THE The Philadelphia 76ers The Sixers were selected second overall in the 2010 NBA draft after a difficult 2009-10 season, ending with a 27-55 record. After two straight playoff appearances, the Sixers reversed course and found themselves in the lottery, hoping for some luck.
Although they were unable to land the first pick and get the Kentucky star John WallSixers successfully land Ohio State star Evan Turner who was named AP Player of the Year in 2010. He averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists during the 2009–10 season with the Buckeyes.
Turner was expected to enter Philadelphia and make a difference for the Sixers, but he struggled to live up to expectations. He averaged 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds as a rookie and in 279 games over four seasons, he averaged 11.5 points and 5.5 assists. His best stretch came early in the 2013-14 season when he averaged 17.4 points for the Sixers before being sent to the Indiana Pacers by the deadline.
Turner appeared on the “Club 520” podcast and discussed his failures with the Sixers, saying he was expected to be LeBron James:
When the number two came down, I was like, “Oh, I guess I’ll be a Philadelphian or whatever,” so luckily it was and we went to practice and you know, everything was going well until the first game and then life changed… (expletive) it was real! (expletive) like I was supposed to come in and be a Bron, right? I had to go talk to my sponsors, I got partners and I didn’t have them the second year.
Turner later clarified that he was simply joking about James’ comment, but that doesn’t change the fact that he and the Sixers had different expectations about what happened during his time in Philadelphia.
Overall, Turner spent 10 years in the league and averaged 9.7 points and 4.6 rebounds with 3.5 assists. Overall, it’s a good NBA career and the versatile forward can be proud of what he was able to accomplish in this league.
This article was originally published on Sixers Wire: Evan Turner discusses dashed expectations during his rookie season with the Sixers