Larry Bird: Don't expect Myles Turner, Joe Young to sit

Larry Bird had one thing he wanted heard Wednesday. That was clear.

As he stood at the microphone inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse -- presumably there to talk about the Indiana Pacers new practice facility -- he strayed off subject.

"You forgot to introduce the two young men that's most important to me here today," the team president said. We guess he was directing that comment to Bill Benner, Pacers VP of corporate, community and public relations, who had made introductions. "That's Myles Turner and Joe Young."

The rookies sat in the front row of the Bankers Life pavilion, there to unveil the Pacers practice jerseys with a St. Vincent logo. It was announced that the new practice facility would be named the St. Vincent Center and that's what Bird was supposed to be talking about.

But he had to let the crowd know something else first, about the draft picks.

These guys won't be sitting the bench.

"(I) expect great things out of them this year," Bird said. "Usually, you bring in rookies and you say nice things about them then they don't play for a couple years. But I expect both of these guys to play, play well. They are very talented."

The Pacers selected Turner with the No. 11 pick in the NBA Draft. The 7-0, 239-pound center gives the Pacers a change of pace after years with big man Roy Hibbert.

Turner is a different kind of big man, who the team hopes will be spotting up from 3-point range and protecting the rim.

The 19-year-old Turner averaged 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks to earn Big 12 Freshman of the Year in his only season at Texas.

Young, the Pacers second round draft pick, was the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year, who averaged 20.7 points a game as a senior with Oregon.

"Joe's going to push the ball and make shots. He's active," Bird said at the time of the draft. "We liked Joe all year, pretty surprised he'd be there but he's there and we got him and now we just got to get him integrated into what we're trying to do and hopefully we can get the ball up and down the court a little bit faster."

Bird said then he felt Young "has a good chance" to make the Pacers' 2015-16 roster, especially considering the team's lack of point guard depth.

Follow Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.