Evan Turner has been sitting patiently on the market hoping some team shows interest. Turner has yet to develop into a true NBA talent which resulted in his trade from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Indiana Pacers and his lack of playing time towards the end of last season. Turner has been hoping at least get the attention of one team in free agency and the Boston Celtics are emerging as the candidates.
Celtics' fans are likely scratching their heads as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports confirms Boston is finalizing a deal to sign Turner to a contract. The free agent swing man averaged 11.1 points and 5.3 rebounds over four seasons in the NBA. The issue is that the Celtics already have plenty of his talent currently occupying the roster. They recently acquired Marcus Thornton in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets plus they drafted Marcus Smart. They also have Avery Bradley and Jeff Green penciled in as starters, so why the need for Turner?
The Celtics could look Turner as a possible Jordan Crawford. The Celtics got him for cheap, developed him and then escalated a trade to the Golden State Warriors. Or the Celtics might realize that they could use the depth of Turner if they are able to pull off a trade for Kevin Love.
According to the Boston Globe, the Celtics still believe they are in the mix for a trade involving Kevin Love. The team originally offered up a deal that involved Green and center Jared Sullinger. There has also been talk of trading Smart for Love if the Minnesota Timberwolves have no intentions of keeping Ricky Rubio.
Things are up in the air with the trade talks at the moment. There is no guarantee that the Timberwolves deal Love this offseason. The team's owner recently spoke out saying that he is optimistic Love would sign a contract extension with Minnesota if the team is able to get more pieces around him. That is not likely to happen, but it shows that Minnesota is in no rush to deal the forward right away.
Turner is valuable to have coming off the bench if Boston uses him. He can also be thrown in to pad any sort of trade package for other players. The Celtics might not need Turner right now, but signing him to a cheap contract certainly does not hurt.
