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

5 of 6

PORTLAND, USA – OCTOBER 3: Portland Trail Blazers guard-forward Evan Turner (1) goes for a ball after a rebound during the preseason game against the Phoenix Suns in Portland, Ore., United States, on October 2, 2017. (Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) /

Defensive rebounding

Like most Blazers players, Evan Turner does not operate well on fastbreaks. From Synergy, he scored 0.897 points per possession in transition, which is in the 16th percentile.

In order for Portland to improve its fastbreak offense and get the easy points so many other teams take advantage of, Turner needs to crash the defensive glass. Instead of being one of the outlet players to run the floor and get into a position to score, he should be the player taking the ball up the floor and getting it into the hands of more dynamic scorers.

By occasionally grabbing rebounds, Turner eliminates the extra pass from a non-dribbling teammate like Collins or Nurkic. He can turn and run up the floor to attack the defense before it has a chance to set up.

Ideally, the defense miscommunicates and collapses on a sprinting Turner, giving him the chance to kick out to someone like Stauskas or Curry. They knock down the open catch-and-shoot threes at a high percentage, as well as attack the paint if a defender over commits.

This prevents Turner from having scoring responsibilities on fastbreaks, but still gets the ball down the court faster than when the center corrals the rebound.