After the first three Portland Trail Blazers games, Evan Turner is looking more effective than ever in red and black. His small sample sized stat line is reminiscent of his days as a Boston Celtic.
Although Evan Turner has been labeled as an unproductive salary cap straitjacket for the Portland Trail Blazers after they signed him in 2016, he has looked more effective through the first three games of this year.
Perhaps this is due to his new bench role. He has become the backup point guard when Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum go to the bench and is tasked with facilitating the offense around him, while creating shots for himself in smarter ways.
So far, it looks like the days of Turner as a starter are gone. No more will he, Dame, and CJ take turns running the offense and spotting up. Now, when ET is on the floor, he runs the show.
And by being in this role, his early season numbers are looking more similar to his 2015-16 numbers when he was in Boston – one of his most effective years, and the one that helped net him the large contract he now has.
As a Celtic that season, Turner only started 12 games. He averaged 10.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists on 45.6 percent shooting from the field.
As a Blazer this year, Turner has yet to start a game. He currently averages 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists on 53.8 percent shooting.
These numbers are much better than the 8.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists from a season ago.
One of the biggest changes to Turner’s game this year, besides the new bench role, is his lack of three-point shooting.
Last year, he shot 1.7 per game and hit 31.8 percent of these attempts. This year, he has taken only one over all three games.
Shooting less from beyond the arc will likely be the right move for Turner and the Blazers as he has never proven to be a reliable threat from deep.
And even though Turner is playing three less minutes than last year and shooting much less from deep, he is getting about 1.5 more shot attempts per game. All these shots appear to be coming from smarter opportunities.
Throughout preseason and the regular season, Turner has attacked smaller matchups by immediately posting them up. And he has attacked bigger matchups or opponents off-balanced by using dribble moves to get to his spot at the free throw line for a jumper. These are the types of opportunities that Turner can be effective in as a supplementary scorer.
No longer is he spotting up for three or getting force-fed down low because he has more opportunity to handle the ball and get into the flow of a game with Portland’s revamped rotation.
For right now, placing Evan Turner into a backup point guard role seems to have been the right move.
Only time will tell if Turner will continue being effective. But I’d bet on this being the optimal role for ET on this Blazers team.