3. Turner’s play-style has quickly become outdated.
Evan Turner is a less explosive, less efficient, less defensively versatile version of Ben Simmons with none of the potential to get better.
Ball-dominant wings who could not shoot were better equipped to hide under the radar and come alive for big games here and there when Turner was playing in Boston. This was right as Stephen Curry and the Warriors were igniting the small-ball, threes-or-layups era.
As we’ve transitioned to this new style of play, Turner’s abilities as a secondary facilitator from the post and perimeter are less important while his liabilities as a defender and shooter are more pronounced.
Defenders can sag off him and clog up lanes for Lillard and McCollum when they want to go to work on the perimeter.
Turner’s fancy dribble moves are beginning to move him more and more laterally rather than towards the basket thanks to defenders willing to give him the space to shoot from deep and midrange.
He does occasionally pull off a shot that requires plenty of finesse, but these types of moves are too few and far between.
Rather, he is a non-shooting point-forward who lacks the athleticism to be a primary ball-handler in half-court sets. And in today’s NBA where six-foot-seven to six-foot-ten wingers are the norm to allow for ultra switchability, Turner will continue seeing fewer and fewer defenders that he has a matchup advantage over.