He wore the Scarlet and Gray with pride, but what jersey will Evan Turner be donning tomorrow night?
The 2010 NBA Draft will be held tomorrow night at 7 PM on ESPN. It is likely John Wall will be the first name announced to the Washington Wizards, and while Ohio State's Evan Turner is highly regarded as the next best player on the board, it is not a guarantee that The Villian will be selected second overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.
It has been discussed frequently in recent weeks, most notably by ESPN's Chad Ford, that the 76ers are considering
drafting Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors over Turner. While Favors is quite unpolished, his ceiling is high and may fit better on a Sixers team that already features Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Louis Williams, Willie Green, and Jrue Holliday. A more telling sign may be that Philly traded center Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento this week in return for Spencer Hawes and Andre Nocioni. Nocioni's addition at small forward may hint the Sixers are leaning more towards adding Favors to their frontcourt.
If Philly decides to pass on Turner, his likely landing spot would be the Nets. There may not be a better fit for the National Player of the Year, as the Nets would be built for now and tomorrow with Turner being the final piece to their line-up. With ET their starting five would be Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Turner, Yi, and brook Lopez, with Terrence Williams, Chris Douglass Roberts, Josh Boone, and others coming off the bench. Many think DeMarcus Cousins would also be a good pick to team up with Lopez, but if Turner is on the board at #3 expect the Nets to snatch him up faster than you can say Mikhail Prokhorov.
A final option would be if a team traded up with Philadelphia to try and land Turner ahead of New Jersey. The option most people are talking about is Minnesota, who supposedly covet his versatility and hard work. Some even say this would be Turner's
best chance for stardom, and with a potential line-up of Johnny Flynn, Corey Brewer, Turner, Kevin Love, and Al Jefferson, it's hard to argue. A trade would likely involve Minnesota sending the #4 and either the #16 or #23 pick to Philly in exchange for the #2 pick and taking on the remainder of Elton Brand's contract which sits at 4 years at $66 million. The T-Wolves will have to decide if taking on the financial burden of the oft-injured Brand is worth the price of getting Turner, but the way I see it, The Villian could be the missing piece to the puzzle for Minnesota to get back into consistent contention in the Western Conference.
Definitely check in to the NBA Draft tomorrow at 7 PM on ESPN to see where Turner winds up. If it is anywhere other than Philadelphia, New Jersey, or Minnesota it will be a great surprise, but
stranger things have happened on draft night in New York City. In addition to seeing a Buckeye get drafted, Mark Titus has to be brewing something up to embarrass his arch nemesis on national television right?
Where do you think ET will call home after tomorrow night? Which team is the best fit for this all-time Buckeye great? What position does he fit best in at the next level and what kind of success do you think he will have?
