The career of Evan Turner was at a crossroads.
A new regime was taking over in Philadelphia, led by a general manager in Sam Hinkie whose plan was to tear down every part of the 76ers organization and build it back up.
As the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft, Turner ought to have been the kind of player, at this point in his career, a team would hope to build around. Instead, after three middling seasons, the former Ohio State star entered the final year of his rookie deal with a new coach and a lot to prove.
Turner is finding his way this season, averaging 19.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists while also increasing his free-throw attempts and shooting better from the field. He’s thrived in the high-octane system installed by coach Brett Brown, facilitating the offense more than he has in years past.
“I’m used to having the ball in my hands a little bit more,” Turner told The Post earlier this week. “To a certain extent, I’ve been trying to get better at playing off the ball and all this stuff, but at the end of the day, you are who you are.
“In my first few years, I was playing off the ball mostly and still trying to figure it out, on top of being judged so much on my high draft status, so it took some getting used to, and I still have to get better at it.”
After a stellar college career at Ohio State, including a brilliant junior season in which he averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game, Turner was thought to have star potential when the Sixers chose him second overall in 2010 – one spot before the Nets took big man Derrick Favors, who later became a key piece in the Deron Williams trade, and before a host of other players off to more productive starts to their careers: DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Larry Sanders and Eric Bledsoe.
But Turner, unlike many of those players, came into the league playing a similar position to an elite player already on the team’s roster. Swingman Andre Iguodala was Philadelphia’s star player in Turner’s first two seasons in the league, until he was shipped to Denver as part of the four-team deal that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers and Andrew Bynum to the Sixers.
“You have to wait your turn,” Turner said. “I was sitting behind an NBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist, so obviously I’ve got to take baby steps. I wasn’t in a situation where they traded off a guy to get me going or to get me acclimated. I had to wait.
“You look at other situations when guys are rookies, they get rid of those guys to build around them. I just wasn’t granted that same opportunity. But I learned a lot in that situation, and I was able to make the playoffs and help this franchise do some pretty cool things.”
Those things quickly came to a halt last season, however, when Turner and the Sixers spent the season waiting to see whether Bynum would be able to overcome his balky knees and get on the court. Instead, Bynum spent the entire season on the sidelines, and the Sixers bottomed out, going 34-48 and missing the playoffs, which led to Doug Collins leaving as coach and Tony DiLeo being dismissed as general manager.
That left Turner’s long-term status with the organization decidedly up in the air after the contract extension deadline came and went without him getting an agreement to remain in Philadelphia past this season.
“I wasn’t disappointed or anything like that,” Turner said. “It just is what it is. We just got a new GM. Obviously he did a lot of work in Houston, so I don’t know how much he watched me play or anything like that, but he’s got his own plan and everything.
“I wasn’t disappointed or frustrated or getting mad. People want me to be more mad than I was, but I understood it. I wasn’t expecting an extension in general, whether we had the same GM or whatever, because I didn’t think I would be signed early, so that’s pretty much it.”
Brown’s system gives Turner the benefit of being able to take advantage of his ball-handling skills in the open floor. He’s also benefitted from losing 10 to 12 pounds, which he says has made a significant difference, and came after years of talk from Collins about his eating habits.
“I just stopped with the fried foods as much, all of the feel-good foods,” Turner said. “I kind of started eating healthier. … I think it helps me move a little bit more. I think I feel better longer in certain regards, especially playing 38, 39 minutes a night.
“[Brown] told me to lose weight, and my previous coach, Coach Collins, always talked to me about my eating, but I started … I just knew I kept getting bigger as I got older. When I was younger, I could eat whatever I wanted and stay the same size, but I [can’t anymore].”
Turner has impressed Brown in their short time together.
“What I’ve seen in my really short time with him is he loves the game,” Brown said. “He really wants to be good. He puts in the time, he studies the game, he puts in the work. Pulling teeth with Evan, in terms of investing time and studying opponents and studying game plans, is not the issue.
