Chronicles of an NBA Fan Free Agent
Posted on 27. Mar, 2010 at 10:27 am by bbryan in Basketball, Beer + Stuff
One of my favorite parts of the NCAA tournament is to get a glimpse of the up and coming players and get a read on whether or not they will make a good NBA player. Take Dwayne Wade when he was at Marquette for example. The way he effortlessly sliced through defenders and scored at will you could tell his game would easily translate to the next level. Same with Derek Rose, when a guy can dribble faster than others can sprint without the ball it’s a good bet his game will translate to the next level. On the other hand, some guys are obviously not going to translate over even though they do well at the college game. Take Tyrus Thomas for example. He was pretty athletic at LSU which allowed him to be pretty successful while going up against lesser athletes. He put together a nice little tournament run and catapulted himself into the top of the draft board. Problem was he didn’t have a single identifiable skill and when you get to the NBA, where athletic freaks are a dime a dozen, you need to be superman to get by with athleticism alone (see Dwight Howard, Josh Smith). And Thomas is no super man and has been a disappointment to those who thought he’d make it in the association (namely the Chicago Bulls). Today let’s examine Evan Turner, the man everyone is saying is the most NBA ready player in college basketball.
There’s a lot of talk that Evan Turner is the most NBA ready player in college basketball this year, and for good reason. As a Junior he’s more seasoned than John Wall. He’s put together a nice resume at Ohio State as a do-it-all player. But just because someone has a nice college resume it doesn’t mean he’ll be a good NBA player. My main question with Turner is where is he going to play? Rule out PG right from the get go, not nearly quick enough. Turner is not able to break down the defense when he needs to. While we are at it go ahead and rule out SF too. Not big enough or athletic enough for that position either. I’m not buying his 6′ 7” listing one bit. So that leaves SG. This is the best fit for Turner, now the problem becomes his skill level. He’s not nearly a good enough shooter to play this position in the NBA, and the fact that he has the second highest TO per game in the nation doesn’t say much for his skill level either. It would be one thing if he were running a fast paced offense, but these turnovers are coming from him trying to score. Something he’ll have an even harder time doing with the likes of Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade guarding him.
So remember you heard it here first. Evan Turner will make a solid journey man in the NBA. I could see him being a great bench player on a championship level squad. But if he’s anywhere in your starting line up your team will not be competing for the ultimate prize. Who ever uses a top 3 pick on him is going to be very disappointed.  To succeed at a high level in the Association you have to do one thing incredibly well, and Turner doesn’t. I see him being a less athletic Fred Jones in the NBA. He’ll have a descent 6-8 year career and make 50 million while doing so. Good work if you can get it, but he’s not going to be a difference maker in the NBA.
goodplaye
27. Mar, 2010
I couldn’t agree more. I don’t actually think there any star quality NBA players in college right now. It’s a down year for sure…which makes the tourny a lot cooler.
stake
27. Mar, 2010
Turner is a slightly better Adam Morrison. Singler is there too. Hopefully, they have more of an affect in the Association than A Mo has. Ditto on the lack of talent overall. I think Chism has the most upside next to Wall. A stretch, but I think he(Chism) could have a Melo like game.
J.T. Magee
27. Mar, 2010
The kid can pass and that’s his trait that separates himself from every other swing man in this draft class. Think Iguodala but with better control of the rock. He’s not a good shooter, but he’s much better than you realize. This draft class isn’t as great as in years past, but he’s the legit #2 pick behind Wall. The last true do-it-all player people weren’t very high on was Brandon Roy. He’s turned out pretty nicely.
bbryan
27. Mar, 2010
Iguodala is an athletic freak, way more so than Turner. And Turner doesn’t have good control of the Rock, 4.4 turnovers a game is bad. B Roy turned it over half as much as Turner in college. I see more Luke Jackson than B Roy out of Turner.
Love Wall, if he develops a more consistent outside shot he’s going to be a star in the association.
El Rey
27. Mar, 2010
Comparing Turner to Luke freakin’ Jackson? That’s kind of a stretch. Honestly, did anyone think Jackson was going to be good in the pros? Before his senior year, Luke probably scored half his career points after they were either up or down 10 points late in games, he was the king of garbage time stat-padding.
bbryan
27. Mar, 2010
Leave it to the resident Duck hater to shit on one of the top-10 ducks of all time.
