). He even boasts the usually critical component of being the top-rated defender on one of the league’s best defenses — the Pacers rank second to Milwaukee, surrendering just 104.1 points per 100 possessions.

The last four DPOY winners — Rudy Gobert, Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard (twice) — each played on a top-three defense.

Still, Myles Turner most likely isn’t a real threat to win defensive player of the year.

Why?

Because while he’s playing his fourth NBA season, he’s still somewhat new to the national stage. His name is not yet synonymous with defensive dominance.

Turner has done well to garner a reputation as a formidable lane presence but never — before this season — has he been thought of in the same company as the league’s other elite defenders.

That’s not a guess. That’s the truth.

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After each of his first three professional seasons, Turner didn't receive a single All NBA Defensive Team vote. Not one. That’s no knock on the voters — who have been known to drop the ball from time to time — or Turner. While he turned in some fine defensive campaigns in his first three seasons, none holds a candle to his latest display.

Turner is not only cooking up more “Smothered Chickens” than any other defender in the league, he’s changed the way teams attack the Pacers.

He’s become such a master at both blocking and altering shots that his teammates swear some opponents are afraid to attack the lane when he’s on the court.

"Many have tried (going at him)," Cory Joseph laughed. "And many have failed."

Pacers foes shoot 8.8 percent worse than average from within six feet of the basket when Turner is on the floor, a number that ties him with the reigning DPOY, Gobert, and ranks higher than Andre Drummond (4.9) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (8.0).

In only 53 games, Turner has already accumulated 3.4 defensive win shares — a stat that attempts to measure a player’s impact on the game — according to pro basketball reference. That’s nearly as many as he accrued in 81 games in 2015-16 (3.7) and good for sixth in the league behind Antetokounmpo (4.3), Gobert (3.9), Drummond (3.8), Paul George (3.7) and Russell Westbrook (3.6).

Myles Turner Best Blocks This Season | NBA.com

So, by rights, this should be the first time Turner garners national recognition for his defensive prowess. Four years into his NBA career, and he’s evolved into the rim-protecting menace the Pacers drafted him to be. However, this being Turner’s coming out party poses a problem.

First-time elite defenders don’t win NBA Defensive Player of the Year. They have to wait their turn. Almost always, a player must be named to one of the NBA’s all-defensive teams before he is allowed to be crowned the league’s top defender.

Only once in the past 15 years has the award gone to a player who had never earned an all-defensive team nod. (Inexplicably, despite winning DPOY in 2012-13, Marc Gasol was named only to the NBA All Defensive Second Team that year). However, Gasol had earned All Defensive Team votes the year before.

Because Turner has yet to achieve even that, it makes his odds of winning DPOY quite slim.

Making matters worse for Turner’s candidacy is that while he’s enjoying a phenomenal season, he doesn’t have a clear-cut case that he’s far and away the league's top defender.

Antetokounmpo paces the league in defensive win-shares and boasts the ability to guard all five positions. George and Leonard draw nightly assignments against the NBA’s best wing players and come out on top more often that not. George also leads the league in steals per game (2.3) and is second in deflections (3.7).

And despite trailing Turner in blocks, Hassan Whiteside — a full point better than Turner in defensive rating at 98.6 — can make a compelling case that he's a more formidable lane presence.

Turner can’t even boast that he makes his team that much better. The Pacers, according to NBA.com, are only a slightly worse defense with Turner off the court than when he’s on it. They allow 101.4 points per 100 possessions with him on the court and 103.3 when he’s off it (+1.9).

That speaks to the quality of the defenders Turner is surrounded by. The Pacers boast a hoard of rotation players who grade out above average on defense, including Turner's frontcourt mates. Thaddeus Young is 10th in defensive win-shares (3.0), while Domantas Sabonis ranks 17th (2.7). And don't forget, even though he only played half the season, Victor Oladipo was a All NBA Defensive First-teamer last year.

That's a far cry from what someone like George has to work with. His Oklahoma City teammates surrender only 101.9 points per 100 possession with George leading the way but 109.1 without him (+7.2). By this measure, which is admittedly imperfect, George's presence transforms the Thunder from a mediocre defensive team into an elite one. Turner can't say the same.

Combine these facts with Turner’s relative lack of star power and national recognition, and he’s going to have a tough time garnering serious traction in the DPOY voting.

Fortunately for him and Pacers fans, there’s a silver lining here.

He’s only 22! He’s still growing into his body and patiently awaiting his physical peak. There's ample reason to believe what's next from Turner will be bigger and better. And if that happens, Pacers fans will look back at this season as the year he thrust himself into the national spotlight and established himself as one of the league's elite defenders.

Until then, he’ll just have to settle for a few DPOY votes and a spot one of the NBA’s all-defensive teams.

There are worse fates.

Follow IndyStar Sports reporter on Twitter and Facebook: @jimayello