That's the boat I'm in. He might be a slight upgrade over Henderson, or possibly Harkless and maybe even Aminu, but if he is it's marginal. The best I can say is that he's a better passer/playmaker than those guys, but his lack of an outside shot really has me scratching my head about how he fits with Damian and CJ? When I consider lineups the only way Turner makes sense in a starting role, is if Vonleh suddenly becomes great at catch and shoot 3-pointers and Leonard comes back and stops being a spas on pick and roll defense. Or maybe the idea is to play Aminu full time at power forward? And even then this means taking the ball out of Lillard and CJ's hands which seems like a poor use of their primary strengths. Lots of questions so far and not a ton of answers (unless Neil's next move is to package CJ and other assets for somebody like Blake Griffin and then put Turner at the starting 2 guard spot?).
Let me tell what pizza guy said to me. "Will fit great with your back court. He's an underrated shooter, but what will drive defenses nuts is his ability to drive. With your shooters he will be tough." He loves the signing for what it's worth
I agree with your pizza man. I was hoping for a more sexy signing, but Turner will indeed help us. He also plays tough and hard. Portland will dig that about him, even if they don't like how contact.
I guess that means he needs to handle the ball a lot to maximize his ability (which I'm fine with) My only problem is that taking the ball out CJ and Damian's hands doesn't seem like the best use of their talents. I guess I'll leave it to Stotts to figure out, he's a better basketball mind than I am.
I really think in the playoffs we need a third ball handler. The defenses gets tougher and they find ways to take the ball out of Dame and CJ's hands. (Especially when they are not in there together) There will be plenty of time for CJ and Dame to maximize their ability. But we can't just rely on Plumlee to initiate the offense when Dame and CJ get into trouble. A big guard wit handles, who cab pass and play D was very much needed. As as pointed out he is also a good shooter, just not a good 3 pt shooter.
Just saw that Ryan Anderson got $80 mil on a four year contract with the Rockets. Is he better than Turner? Certainly a better shooter, but not nearly the ball-handler/play-maker. Anderson finished sixth in the voting for 6th Man of the Year. Turner was 5th.
Not denying that. Just noting that he's a guy on about the same talent level as Turner who scored big this off-season. I think when all is said and done, Turner's salary isn't going to look bad a year from now.
Except he doesn't play at all like a big. Crap on defense, not even that good of a shooter really, and can't rebound.
I agree with you. But you cant teach height and he is a big who averages a healthy ppg. Bigs that shoot well seem to be able to get paid. And a 6 ft 10 guy with a 38% 3pt career average is a better shooter than you suggest. He also is a good ft shooter.
In limited minutes. He hasnt ever averaged over 16 ppg. If someone believes in meyers potential to put up numbers while playing 30+ mpg perhaps they will sign him to a deal like that too.
This is not a bad signing now that I have dug into it and watched al lthe other signings. Keepo in mind, the cap is going to go up another 12 mill or so next season. In two to three yars, this iwll look like AMinus contract did last year. Not bad. Plus we have a LEGIT Guard defender. something we were lacking and a LEGIT third ball handler who can get to the hoop. Ive watched some footage and see nthe contracted dolled out. No it isn't a first tier, and I honestly thought we were attractive enough for that. So did NO and they had a plan. Didn't work. Plan B in action and the first step is not a bad one. Need a rim protector now. Gasol had more blocks than Howard last year... FYI.... If we can get Gasol for $18 for the next three, I think it is a good off season overall. Still be able ot keep the bulk of our unit and a bump in cap again means it shouldn't be difficult to give CJ that big contract as well.
Evan Turner is such an awkward fit with this team offensively. He's basically a 6' 7" Rajon Rando without the creative passing skills. Plays a lot in the pnr, but turns it over at high rate here and his lack of range severely limits his scoring efficiency for a variety of reasons that I'm too lazy to get into. Sure, it'll be nice to have a guy to handle the ball when the pressure is turned up on Dame and CJ, but on the other hand, it just became easier to do so. On the bright side, the stats like his ability to post up and to lesser extent, isolate. Interested to see how Stotts plans to use him, because it's hard to envision how he positively impacts the offense.