El Rey
27. Mar, 2010
Oregon is also a school where Tajuan Porter and Orlando Williams are ‘all-time’ players. Not saying much….
bbryan
27. Mar, 2010
Neither of those guys even sniff the top-10. I agree Turner is better than Jackson, he actually shoots a jump shot. But B Roy he’s not. Roy is one of the only do-it-all college guys with average athleticism to do very well in the NBA.
Meerkat
27. Mar, 2010
This is how I learn about Ducks history … reading contrasting comments from longtime Oregon fans.
Keep’m coming! My knowledge is growing!
El Rey
28. Mar, 2010
I wanna see a list of the top 10 all-time Duck hoopsters.
(In no particular order, off the top of my head)
Jones
Rid
Luke
Love
Brandon
Brooks
Ballard
Lee
Wilkins
Dick (just for still being fucking alive)
Geez, no wonder Oregon sucks so much.
Meerkat
28. Mar, 2010
You gotta toss that list into a post … don’t waste it in a comment.
A firestorm of Ducks hoops opinions will ensue.
Meerkat
28. Mar, 2010
I am curious who bbryan would select before Evan Turner … besides John Wall?
goodplaye
28. Mar, 2010
Turner isn’t nearly as ugly as Luke so he’s got that going for him. Don’t see the comparison to Iguodala at all aside from their height.
Don’t forget about Stoff and AD for your all time Ducks.
Sick of Stupid Unsupported Predictions
29. Mar, 2010
“He’s not nearly a good enough shooter to play this position in the NBA, and the fact that he has the second highest TO per game in the nation doesn’t say much for his skill level either.”
Turner has 4.4 TO, 6.0 Assists, 1.7 Steals, 9.2 REB and 1.0 Blocks a game.
(Take into account all of his numbers are lower because he got injured early on in the game, which still counts towards all of his numbers; 9.2 REB a game is insane taking this into account…not to mention the 20+ points)
Wall has 4.0 TO, 6.5 Assists, 1.8 Steals, 4.3 REB, and .5 Blocks a game.
Your quote is very misleading. How can you say Turner has this huge TO problem, when he handled the ball for the Buckeyes as much as Wall handled the ball for Kentucky, yet only had .4 TO more a game?! I would trade .4 more turnovers for 4.9 more rebounds and 4+ more points. No to mention the about 5% better shooting…
Also, take intangibles, such as being “clutch.” Did you see Wall’s desperation three?! Cousins saved his ass…
Don’t misrepresent stats anymore to get the outcome you want. Be objective. I doubt you watched anymore of either player besides the Top 10 plays on Sportscenter.
If 4.4 turnovers “doesn’t say much for his skill level either,” how can you possibly be praising Wall and his 4.0 in the next breath? You are a know-it-all prick.
brewSKI
29. Mar, 2010
Turner will be a really good SG or SF whatever one he gets more time at. He’s bigger and should get even stronger than most 2′s and will be as big and as fast as most 3′s. This TO issue is a none factor. The reason he had so many TO’s was that he handled the ball the entire game and was pretty much the point guard. He can shoot well and can take it to the hole. Wall will be a really good PG about what they first expected out of Shuan Livingston, but Turner is the most well rounded player and is NBA ready now. Plus he’s a gamer. You don’t come back from that spill he took so fast and do what he did the rest of the year unless you got heart.
ScottyBoy
26. Aug, 2010
first of all to “Sick of Stupid Unsupported Predictions”, Turner did NOT handle the ball as much as Wall did in college. Ohio State had like 2 or 3 different guys that would occasionally play point.
secondly, even if he had it doesnt matter because he will never handle the ball that much in the pro’s making that point irrelevant.
thirdly, you say dont “misrepresent” stats and look at the intangible’s which I do agree with. BUT soon enough you will see that the college stats will be the most positive part of Turner’s game. Because these are the intangible’s that will end up mattering for Turner. He’s NOT fast, at all. If he’s trying to play the 2 in the NBA boy o boy will he have to pick up the pace. He has NO vertical game, making it easy to defend his shot (that he doesn’t really have in the first place) as well as his driving (and because he has no speed will be limited).
He’s a smart player and should be in the NBA for a good number of years but his passing is truly the only positive part of his game, just like that of Luke Walton. Now I am in no way comparing the two (or maybe I am a little bit) but his passing isn’t going to be enough to assure him a spot in this league