Evan Turner 6th Man of The Year?

Evan Turner has been in the league since 2010. A former 1st round pick, Turner started his career with the 76ers, then got traded to the Pacers. He's now currently with the Boston Celtics and is having a great season so far. In the 2015-16 season, Turner has been averaging 10.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 4.5 APG. Some good numbers for the Celtics 6th man. Does he deserve Sixth Man Of The Year? With these stats for Evan Turner, the Celtics are in the 4th seed at a 42 wins and 30 losses. He has to compete with Jeremy Lin, Enes Kanter, Victor Oladipo and other candidates for this award. Yet, all these players are averaging more points than Turner.

What really helps Turner is his assists and rebounds. He averages about the same assists as Oladipo and Lin. Evan Turner also has the 2nd best 3-point percentage (53.8%) since the All-Star break. He has also proven to have a lethal mid-range game of the dribble which has been an often go-to move for Brad Stevens. His handles are very underrated is definitely one the best SF ball handlers in the game. Others don't recognize it because he doesn't want to be fancy and make SportsCenter every night. He just wants the win. Now, the averages seem to look low, but Evan Turner puts the work he does in practice into the games. Helping the Celtics with a winning record.

Turner shared his thoughts on being in the contention for the Sixth Man of the Year. Via Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe

"I try my best to be efficient and play the right way,” he said. “Do as coach asks and just play hard. I think the sixth man award is for high-scoring guys off the bench. The league is filled with scorers, guys who can do one trick. To a certain extent, people really don’t comprehend what assists, rebounds mean over a period of time or anything like that.”

“Some people might say, ‘Hey, he struggles with this.’ I’m like, ‘I’m close to a triple-double every night,’ ” Turner said. “At the end of the day you can’t argue with people that don’t know. The fact that it’s March and we’re talking about sixth man, I’m probably two months too late. So in general it really doesn’t mean much to me, because I’m going to try to play the right way.”

Celtics will continue to strive and fight to become the 3rd seed before the season ends. Since the season is coming to a close, Evan Turner should really work at his best to try and increase his odds to win the Sixth Man award. Celtics are going into the playoffs once again and Evan Turner is going to play a key role. Eastern Conference teams are going to have to try and stop the great Evan Turner. We hope to see the team succeed in the playoffs. But, winning the last games will decide who we will play. With his contract expiring soon, the Celtics want to re-sign Evan Turner. He’s shown his passion for the team and it is clear he loves being a Celtic.

AUTHOR: Matt Rothberg (Twitter: @imattrothberg - Instagram: @crossover_designsIG)