“He’s still 25 years old. People seem to forget that. I can’t ask any more of him from the work and commitment he’s given this program since I have been here.”
But because of the way the Sixers are operating, with Hinkie clearly following a policy of stripping the organization bare and rebuilding through the draft — exhibited when he traded All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans for a pair of first-round picks in June — Turner could follow Holiday out the door sometime in the next couple of months.
After a few seasons in the NBA, Turner said the business of the sport doesn’t bother him anymore.
“I’ll be somewhere,” Turner said with a smile. “If I got hit with [the trade talk] when I was 22, I would be more rattled than now when I’m going into my fourth year, understanding how things go and how to get better. You just focus on each day, and take it for what it’s worth.
“For sure [I want to be here], but at the same time, if it’s not in the cards, you can’t force anything. Right now Mr. Hinkie is doing his thing, and he’s been hired to look out for the best interests of the organization. At the end of the day, you don’t take it personally, you take it for what it’s worth. I’m blessed to be playing in the NBA.”
Get used to a more fragile Kobe Bryant
In the wake of returning from a ruptured Achilles in record time, there always was the question of just how long Kobe Bryant’s body could hold up under the rigors of playing in the NBA, especially playing point guard, as he had to do with all three point guards on the Lakers roster injured.
But it only took six games for Bryant to go down with a second serious injury to that same left leg — a fracture of the lateral tibial plateau in his knee — though this one is only supposed to keep him out for about six weeks, as opposed to the seven months it took for him to recover from the Achilles injury.
Still, it’s hard to imagine we are going to see anything close to the peak version of Kobe Bryant ever again. This is a player who, at 35 years old, has played in more than 1,450 combined regular-season and playoff games, and now has suffered a pair of serious injuries to one of his legs within several months.
Given how much the NBA game has become dependent on athleticism and explosion on the perimeter, it was already becoming tough for Bryant – who basically played like a designated hitter last season, essentially punting on defense while continuing to put up terrific offensive numbers – to keep up with younger, faster counterparts. And that task only gets tougher in the wake of these injuries. It makes what seemed like a dubious decision by the Lakers to give Bryant a two-year, $48.5 million extension before he returned to the floor look even worse.
Parker lives up to hype at Garden
There were at least 45 NBA scouts and executives – including several general managers – on hand at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night to see Duke take on UCLA. Most, if not all, were there to get an in-person look at Duke freshman Jabari Parker, and no one came away disappointed.
Parker looked every bit the sensational prospect he was hyped up to be coming out of Simeon High School in Chicago – the alma mater of Derrick Rose – in scoring 23 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out five assists as Duke came away with an 80-63 victory.
Parker, listed at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, have his way all night on offensive, showing an ability to attack the defense off the dribble while also going 4-for-8 from 3-point range and flashing a soft touch on his jumper.
Because of his body type and skill set, he reminded several people who watched him play Thursday of the forward who usually graces the Garden floor: Carmelo Anthony. It was a comparison that Parker admitted he liked.
“That’s a person I’ve been looking up to,” Parker said after the game while sitting a few feet away from Anthony’s stall in the Knicks locker room. “That’s a great compliment.”
Parker is going to be one of the first names off the board in June’s NBA Draft, assuming he does as expected and leaves the Blue Devils after his freshman season. The only question may be what position he plays at the next level. He looks like a player who could both play small forward in a traditional offense or a devastating scoring stretch four, similar to how Anthony was deployed by the Knicks last season.
Signs of Stern’s exit
Another sign that David Stern’s run as commissioner is nearing an end: On Thursday at the Nets practice facility, some basketballs that have Adam Silver’s name signed above “Commissioner” were already in use.
Stern’s tenure is scheduled to come to a close Feb. 1, ending exactly 30 years on the job. There still has been no word about whom Silver might name as his deputy commissioner, or whether he will fill the position at all.
Though it’s hard to imagine Stern will simply disappear, one thing is clear: Change is coming to the NBA, and it’s only a few more weeks away.