Evan Turncoat

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

First off, I’m very much kidding about the turncoat moniker. Any loyalty Turner needed to feel for Philadelphia went out the window when he was traded away, despite his stance that he enjoyed playing for coach Brett Brown and didn’t want to go anywhere. With the news that he will get some portion of the midlevel exception signing with Boston, after many teams thought they could obtain him for the minimum, it’s only right that Evan should go wherever he finds the best combination of money and opportunity for himself.

Still, it’s an interesting dynamic that Turner will be heading to Boston, the organization’s most hated rival in times when both teams aren’t on a course of targeted losing. A large portion of the fanbase soured on Turner over the years. After all, the former second overall pick was supposed to be the next great star to turn the franchise around, not a player whose similarity scores on Basketball-Reference most closely resemble Earl Watson and Marko Jaric. Now, he’ll be doing a full heel-turn in Celtics green, and the outpouring of boos and internet slander will only grow more effusive.

I suppose if any other organization still believed in Turner’s ability, it would be Boston. Some of Evan’s best performances have come against the C’s, against whom he’s had 4 career 20+ point games, an OT game-winner in December of 2012, and another winner at the end of regulation in January of this past year. With Boston going through a rebuild process of their own, it’s not the worst move to take a chance on a former high lottery pick on a small contract.

Will Turner’s move to Beantown be the spark in the next chapter of the Sixers-Celtics rivalry? Unlikely. Despite failing to live up to second overall pick expectations, he does have the skillset to be an effective role player in the league. However, Turner still erroneously sees himself as “one of the best perimeters in the league”, and his reluctance to adjust his game accordingly will likely be his downfall. Most plausibly, Celtic green is just the next stop in a long line of them for a future basketball journeyman.