In a perfect world, if you combined Belinelli's offensive talents with Green's defensive talents, you'd have a complete player. Unfortunately, both of these players are hurting the team on one end of the court. You might think Green's offensive struggles would be an easier fix but his lack of handles and his inability to break free of defenders makes it a challenge. You can talk about floor spacing but there isn't a single Spur on the roster that commands a double team so most teams can play the Spurs straight up and force them into taking crowded jump shots. Teams with an inside presence are willing to take their chances with Manu and Parker driving the lane, forcing them into tough shots at the rim. The key is ball movement and it's been shoddy at best this season.
Not really sure how you can view Turner as a chucker. He averages 6.1 pullups/game and 6.2 drives. He's 10th in the league in points in the paint. When I think of chuckers, I think of the Danny Green's, Marco Belinelli's and Patty Mill's of the world. Green is about as one dimensional on offense as a player gets whereas Turner is a whole lot more. He's not only leading the team in points, but he's averaging 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals a night and getting to the line 5.6 times a game. Turner's problem in the past was that he never really received the type of opportunities under Doug Collins that he is getting now. Players like Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala dominated the ball for much of Turner’s first three seasons so its hard to make an exact assessment on Turner,s overall efficiency. This year however, he is shown the ability to makes solid decisions with the ball, has an above average mid-range game and has some serious toughness around the rim. Did I mention he's only 25? How long did it take TP to be an aggressive defender and a potent offensive juggernaut? Tiago Splitter was a defensive nobody when he entered the league and now numbers wise, he's the best. Players, who are young and athletic have the ability to improve in other areas of their game under the tutelage of the right coaching staff. I believe Turner can be one of those guys. With that said, RC Buford would be laughed off the phone if he suggested a Green/Turner swap.
Also from a previous post, I watched both those OKC games and Westbrook was 13-22 in the first game, not exactly a stealth defense performance there. In the second game, Westbrook had a lot of open looks and just missed them during his 2-16 shooting night. I don't care what numbers you put in front of me, there is no way Green is as consistent on defense this year as he was last year.
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Evan Turner..
