Blazers: 5 goals for Evan Turner to achieve in 2018-2019

Ball handling

Despite Turner only recording 2.2 assists per game, he turned the ball over 1.3 times for a so-so assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.69. If he assumes the primary ball handler role next season, he must improve his control.

However, the areas he needs to improve aren’t on post ups and isolations – those plays didn’t lead to many turnovers. In fact, Turner lost possession less frequently than most of his teammates did on post ups and isolations last year.

Here’s a break down of how Turner coughed the ball up:

• Bad pass turnovers: 51
• Lost ball turnovers: 33
• Other types of turnovers: 15

Of his 99 turnovers, over 50% were from bad passes. In a role that requires a lot more passing, this doesn’t bode well for his turnover totals next year.

He should focus on open-floor passing, as well as his passes to players getting position in the post. Several times throughout the season, he threw the ball way over Jusuf Nurkic‘s head on a post-up, wasting a possession and a mismatch.

Also, to maximize his surrounding teammates’ ability to shoot threes, Turner must clean up his kick out passing even more. Turnover rates near 12% are better than other Portland players, but can still improve.