Brad Stevens saw the worst of Evan Turner last season but that allowed him to pinpoint where his true strengths are. Turner continues to be a primary ball handler but he has transformed how he handles the offense. Turner is adapting his game to not only fit better into Stevens’ system, but his adjustments have also allowed his effectiveness to be maximized.
The biggest change to Turner’s game this season has been his three point shooting. Turner was inexplicably and unacceptably horrible from three point range. It was a large portion of his game last season and when this season began he was hurting the team any time he took a three pointer. Then, Turner appeared to completely eliminate the three point shot from his arsenal and his efficiency sky rocketed.
Turner stuck to his mid range shot and game in the paint and it allowed him to cut out the negative plays. Turner appeared determined to find better options and began passing up on any three point shot opportunity, no matter how wide open he was. By forcing himself to pass on almost any three pointer, Turner was able to get a better idea of what would really be a good three pointer for him.
Turner is still one of the least active Celtics players from beyond the arc, but he has found a way to make the three point shot an effective option for him, even if it is one of the smallest parts of his offensive game. Turner is starting to prove that he is capable of having an impact shooting the three ball as long as the shot selection does not hold him back.
Turner realizes that if he is taking a contested three pointer, then he is better off either getting into the paint or passing it off. The biggest difference as of late is that Turner is starting to take the truly wide open opportunities, and he is finally hitting them. The sample size is incredibly small because of how few three pointers he has taken over this period, however, Turner is now shooting just above 58% from three point range since the All Star Break. Somehow, the same player who couldn’t be trusted to hit even 20% of his threes, has found a way to be one of the more efficient three point shooters on the team.
The fear is that his recent success may cause Turner to revert back to the player that jacked up off balance and contested three pointers. However, his improvement from three point range is right in line with his overall improvement this season and there are no indications that he will revert back to the horrible liability from three. The biggest issue in Turner’s game last season was mental. He simply could not handle the play making responsibility and his role put him in positions where too much was forced on the offensive end, and when Turner is not making proper decisions, his bad play far outweighs the good.
Part of the problem was also that Turner still did not know exactly what would be a good decision on his part. Turner’s game was wild and undefined last season and the structure of Stevens’ offense this season is utilizing all the good things that were happening far too infrequently last season.
Turner has proven this season that he is willing to make the adjustments that are needed for him to eliminate the negative plays that killed the Celtics last year. Even with his awful offensive decision making last season, he always showed great potential as a distributor and that continues to pay off this year. Turner is behind only Isaiah Thomas in assists on the team and he has become the most important player on the second unit. Turner has been the most important player in maintaining the edge the Celtics’ second unit gets and that makes him one of the more important players to the team as a whole. Turner, to a lesser extent, has taken over the bench role that Thomas was so successful in last season.
Last season many questioned whether Turner should have any role on the Celtics and that is because he and Stevens were yet to discover how to optimize his game. They knew the physical talent was there, they simply needed enough time to harness his decision making and mentality on the court. Turner has seen his usage rate go down with his PER increasing. Turner has a smaller role but the Celtics have managed to reduce his responsibilities, while he has more positive plays on the court.
Turner has seen his turnover rate drop and his shooting percentage sky rocket, despite taking the exact same amount of shots per game. Three point shooting was the only truly glaring problem that persisted from last season into this year but Turner’s dedication is starting to flip that script too.
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Last season, there were many times when it appeared baffling that Stevens continued to give Turner such a large role. Now that he is optimizing his talents and adjusting his game properly, it is becoming a lot easier to see the talent and potential that Stevens has seen all along.