They said the dominoes would fall after LeBron James decided on his free agency destination. Lo and behold, Evan Turner has made his own decision following in that massive shadow by signing with the Boston Celtics, clearly eager to stay in the same conference as LeBron so as to challenge for supremacy of the East’s best small forward.
A look at the highs and lows of Evan Turner’s career so far
The former No. 2 overall pick has had his share of scatological and basketball problems in his four-year career so far.
Rob Carr
Lest we forget, Evan Turner’s career has actually not been a constant crescendo since becoming the second pick in the 2010 draft. We’re here to examine his highs and lows.
LOW POINT: ROUGH POOPS
I been on the toilet all night, my butt crack feels like it has sun burn #pause. I'm so annoyed
— evan turner (@thekidet) June 19, 2012 HIGH POINT: OTHER POOPS THAT GO MUCH BETTER, PRESUMABLY
LOW POINT: MORE POOP PROBLEMS AFTER BEING UNABLE TO USE SPENCER HAWES’ TOILET PAPER
HIGH POINT: RACKING UP BIG NUMBERS IN THE UPTEMPO 76ERS OFFENSE
The 76ers zipped up and down the court to earn the fastest pace in the NBA last season, despite also holding the league’s worst offensive efficiency and 26th-ranked defensive efficiency. So his numbers were significantly inflated by a faster pace, which were at least more attractive than past numbers on the surface and seemed to imply serious development in his game.
LOW POINT: BEING ON THE 2013-14 PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
Turner helped Philly rack up 15 wins in 54 games, finishing his Sixers career stint on a nine-game losing streak, capped by a 29-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in his last game on the team.
HIGH POINT: BEING TRADED FROM THE 2013-14 PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
The next installment of the Escape from [KURT RUSSEL-INHABITED CITY HELLSCAPE X]
LOW POINT: FALLING BACK TO EARTH
Hey, so remember how we were talking about how the 76ers’ uptempo offense helped increase Turner’s stats? Well then he was traded to the Pacers and he again became the Turner we knew already. Transitioning from the blazing Philly offense to the slower Indiana pace must have been fun, though Turner assuredly was familiar with it after years under Doug Collins’ coaching. Anyway, with a slower pace and a smaller, more reasonable role than what he had as the leader of a 76ers team that wanted to scrape the bottom of the barrel, Turner returned to his earlier struggles as the Pacers crawled to an extremely underwhelming finish to their season.
LOWEST POINT: GETTING IN A FIGHT WITH LANCE STEPHENSON BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS
Amid the Pacers’ fall from grace as a top-seed team in the East to the butt of jokes in the final months of the season, Turner and Lance Stephenson engaged in a fight just before the playoffs during a practice. The Pacers would nonetheless march on to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Heat, and Turner’s minutes were inconsistent with a few decent games before receiving DNPs in the final series.
HIGH POINT: RECEIVE NEW CONTRACT
Indiana declined to extend a qualifying offer of $8.7 million to Turner, making him an unrestricted free agent. Instead he decided to sign a new contract with the Boston Celtics, reportedly for a piece of their mid-level exception. Maybe he can find a new fit with a better role than what he had for the Pacers, which clashed with Stephenson’s role off the bench.
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