How Turner Fits
By G. Emrich
To no one's surprise the Sixers draftedEvan Turnerout of Ohio State tonight. The draft was labeled by many as a "twoplayerdraft", which I believe is incorrect. This was a one player draft, JohnWall and everyone else. Wall is the one can't miss player in this draft(assuming he works hard and stays out of trouble). His naturalbasketballtalent is simply too great.
Turner was by far the mostaccomplished/experiencedplayer in the top 10, including Wall, which was why he was consideredsuch asafe pick at number two. Safe is nice. Safe was perhaps evennecessary given the position the Sixers are currently in, but safe isnotexciting.
The most accurate thing said aboutTurner since hedeclared for the draft is that Turner is a point guard. That's theposition he played last year, and it's possible that it could be hisbestposition in the NBA.
Turner is not a prototypical wingplayer. Hisbest assets are his ball handling/passing, court vision and ability toget anywhere on the court with the ball in his hands. He is not used toplaying off the ball, is not a great catch and shoot player (and is not afundamentally sound shooter in general), and is not an explosive athletefinishing at the rim. For Turner to be successful he has to have theballin his hands a lot, which is a problem when you're not a star player or apointguard.
So the bottom line is that Collins hashis work cutout for him. Both Iguodala and Turner need the ball in their hands tofillup the stat sheet and neither will play the point next year (theposition Holiday will open at, and he isn't much of a shooter at thispointin his career either). If Iguodala isn't traded (which they need to do)then it's going to be a very odd lineup to start the season, and I don'tsee howIguodala/Turner/Holiday on the floor at the same time is going to work.
Just to be clear. I am an Evan Turnerfan andhe has many attributes that should help the Sixers in the years to come,but Iworry about how he fits in with the team if the roster staysessentially the same between now and the start of the season.
Posted by The Daily Bark at 6/25/2010 10:26 AM 
Categories: Writer G. Emrich, Sixers
Tags: Evan Turner Sixers draft
Categories: Writer G. Emrich, Sixers
Tags: Evan Turner Sixers draft
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