Should Boston Celtics Lock Up Evan Turner Now?
Coming out of Ohio State University, Evan Turner had a resume that caused many to peg him as a future star in the NBA. In Turner’s junior year with the Buckeyes, he won the AP Player of the Year, the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award. Things haven’t turned out as we expected.
Evan has never won an award in the NBA — not a weekly, monthly or season award. His only appearance on a season leaderboard has been for games played, as he’s appeared in all 82 games twice (2012-13, 2014-15). To his credit, he’s only missed six regular season games in five seasons.
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After shooting 51.9 percent from the field in his final college season, he’s yet to shoot better than 44.6 percent (and is a career 42.7 percent shooter) in the pros. Still — if I’m Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics brass, I’m going to offer Turner an extension now, to lock him in as cheaply as possible.
Why? Because last year, he found something — the game seemed to slow down for him and without the pressure of having to score, he turned into a different kind of player. It feels like he’s been in the league longer, but Turner is only 26 years old. The 6-foot-7 small forward is still adapting and could turn into a Boris Diaw-type of player if things continue on the same path.
Turner was the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and toiled away on the Philadelphia 76ers for 3.5 seasons before being traded to the Indiana Pacers. He was largely counted on to score — as he did in college — but he just couldn’t put the ball in the bucket with any kind of efficiency, from anywhere on the court.
The Boston Celtics then snatched him up in September of 2014 for a cheap two-year deal worth $6.7 million. With averages of 9.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game (in 27.6 minutes) last year, he was a real value.
Turner’s season wasn’t legendary by any means, but no other player in the NBA put up nine rebounds, five rebounds and five assists in less than 31 minutes per game. Only 10 players did it without the minute restriction.
In the 57 games Turner started, he averaged 10.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists. In April, he averaged 10.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 8.1 assists. He’s wholly ineffective as a shooter (was just 12-for-58 from three in last three months), but he’s shown the ability to contribute in other ways.
Per NBA.com/stats, Turner was better than average defending the 3-point line, as he held opponents to 2.4 percent worse than their season average. Extend that to anything beyond 15 feet and he held opponents to .4 percent worse.
Let’s be clear about one thing — I’m not saying Turner deserves $10 million a year. I’m not saying he’s the best player on the team and I’m not saying he’ll be their Finals MVP. I am saying that he provides excellent production (for his cost) and if the Celtics offered him a two-year extension worth another $10 million that they’d come out way ahead.
What do you think, Celtics fans?