Evan Turner Shot 2-12, Go Ahead And Overreact To It

There's no one that wants Evan Turner to succeed more than I do. From this moment on, I wanted him to be fantastic. He was destined to become The Villain. I hoped it more than I knew it.

Two years later, and he's already logged the best defensive rebounding season ever for a wing but is generally deemed a bust because he can't score efficiently. His jumper doesn't go in enough and he doesn't get to the foul line often enough to make up for it. But the hope was that an offseason in which Andre Iguodala was traded and the Sixers picked up other shooters to supplement Turner's driving game would open things up for ET to finally be successful. Reports came out of Camp that Turner was looking very good and the shot was much improved.

THEN LAST NIGHT HAPPENED.

A 2-12 shooting night was the death of him. Hope is lost. He'll never come back from it. They may as well take him out back and give him the rifle. Word has it he's retired. Remember This Guy: Evan Turner is in the pipeline.

Listen. Evan has been an inefficient offensive player for two years and one preseason game. But if we're willing to give him a shot at earning a starting spot and a role as one of the three franchise cornerstones, we shouldn't take that away after one preseason game minus the team's best player.

His jumper may not ever fall in games. He may never become the player we want him to be. But one preseason game won't decide that. Take a breath. I've resigned myself to people being reactionary, but it's a bit much for me at this point. He's got time to work out the kinks and get comfortable. It's preseason.

OK now go ahead and overreact.