Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for Evan Turner

Strengths

Evan Turner’s biggest strengths are his body and his playmaking ability. He measures at 6’7″ and 220 pounds, essentially the size of the average NBA player. He is able to use his build to gain leverage on opponents. For instance, Synergy Sports shows that he produced 0.97 points per possession on post-up plays, putting him in the 75th percentile.

In terms of playmaking, head coach Terry Stotts liked to use Turner as a tertiary ball-handler in his first season with the team. However, that role was affected in 2017-18 by the increased presence of Shabazz Napier.

As a result, his usage rate took a hit, dropping from 18.5 percent to 15.6 percent. Still, he ended up fourth on the team in assists per 36 minutes with 3.1, trailing only Napier and the star backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.

His ability as a point forward made him fairly useful in the drive-and-kick game. Turner averaged 3.5 drives per game, ending them with passes to the open man 20.9 percent of the time. Also, 6.1 percent of his drives ended with an assist. The 2.3 points per game he scored off drives were the third-most on the team.