Just one of the guys
From the earliest days of his existence, Evan Turner hasn't had it easy
Sunday, March 7, 2010
By Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Evan Turner's name is big in basketball, but not in his head. "He really doesn't like the spotlight," his brother Darius said.
Neal C. Lauron | Dispatch
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
What they're saying
* Thad Matta on his impressions of Turner when he recruited him: "The thing I loved about him on his unofficial visit was that he knew everything about basketball. He knew about the NBA. He knew about college. He knew about high schools. We were walking and he said to (assistant coach) Brandon Miller, 'I remember watching you play for Butler at UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago).' ... He absorbed everything."
* Matta on Turner off the court: "He's caring. He's sensitive. A couple of years ago, I took him to (my daughter) Emily's school, and I couldn't get him out of the class. He just loved being around the kids. He's a kid that thirsts for knowledge. He wants to learn. A lot of it is basketball, yeah, but he wants to know everything that's going around. He'll ask me questions about my life, my family, the whole broad spectrum."
* Matta on Turner's not focusing on his NBA potential: "His mind is on one thing: playing the best he can every time he's on the floor. I've seen it both ways. We've talked about guys who came in here and wanted nothing but greatness for their team and their school. And there are other guys who are maybe thinking, 'Next year.' And he hasn't done that. That's a credit to him, how he's handled the media and attention. He hates it. Most kids would want to be told how good they are and what people are saying about him. He wants nothing to do with it."
* Gene Pingatore, his high school coach, on Turner's personality: "With all his notoriety and everyone writing great things about him, and he's all-state and he's all-this, he's so down-to-earth. He's friendly with everybody. He doesn't have a big head. He's unassuming. He's like a pied piper. He's the kind of kid who walks into the building and all of a sudden all kinds of people are around him, following him and talking to him. When he was in high school, it was like that. When he comes back now, it's like that. He just has a charisma and an aura about him that shows he's not only a great player but a good person."
* Pingatore, on how Turner compares with Isiah Thomas, another St. Joseph product: "He's pretty close. He's right there with the best we've ever had. Time will tell the rest. A lot of the same things I see in Evan, Isiah had. We're talking about the total package - the skills, the personality, the charisma, the leadership. He has it all. The only difference is Evan is 6-7 and playing the point is new for him, but he's going to grow into all those kind of things. He's a special player."
* Jerry Lucas, after meeting Turner at the 1960 championship team reunion: "He can do everything. And not only that, at his size, his ability to handle the ball, he'll be a great pro. There's no doubt about that. He's a nice kid, too ... really a nice young man. It really is refreshing, because so many times some of these kids are not like that, so it was really pleasant to get to know him and see him and feel his heart and personality. I'm very impressed with him."
* Dave Barker, player on the 1960 team, on Turner's rank among Ohio State's greatest players: "He's one of the top 10 players that's ever played here."
A milk crate, a brick, nails and a telephone pole.
That's all Evan Turner and his brother Darius needed.
Hour after hour, day after day, they would go to the alley behind their home on Chicago's west side.
So what if they didn't have a real basketball hoop? They would cut out the bottom of the crate, stand on a garbage can and use a brick to hammer the crate into the telephone pole. Voila! A basket.
"It was really hard to shoot on, throwing leather at plastic," Evan said. "If you tried to go up and dunk, you might cut your fingers on some of the edges. But other than that, we had a lot of fun times playing. It was just playing basketball, or our version of basketball."
The brothers played constantly. Thirteen months older and built sturdier, Darius showed no mercy. He would throw an elbow here, give a push there. All's fair between brothers.
"I just played basketball to beat my brother," Evan said. "To me, I was never good until I beat my brother. I could beat kids two or three years older, but until I could beat my brother, it didn't matter."
Basketball came more easily to Darius.
"Darius could shoot. He could dribble," said their mother, Iris James. "Evan was always saying, 'Darius, show me how to do that. Am I doing it right?' Then he would just work on it and work on it."
Evan Turner hasn't stopped working on his game.
"He works harder than anyone I know," Darius said.
