The Indiana Pacers were contenders for the Eastern Conference championship for five years, but when last season began and the squad was without superstar Paul George fans knew it was going to be a season where the fat would be cut from the bone. The team was not going to make the playoffs and it would be more of a season of evaluation where the future of the team would be decided.

Well, the season went like many had predicted; a ninth place finish in the Conference, no trip to the postseason, and looming questions about if the squad would ever be able to take the next step in actually representing the Eastern Conference in an NBA Finals.

Like so many non-playoff teams in the league before, you can’t run to an NBA Finals; you first need to crawl, and the beginning baby steps are always the NBA draft. The Pacers had positioned themselves well, a lottery pick for the first time in years gave many fans hope that a running mate to Paul George would be brought into town, and Indiana would again be regarded as one of the top teams in the East.

Then Commissioner Adam Silver read, “with the 11^th pick in the 2015 NBA draft the Indiana Pacers select Myles Turner.” A collective gasp was let out by all Pacers fans in attendance, followed by the audible boos that come at every draft when fans feel that just by a player putting on a hat and holding up a jersey the future of the franchise is already doomed.

Turner was a strange pick for the Pacers at the time: the 6-foot-11, 238-pound center was just a smaller, less efficient version of Roy Hibbert. Turner was one of the most highly touted recruits out of high school but had severely underwhelmed at Texas and many scouts believed he would be late first-round pick at best.

But the Pacers front office may have outsmarted even the most well-traveled scouts as Myles Turner has been one of if not the most impressive performers at NBA Summer League thus far.

“He could end up being the steal of the draft. He’s been as impressive,if not the most impressive guy here.” —@GregAnthony50 on Myles Turner

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 9, 2015

In the three games that the Pacers’ new center saw action in at the Orlando Summer League, he averaged 18.7 points, 8.3 rebounds (3.0 offensive) and a ridiculous 4.3 blocks per game. With Hibbert shipped off to the Lakers, Turner will be the center of the future and looks like he actually may be an upgrade from Hibbert, who often looked like it was hard enough for him to run end-to-end on a NBA floor let alone provide a spark on either ends of the floor.

For a player that came into the draft with so much negative attention surrounding him, it’s a welcomed surprise for Pacers fans to see Turner looking like the dominant presence he was supposed to be coming out of high school. His defensive game was never in question, but the 18.7 point average is something no one saw coming. Also for a player that many thought possessed similar athletic ability to Hibbert, or lack thereof, Turner has looked like a track star compared to what he was supposed to be.

The Pacers also added Monte Ellis this offseason to be a second scoring option to Paul George this season. If Turner can keep improving on his already impressive all-around game the Pacers may be contenders sooner than later, and Turner could be the main reason why.

Douglas Ammon is an NBA Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Who covers all things about the Association, follow him on Twitter @DA76er