Columbus Monthly / April 2011 / Evan Turner trying to fly in Philly

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Evan Turner trying to fly in Philly

The former Ohio State basketball superstar now knows about that famous Philadelphia attitude as he's struggled to make the transition to the NBA. But his stock his beginning to rise after a tough start.

Philadelphia is a hard town that reveres a tough fictional guy named Rocky and a tougher real one, Rizzo, a cop’s cop who became a legend and then mayor.

A huge mural of the late Frank Rizzo takes up the entire side of a building on South Philly’s Ninth Street, home to the iconic Italian Market. A picture of Rocky, famously standing atop the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is seen in a cheese shop inside the market next to 100-pound cylinders of provolone hanging from meat hooks. The essence of Philadelphia is inscribed in smaller letters above the picture: “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

Welcome to Philadelphia, Evan Turner, the hero of the hardwood in Columbus and, earlier, of a small high school in suburban Chicago. If Turner is taking to the big city, which he says he is despite a tough start, a more difficult challenge will be to see whether his team, the 76ers, can win the hearts and minds of sports fans in a town where three other pro sports franchises compete for attention.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft sounds now like a man who’s planning to be a Philly guy for a long time. Asked what he wants to be doing in five years, he says the right things: winning championships, making the all-star team.

Then he smiles and reveals the sort of friendly but shy look he gets when he’s about to say something lighthearted. Maybe he’ll be married by then, he says, jokingly. He stops to recalculate and asks one of the team’s PR people standing nearby if he’ll be too young, 27, by then. Well, yes, she says. Well, maybe not, he says, smiling.

Turner, all of 22, is a millionaire with more to come (reportedly $3.8 million this year, $4.1 in 2012 and $4.4 million the next). He also has a contract to endorse Li-Ning, the top athletic shoe company in China. Yet he comes across as a player anxious to learn more about the finer points of his craft—which is not necessarily like the Rocky character who simply battled his way to success. It’s a trait that in many ways seems to personify Philadelphia, which isn’t much for nuance. It basks in its in-your-face reputation and still gets teary-eyed at mentions of the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers, who literally slugged and punched their way to a Stanley Cup win and are enshrined in the hearts of sports fans with the nickname, “The Broad Street Bullies.” And then there’s the cliché that will not die about Philly sports: the 1968 Eagles game when fans booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus at halftime.

Turner already has been the subject of some of that famous Philly attitude—pronounced Atty-Tood. Some of it came even before the NBA season started. Here’s a sampling of early reviews:

• “It seems as though the basketball world has already given up on . . . Evan Turner. He struggled mightily during the Vegas Summer League, looking slow and lost and uncertain, and some of those struggles have transferred over to the preseason as well.” —Joel Brigham, on hoopsworld.com.

• “Highly touted rookie Evan Turner is riding the Philadelphia 76ers bench as the team is finally winning, but could [he] be a historic bust?”

—sportscaster on a Philadelphia TV station.

• “Not to rain on the Sixers’ mini parade, but Evan Turner is completely non-existent. It’s not just his limited minutes . . . but it’s his aggressiveness and demeanor while on the court. He looked perfectly content to jog up and down the court, make an entry pass, and then cut off to the weak side for some more standing around. Tonight, Turner played 14 minutes, 37 seconds and almost all of that time looked like it was a courtesy extended to [him], not minutes earned by Turner. Something has to give with Turner, because right now he’s fading to the background without a fight.” —Philadelphia Inquirer writer Kate Fagan.

Such criticism has died down as the season has unfurled, but Turner could have been forgiven for thinking Philly is a pretty unforgiving place. His coach, Doug Collins, says he told his budding star: “If you want to listen to that stuff, it will make you crazy.” Collins remains upbeat about his rookie. He says Ohio State coach Thad Matta told him it takes Turner a while to adapt to change. Turner himself talks about not being an overnight sensation at Ohio State, either. “The legend of Evan Turner took time,” he says with a smile that suggests he’s poking a bit of fun at himself.

Collins points out that Turner, as of mid March, was averaging about 27 minutes of playing time as a substitute in the NBA’s 48-minute game. A look at his stats midway through his first season, compared to the other top picks in the first round of the NBA draft, suggests a kind of middle ground of success. He was averaging about 10 points, 4.5 rebounds and two assists per game, which pale compared to No. 1 pick John Wall of the Washington Wizards (15 points, four rebounds and nine assists). And, according to a ranking of rookies on nba.com, Turner was rated ninth in early March.

But Collins says he sees increasing signs that Turner is feeling more comfortable. “His personality is starting to come out,” he says. And the writer who compiled the rookie ranking wrote favorably of Turner: “I have a hard time putting my finger on what I like about Turner. His stats don’t blow me away. . . . But there’s just something about him where he makes plays when the Sixers need him.”

Collins adds that Turner is smiling more, showing confidence and joking with his teammates. “We’re thrilled with Evan,” he says.

On a wintry day, the Sixers get set to take on the Phoenix Suns at home in the Wells Fargo Center. Both share similar records (around .500), but for the 76ers it’s a big improvement over the previous season and makes them a contender for a playoff spot. You’d never know it from the local media, however. The city’s sports radio station is all about an interview with Charlie Manuel, the manager for the Phillies, the current darlings of the sports world in town. That and football, football, football in a city that annually is in despair over the state of the Eagles, which lost in the first round of the playoffs this season. Mention Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in Philadelphia and almost everyone quickly offers an opinion. Evan Turner or most of the Sixers? Not so much.

