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Evan Turner was due to make a lot of money this past offseason before being traded to the Indiana Pacers last year. In his brief time with the Pacers, he was exposed as a player who offered little on the court beyond scoring ability. What he has mostly brought to the NBA in recent months is a trail of bitterness and contempt since the ill-fated trade and last night's collapse brought him to a new low:
They started pressuring, and it’s tough to score when you have two hands inside your jersey, as well. At the same time, I got a foul call on Korver and they said I pushed him and tripped him and he just fell. He can’t guard to save his life and he’s grabbing Marcus Thornton and he’s grabbing me and he has no business being in the game on the defensive end, but what can you possibly do if they’re allowed to have their hands on you?
(The Boston Globe)
I guess Turner was also bitter that Coach Budenholzer switching Korver onto Rajon Rondo was a significant impact in the Hawks storming back from 23 points down. After the switch, Rondo only had 2 assists and failed to score. Maybe Kyle should learn to defend point guards as capably as Evan Turner:
…Or maybe Evan Turner should learn to defend at least one position in the NBA before calling out a player who has spent a decade working his tail off to improve on the defensive end. If Turner had done the same he would have been signing a multi-year deal for more than the sum of his current 2-year, 6.7 million he was left to sign for a Celtic team unlikely to make the playoffs. It should not be unexpected that when it comes to these comments, Turner is left with no defense.
Stay tuned because Turner is likely to attack Santa Claus for his selfishness next. Too bad, because maybe Santa could have brought him a secondary NBA skill for Christmas since he has failed to show the resilience to develop one in his time in the league.