Celtics Signing A Turner

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
·
11m
10-year NBA veteran Evan Turner is finalizing a deal to join the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach, sources tell
@TheAthleticNBA

@Stadium
. Turner is expected to focus on player development.


Bob


.

Bob,

You had me going there for a second. He can certainly instruct our players with positioning.

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 39 minutes ago
Evan Turner does have some coaching experience. He helped guide Ohio State alumni to the 2019 TBT title. “Brad’s made it to the Final Four a couple times [at Butler], and the only championship [I was in], I won. These skills got us to the ship and got us the big money."


Bob


.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2020/11/boston-celtics-rumors-evan-turner-will-join-team-on-the-bench-as-assistant-coach-report.html



Boston Celtics rumors: Evan Turner will join team on the bench as assistant coach (report)


Updated 1:02 PM; Today 1:02 PM




Evan Turner. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)Getty Images



By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com



The Boston Celtics have always liked Evan Turner, and his time in Boston helped him earn a massive contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2016.

The Celtics’ roster is full entering the 2020-21 season, but they reportedly have figured out a way to bring Turner back anyway -- per the Athletic’s Shams Charania, Turner is nearing an agreement with the Celtics to become an assistant coach with a focus on player development.


Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
10-year NBA veteran Evan Turner is finalizing a deal to join the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Turner is expected to focus on player development.
9:08 AM · Nov 30, 2020


Turner was an entertaining player in Boston. At one point, he deadpanned that the NBA should change its logo to a silhouette of himself. When asked about New Year’s resolutions at one point, he said he wanted to keep his 27-year streak of not getting arrested alive. After leaving Boston, he told ESPN’s Zach Lowe he expects Brad Stevens to win an NBA championship in Boston. When he was queried about that quote the next time Celtics media met him in Portland, Turner described a scenario in which he would return to Boston.

“You guys are going to bring me back one day, whether it’s GM or a president,” Turner said. “I don’t know if Danny or them are going to be done. Or just as one of the players, I’ll get my sixth-man award or something, and then I’ll go do the (Andre) Iguodala thing. I’ll get Finals MVP, and me and Brad ride off into the sunset together with Brady (Stevens, Brad’s son). So I think obviously he’s probably just trying to figure out a way to get me back and go get that championship. That’s the only way I can see it working.”

But Turner was a useful player -- as well as a funny one -- in Boston as the Celtics built back toward relevancy in the wake of the deals that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. In 2014-15, he started 57 games as the Celtics made a surprise run to the playoffs. In 2016-17, he averaged 10.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists off the bench. A stellar playmaker at 6-foot-7 who was deadly in the mid-range and around the rim, his biggest flaw was his long-range shooting -- Turner hit 29.4 percent of his 3-point attempts during his career.

“You’ve got to respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter,” Turner quipped at one point in Boston. “A guy like that is always lethal.”

Turner, a former No. 2 pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Draft, signed a four-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers worth $70 million in 2016. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Kent Bazemore in 2019 before being dealt before the trade deadline to Minnesota in February.

As a player development coach with the Celtics, Turner will have a chance to influence players who will have an outsized impact on the team this year. Aaron Nesmith needs to be able to contribute right away, especially if Marcus Smart joins the starting lineup in Gordon Hayward’s absence. Romeo Langford may or may not be healthy at the start of the season, but Hayward’s departure made his future even more important to the Celtics. Payton Pritchard could get regular minutes.

Turner might be a natural fit as a coach. He was a high-IQ basketball player, and his sense of humor made him a popular member of the Celtics locker room. Younger players might appreciate having a 32-year-old fresh off his playing days who can help them adjust to life in the NBA.

After all, you’ve got to respect a 15-percent 3-point shooter.


Bob


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i think this is a good signing. He is just removed from playing, is a smart guy, Brad has always liked him, and he will be able to relate to the young guys on the team. He is not "old time" basketball, is still aware of the game the way it is played today and what these kids will need to work on. Not bad signing as far as I am concerned

Good addition.

One of the best interviews in the entire league. Will be fun to have him back!

We got an NBA player on the bench now. This should help