Evan Turner Celtics Most Valuable Player

By Marc D'Amico |  @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
May 7, 2015
It’s awards season at Celtics.com. We’re handing out seven awards over the couple of weeks as we roll through this year’s Celtics.com Awards Series. We may not have trophies or acceptance speeches, but we do have some top-flight Celtics performances to outline. Here we go...
BOSTON - No award was more difficult to determine than Boston’s Most Valuable Player. For a team that oftentimes won as a result of effort and teamwork, much more so than individual accolades, no player stood head and toes above the rest.
Still, someone on this team was most valuable, and that player is Evan Turner.
Wind the clock back to Sept. 29, 2014, when Boston announced that it had signed the free-agent swingman. No one – and we mean no one - thought that it was a game-changing move.

Evan Turner finished with the third-most triple-doubles in the NBA this season.
NBAE/Getty Images
Turner was coming off of a season during which he was traded to the Pacers and blamed by many for Indiana’s postseason failures. He was the scapegoat; the bad apple in the locker room that couldn’t make plays on the court for a good team.
Those assertions couldn’t have been further from the case.
The Celtics welcomed Turner with open arms and he returned the favor to each and every one of his teammates and coaches. He brought a positive vibe to the locker room throughout the season, during both the good times and the bad. He was a calming veteran presence, making teammates laugh when they needed one, and forcing them to focus when the time was right.
Turner’s presence in the locker room wasn’t the only factor he brought to the table. Playing in all 82 games, he was fantastic on the court, particularly over the final four months of the season.
Boston traded away four-time All-Star Rajon Rondo on Dec. 18, leaving only rookie Marcus Smart and seldom-used Phil Pressey in the team’s point guard pool. (Jameer Nelson was briefly on the team, but he was of lame-duck status as the C’s looked to move him elsewhere).
The Celtics needed someone to run the offense and to do so in an efficient manner. Enter Turner, the point-forward.
Turner officially started 32 games at small forward but served as the team’s primary ball handler during each of those contests. He was the glue that held the offense together despite the team’s inefficient shooting all season. He made plays for himself and for others and consistently made good decisions with the ball.
No player on Boston’s roster averaged more assists than Turner’s 5.5 per game this season. That number is skewed a bit low as well, as he averaged 6.3 helpers a night after the Rondo trade and 6.8 APG after Feb. 1. Only seven players in the league dished out more assists than Turner over the final 10 weeks of the regular season. Just think about that for a moment.
Turner was actually better than Rondo after the trade, in nearly every area of the game. Turner scored more points, grabbed more rebounds and had a better assist-to-turnover ratio than Rondo did following the blockbuster deal that landed Rondo in Dallas with a team that many considered to be a title contender.
Those across-the-board contributions led to Turner racking up the first triple-double of his career on Feb. 25 when he tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Soon thereafter, triple-doubles No. 2 and No. 3 were accumulated. Those three triple-doubles tied for the third-highest total in the NBA in this season.
We also can’t forget about all of the big shots Turner hit this season. Boston likely doesn’t beat Portland on Jan. 22 without his game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner. It also likely doesn’t outlast the East’s top team, the Hawks, on Feb. 11 without his game-winning runner in the lane.
Those two baskets – two of many key shots that Turner made or created for Boston this season – gave the C’s two wins, but they also gave the team confidence and momentum. You would be hard-pressed to find two more important victories for Boston this season, and they happened because of Turner.
There is nothing about Turner’s raw 2014-15 averages of 9.5 PPG, 5.5 APG and 5.1 RPG that would make you think “MVP,” but without him, the Celtics do not make the playoffs.
Turner was consistent. He was a playmaker. He was clutch. And with all of that in mind, we must name him as Boston’s Most Valuable Player.

Tyler Zeller most improved, then why are we looking for a REAL center? this article is a joke, I glanced over it, wouldn't waste my time reading all that crap, a team that got swept with no all star on the roster should not be giving out INDIVDUAL awards when this franchise is about championship trophys....Evan Turner, please.....its about the team.

