Evan Turner has blown me away with his improvement and I must say I was one of his biggest detractors at the start of his tenure here.
Even at the start of this season he made me yell at the TV with his turnovers and horrid shot selection and his hatred of passing the ball to Marcus Smart.
I thought he was basically going to end up as trade fodder but boy has he proved me completely wrong.
*his defense has improved immensely.
*his decision making as the ball handler has improved immensely.
*rather than attempting to finish at the rim like had done for the earlier majority of his career, he's found an excellent balance of taking the 'Turner' 5-8 feet jumpshot and mixed it up with his layup finishes- making it much harder for defenders to commit to him around the basket and giving up a tonne of open looks to team mates and shooters on the 3 pt line.
I'm honestly dumbfounded at how much he's improved and it's a testament to both him and Brad Stevens. He's accepted his bench role, he's started passing the ball more and he's taking much better overall shots.
I'd say he's a pretty crucial signing for us as our 6th man and I hope that he hires a shooting coach in the offseason. He seems to love it in Boston and he loves Stevens.
If Evan Turner can expand his game and start shooting the 3 at over 35% he could be one of the best bargain contracts in the league.
I think Danny will throw something like 4 or 5 years and 30-35 million at him and see if he bites.
My apologies Evan. You have proven many of us absolutely wrong about you and I love it.
If I could compare Evan Turner to another NBA player, I'd say he's like a poor man's DeMar DeRozan. Can't shoot, but gets to the paint and finishes pretty well. Doesn't get to the line like DeRozan, but finishes those 5 ft jumpshots better than pretty much anyone else in the NBA.
If he can somehow improve his shooting from beyond the arc he'd be one of the better point forwards in the NBA because he's become an all round two way player- valuable on both ends.