Farewell Evan Turner

It was not that long ago that it appeared as though the only place Evan Turner could flourish was with the Boston Celtics. Brad Stevens made it clear that he wanted Turner on his team and Turner even discussed potential home town discounts. Then, his interest rose, the deals started flying, and a man whose career was on the brink of ending before joining the Celtics, is now a $70 million man.

In a back court that features two great scorers in Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum, Turner’s play making ability will be incredibly valuable to the Portland Trailblazers, but he may never recapture the magic he had in Boston, a place where he was embraced by fans because of one of the most unique personalities in the league, and a place where Stevens gave him the unwarranted trust he needed to prove his worth. Based on this contract, Turner did everything he needed to make sure he proved his worth to the NBA.

The reality, however, is that even with the incoming cap increase and over $1 billion spent on the first day of free agency, the Celtics do not need Turner enough to pay him in that money. In fact, despite having a career year, there is a good chance that Turner would have seen his role reduced this season amongst one of the younger and more promising core of guards in the NBA.

The defensive depth he provided with his ability to play small forward may be what the Celtics miss most, but that is where Jaylen Brown is expected to come in and replace that impact.

In a back court that features Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart and with Terry Rozier and R.J Hunter waiting to take over bigger roles, Turner was never going to get paid as a starter. That, however, takes nothing away from the special impact he had in Boston as one of the most amazing and frustrating players the team has seen in a long time.

The biggest thing to take away from Turner’s time with Boston is how he embraced everything they tried to do, and even if had to greatly limit the way he attacked on offense, he always found ways to be effective and impact the game and proved that he was willing to adapt his game in order to grow as a player.

Over the past two seasons the Celtics have embraced the underdog mentally. They have embraced the criticism of their talent and they have used that as the motivation they needed to fight for the three seed in the east. Perhaps more so than anyone else, Turner embraced that role as an underdog and became the leader on one of the most important second units in the NBA. There were a lot of troubles, but game winning shots and thrilling triple doubles guaranteed he would always be one of the most entertaining players on the court.

It is unfortunate that the Celtics could not justify offering a permanent bench player the kind of money he would get by a team he could start for, but just as Boston can thank Turner for a highly entertaining tenure with the team, Turner can thank the Celtics for embracing him the way he needed to be embraced in order to become the player that he is today.

When turner joined the Celtics, he was just a fraction of the player he is today. The maddeningly inconsistent but talented player drove fans insane with bad play after bad play, while occasionally showing flashes of what made him the number two overall pick.

Turner took bad contested shots and continually overextended himself as a play maker, causing all kinds of problems for an offense that needs to flow well in order to be successful. Turner was an inefficient and ineffective turnover prone playmaker and had many people questioning Stevens’ sanity for continuing to give him significant minutes.

Then, the bad plays were slowly being cut out. Turner established a level of comfort in Stevens’ system and, together, they did everything that was needed to flip his script, turning him into an effective shooter and one of the most important play makers on the team with such guard depth.

As much as anyone else, Turner bought into what Stevens was trying to do and he made every necessary adjustment. In his final season with the Celtics, Turner emerged as their best mid range shooter, finishing around 40% of his shots in every area incised the three point line, while finishing above 60% at the rim. Turner attacked where he needed to attack and completely eliminated the three point shot from his arsenal. Turner cut out all the bad and attacked only where he could be most effective.

Turner also became one of the more balanced guards on the Celtics. He went form leading the Celtics with 5.5 assists per game to falling behind only Thomas with 4.4 assists per game. Meanwhile, he was one of the best rebounders on the team with around 5 rebounds per game in the last two seasons.

Everyone knew that Turner had talent and Brad Stevens may have been the only coach in the NBA that could have turned Turner into the player he is today. Turner turned his career around in Boston, and he rewarded them with some of their most exciting moments, while continually offering the best end of game quotes in the NBA. On a team that has often been looked at like a band of misfits, Turner was right at home and he may never recapture that special relationship he had with Boston.

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A true fan and coach favourite, Turner will be dearly missed in Boston, even if they made the right decision in letting him walk. Turner has dealt with a lot of hate and doubters in his career but he said it best himself “I don’t worry about it anymore. I don’t want to sound super weird, but Jesus was hated, too. At the end of the day, I just worry about the stuff that’s important. If it makes you happy to boo me, go ahead. I’m still happy. I put all that stuff behind me”.