Traffic getting to the Wells Fargo is light and tickets are readily available at the box office. Just step right up. An ocean of empty dark red seats await, although some fill up eventually (the announced attendance is 14,881 in an arena that seats 20,444). Call it a sparse turnout.

Turner trots out onto the court for warm-ups with his teammates and then takes a seat on the bench. But it’s not long, halfway through the first period, before he takes the court, where he spends more than 32 minutes doing what looks from the stands like an effortless night’s work, scoring a respectable 14 points.

Although the 6-foot-7 guard is listed at 205 pounds, he looks as thin as uncooked spaghetti. He lopes when he runs, with long strides, and doesn’t appear to break a sweat. You could call his game “elegant.” Collins prefers “graceful.”

The Sixers win handily, 105-95. But it’s hardly the talk of the town. After the game, sports radio still is consumed by the Phillies and the Eagles, and the city’s two daily newspapers play the story of the game modestly. Of more interest to the Philadelphia Daily News was an interview with the very former Eagles star Herschel Walker, who said that at the age of 49 he’s ready to make a football comeback.

Yet, Turner isn’t completely ignored. He’s in demand by local TV interviewers before the game with the Suns. And he seems to have learned the lessons taught by the character of Crash Davis, the veteran baseball catcher in the movie Bull Durham, who teaches a young pitcher how to answer reporters’ questions with boring clichés. After a practice session, Turner comes out to the wide corridor in the bowels of the Wells Fargo Center and smiles shyly. He knows exactly where to stand—right in front of the 76ers logo in the cement-block-lined corridor. Two cameras point at him. A reporter asks him about defending one of the Suns players.

Turner gives an answer that would please Crash Davis, and the TV folks seem happy with the sound bite and shut off their cameras.

Turner showed up in 2007 at Ohio State as a promising basketball recruit, but was overshadowed by fellow freshman and 7-footer Kosta Koufos (who turned down millions to play in Greece) and Jon Diebler (the all-time scoring leader in Ohio high school basketball). Once he got comfortable, as noted by Matta earlier, Turner quickly became a dominant force. As a junior during the 2009-’10 season, he seemingly single-handedly led the Buckeyes to championships in the Big Ten regular season and conference tournament. He won about every individual award available for a college basketball player. His on-court achievements, as well as being a likeable guy, made him a fan favorite.

Yet, OSU basketball, no matter how successful, takes a back seat to a certain university football team in town. So Turner’s time in Columbus prepared him somewhat for moving to a city that doesn’t necessarily worship its basketball stars.

The 76ers are not now, and have not been for nearly a decade, the toast of Philadelphia. Pat McLoone, managing editor and former sports editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, agrees that the Sixers are the least popular pro team in Philly. McLoone says it always has been an Eagles town, even if they periodically get challenged. For instance, the Phillies have been on a tear for the last few seasons (winning the World Series in 2008). And even the 76ers, when led by star guard Allen Iverson and coach Larry Brown, rode high in 2001 when the team advanced to the NBA championship series before losing to the L.A. Lakers. And, it should be noted, the city has basketball in its blood—after all, it’s the home of Wilt Chamberlain and Dr. J.

So Turner should be used to not being the big man on campus. Before another game this winter, he emerges from the locker room at the Wells Fargo Center a few minutes after the team shoot-around. He’s wearing his usual good-natured smile, and grabs the hand of a reporter in greeting.

Yeah, he has a few minutes, so he stands in the hallway near the interview spot and talks about his life now and basketball.

Turner was born during the reign of Michael Jordan, by acclimation the greatest player of his time, maybe of all time. But Turner first became aware of basketball by watching his older brother dribbling in the street. He followed suit. He figures he must have been about 5 then, and he remembers his dad telling him that he was going to be a basketball star.

It wasn’t as if he was tall and lean from the outset. He recalls being about 5-foot-10 when he started his freshman year at Joseph High School in Westchester. His coach, Gene Pingatore, remembers his arrival, too. “I knew he was going to grow,” says Pingatore, who still coaches at the school. “I told people he would someday be an NBA point guard.”

And grow he did. By the time he got to Ohio State, which he picked over Wisconsin and Illinois, he had reached 6-foot-5. The Sixers now list him at 6-foot-7. Still growing, Turner was asked? He just smiles.

He says he enjoys Philadelphia and the upscale suburban community where he lives in a condo. “I like Philly a lot,” he says. “The people are pretty cool.”

Well, there’s that and the fact he’s taken a liking to Philly cheese steaks, a local favorite that would have most mortals packing on the pounds if they ate them regularly. It’s obviously different for a guy whose job it is to run repeatedly up and down a basketball court.

Turner doesn’t go to one of the famous cheese steak places in South Philly, near where he works: Pat’s, Geno’s or even Tony Luke’s. Instead, he’s fond of a place right near his condo.

His acclimation to the region has been helped by the fact that his big brother, Darius, who is a year older, moved to a Philadelphia suburb so the two could be close. They hang out together, playing video games at Evan’s condo, laughing, telling jokes. To him, it’s obvious. Of course he would spend time with Darius, “He’s my brother.”

Family is important to Turner. One of the first things he did when he signed his NBA contract was buy his mother, Iris James, a new house.

What kind of house?

He smiles. “A big one.”

In the final analysis, neither the blogs nor the sportswriters nor the fans get the last word on Turner. His coach is the only vote that counts for now, and Collins seems pretty sure of where things are going. He thinks Turner can be more than a major contributor to the Sixers for a decade.

“We expect him to be a leader of our team,” he says.

Dave Warner is a Philadelphia-area journalist.