The college game and the pro game are worlds apart and not everyone makes the transition as quickly as others. Number 2 overall pick in last year’s Draft, Evan Turner, isn’t adjusting that rapidly. To say that he has gotten off to a slow start in his NBA career would be the understatement of the season.
Last year at Ohio State, Turner was Mr. Everything for the Buckeyes. In his junior campaign, he averaged 20.4 points and 9.2 boards for the Big 10 school, while earning National Player of the Year honors. While not blessed with jaw dropping athleticism, he proved that he had the fundamentals necessary to be the best player in the land.
Once thought to be the air apparent to Andre Iguodala and his frequent trade rumors, it appears as if the pro game is too fast for Turner at this stage of his young career. At Ohio State, he was very deliberate and methodical in what he did, while still managing to be extremely effective. It doesn’t seem like that’s working for him yet. In 25 minutes of play per contest, Turner is averaging 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds for the 6ers. He is so far off the pace of the other first year players this year that he was left off the Rookie Challenge squad.
Now, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, participating in this dunk contest masked as a game, doesn’t really mean much. In two years, nobody will even remember who did and did not make the squad. But when I saw the rosters, and noticed that him name wasn’t there, if nothing else it told me that he is performing way below his peers.
Here are the squads for the game:
Rookies
Eric Bledsoe, L.A. Clippers
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento
Derrick Favors, New Jersey
Landry Fields, New York
Blake Griffin, L.A. Clippers
Wesley Johnson, Minnesota
Greg Monroe, Detroit
Gary Neal, San Antonio
John Wall, Washington
Sophomores
DeJuan Blair, San Antonio
DeMar DeRozan, Toronto
Stephen Curry, Golden State
Tyreke Evans, Sacramento
Taj Gibson, Chicago
Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia
Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City
Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee
Wesley Matthews, Portland
This game usually isn’t that competitive, but the Rookie roster looks a little better than the soph’s to me. The Rookies won last year and I expect that streak to continue.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
