Evan Turner revived his career with the Boston Celtics after struggling to live up to his draft-day status with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers. But he will be a free agent this summer and could, realistically, head elsewhere.
Not because the Celtics don’t value him, but because, amid the impending salary cap boom, every team with money to burn may value him.
From CSNNE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely:
But Turner has been the one Celtic that league sources have told CSNNE.com would be the best fit for any team.
“You hear players talk all the time about doing whatever it takes to win, but he’s doing it,” one executive told CSNNE.com. “Start, come off the bench, play a few minutes, play a lot of minutes. He’s done everything they’ve asked him to do and from what I hear, hasn’t grumbled a day about it. Every team needs a guy like that in their locker room.”
…
But more than the scoring on the court, Turner is also scoring points in the eyes of NBA execs with the impact he has made on the Celtics winning games – a huge intangible that might separate him from some other second-tier free agents not named Kevin Durant.
“If you’re looking for him to come in and put X-amount of points and X-amount of assists per game and shot this or that from the field, he’s probably not your guy,” another league executive texted CSNNE.com recently. “He helps you win games. That’s probably his greatest strength.”
Turner’s jump shot is still worse than a crap shoot. But he does just about everything else really well. He can defend multiple positions, from point guards to power forwards, and the Celtics are able to use him as a pseudo point guard whenever they want to run Isaiah Thomas off the ball. Turner is a defensive pest, he can thrive within a fast-paced system and his rebounding, though statistically average, always seem to fit the role Boston has him playing.
Just two other players matched Turner’s regular season assist, rebounding, steal and block percentages, according to Basketball-Reference: Draymond Green and LeBron James. That’s it.
Translation: Evan Turner is going to get obnoxiously paid this summer, well into eight figures annually, even if it’s not by the Celtics.
