Portland Trail Blazers: 5 sad truths about Evan Turner

2. He does not help the team win.

Two years ago, when Turner first became a Blazer, Amin Elhassan had this to say:

"I have a hard time understanding the Evan Turner signing by Portland. It’s not just the money (although the idea that anyone paid him $70 million is pretty staggering), but I also don’t see the basketball fit for him alongside Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. He’s a ball-dominant wing who is an atrocious spacer."

These criticisms over Turner’s fit in Portland remain today.

When he was signed in 2016, the idea was that he would provide the Blazers with another playmaker who could run plays for Dame and CJ while they were off-ball.

The problem with this idea, however, is that Evan Turner has little value when he is off-ball himself. And when you’re playing all three of these guys together, you want the ball in Lillard and McCollum’s hands more than you want it in Turner’s. He is a supplemental playmaker in this context, not a primary or even secondary one.

The Blazers are better served to have Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless on the floor alongside their stars as they can better space the floor and play better defensively.

And the proof is in the pudding (plus-minus): in both last season and 2016-17, the Trail Blazers were 7.7 points better with Turner sitting on the bench.

Among guards (which basketball-reference lists him as), he ranked 95th out of 109 players who played at least half the season and 15 minutes per game in PER. Players like Tyler Ulis and Denzel Valentine outranked him.

This season, the Blazers may be better served swallowing their pride and giving some of ET’s minutes to develop their 2018 draft picks, Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr.

They have far more upside and a better chance to fit within the Blazers’ context at a fraction of the price.