I don't put a lot of stock in individual awards even if the team wins the championship because, as everyone knows, I believe it's all about the team.  However, objectively speaking, I think it's nice for players to be rewarded commensurate to their efforts.  Obiously, the big reward is financial.  But there are also psychological rewards, and it would be a HUGE mistake to believe that players aren't gratified and motivated by psychological rewards.  The guys who finished the season with the team busted their butts and, despite injuries and lack of practices, pulled off what I think most people felt was the impossible.

I have seen a lot of Celtics teams, and the guys who were there at the end of this past season don't have to take a back seat to any of those teams in terms of sheer effort.  Perhaps others know of a finer tribute to anyone than to be able to say (s)he did his/her very best.  But I don't.

When the Celtics' skein of 8 consecutive championships was broken in 1967, I was so proud of the effort they put forth that I just had to let a total stranger named Sam Jones know about it; and today, we're best friends.  I hope it's at least partly because he felt I saw beneath the hype and the glitz and the championships and appreciated players as people.  Especially when those people have done their very best.

Go Celtics!

Sam

Turner wins by being on the roster all season and not being a rookie.

And of course number of triple doubles determines value, just like when Rondo was leading us to a 10-20 start or whatever it was...

So the same journos who overvalued Rondo and his triple doubles naturally assumed that anybody putting up a few triple doubles must be the most valuable.

It's fitting that someone who was with the team all season long should get this award.  A lot of the players who arrived around or after the All Star Game demonstrated the ability to make substantial impact, but they didn't have the opportunity to show how consistent they can be in bolstering the team during the down times.

So, in my mind, the contest has to be between Smart, Olynyk, Turner, Young, Sullinger, Bradley, Bass, Wallace, Pressey and Zeller.  Among that group of 10, I believe Turner's game was the one that most was a microcosm of the Celtics' season.

Evan started out in a role he played only in cottage, so he was faced with a major learning curve.  And the team, consisting of so much turnover from last year, also faced a major learning curve when it came to chemistry.

Now only was Even asked to fill a playmaker role; he was asked to do it at two different positions.  In the same vein, positional versatility became one of the challenges and, later, hallmarks of the the team.

About the time the team (obviously aided dramatically by reinforcements and arguably by a couple of departures who weren't right for the future direction of the team) started stepping it up, Evan did the same:

Pre-All Star 26 mpg, 46% on 2-pointers, 4.7 rpg, 4.6 apg
Post-All Star 31 mpg, 49% on 2-pointers, 5.6 rpg, 6.9 asp

(His three-point shooting percentage did decline. but I don't believe that was important because he took only 1.5 per game both before and after the All Star Game; and, on this team, for someone who plays 30 mpg, 1.5 isn't a lot.)

Moreover, as his game became more productive, his turnovers stayed virtually the same: 2.4 pre-All Star and 2.5 post-All-Star.  In other words, he had more positive impact as the season progressed without offsetting negative impact.

Whatever his previous reputation, he seemed to become a relatively quiet leader on the team.  Bass more than matched Evan in the "quiet" category, but Evan was unquestionably one of the most consistent (and arguably the single most consistent) team leader as the season progressed.

Yes, he has his faults.  But, despite his 2.5 turnovers per game after the All Star break (not a big deal over 30 mpg), his assist-to-turnover ratio was a healthy 2.6 to 1.  I thought his defense improved over the year—certainly to the point where he could be in the lineup down the stretch of games without representing a serious defensive vulnerability.  I'm not a fan of his three-point shooting, but he doesn't take many.  His free throw shooting can be spotty, but he shot 89% during the admittedly brief playoff run.

In summary, Evan grew with the team, and the team grew with Evan.  On a team without stars, he more consistently shone brightly than his teammates for the entire season.

Sam