Evan Turner

Evan Marcel Turner (born October 27, 1988) is an American professional basketball coach and former player.

He was most recently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The 1989 Chicago measles epidemic caused Turner to desperately need emergency room services.

He encountered severe breathing problems that required the removal of his adenoids and tonsils.

At the age of three, he was hit by a car, resulting in a concussion and stitches.

Oversized baby teeth and an overbite caused a speech impediment that necessitated speech therapy.

Before high school, Turner and fellow NBA player Iman Shumpert were teammates on the 8th grade basketball team at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois.

He played in the Summer 2004 AAU Boys 15-under Basketball National Championship Tournament for the Illinois Knights.

As a high school sophomore, he helped lead St. Joseph to a run in the Illinois AA Boys High School basketball tournament, which helped him get the attention of NCAA Division I basketball coaches.

At St. Joseph's, which had previously produced Isiah Thomas, he was part of a Chicago area sophomore class that included Derrick Rose and his St. Joseph's teammate Demetri McCamey.

Turner started getting major Division I offers early in his junior year, At the beginning of his junior season, Chicago Tribune named him to its annual top Chicago metropolitan area basketball players list.

His team went to the state sectional final before losing to Proviso East High School in the sectional final.

After his junior season, he was considered one of the top 25 prospects in the country in his class and he was given special mention by the Chicago Tribune and honorable mention by the Associated Press for all-state honors.

During the summer of 2006, he committed to Ohio State, which is located in Columbus, Ohio.

Turner's decision was influenced by his relationship with his father, James Turner, who lived in Columbus, Ohio and whom Turner had visited every summer since he was ten years old.

During his senior season, his team was listed second to Rose's Simeon Career Academy in the preseason Tribune Chicago area high school basketball team rankings.

That season, he was named to the first-team Associated Press 2006–07 Class AA all-state team, a day before Rose's Simeon eliminated Turner's St. Joseph in the Illinois Class AA supersectional.

Turner and McCamey finished third and sixth to Rose in the Illinois Mr. Basketball voting, and the Chicago Tribune chose both of them as first team All-state selections.

Turner was ranked as the #7, #13 and #16 small forward in the nation as a high school senior by ESPN, rivals.com, and scout.com respectively.

He received scholarship offers from five Big Ten Conference basketball programs, as well as Wake Forest, DePaul and Notre Dame.

As a freshman, Turner averaged 27.1 minutes per game, 8.5 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game over the course of the season and finished second on the team in assists and third in steals.

He was twice the only unanimous selection for the All-Big Ten first team by both the coaches and the media (i.e., 2008–09 and 2009–10).

Turner recorded his first career double double on January 19, 2008 at Thompson–Boling Arena against the Tennessee Vols with his first 20-point game and first 10-rebound game.

That season, he helped Ohio State win the 2008 National Invitation Tournament by averaging 18.5 points, 7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3 steals in the tournament's semifinal and final round at Madison Square Garden.

Turner had also scored in double digits in the quarterfinal round.

He was also in the starting lineup for the other two NIT games.

Turner contributed at least 24 minutes as a starter in each of the five tournament games.

As a sophomore, Turner was named player of the week three times during the 2008–09 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season (December 8, 2008, February 2, 2009, and February 9, 2009).

On February 26, Turner became the only Big Ten player selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) as a Top 15 finalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy.

As a guard/forward for the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team of the Big Ten Conference, he led his team in the following per-game statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

By finishing first in scoring and second in both rebounds and assists in the conference in the 2009–10 season, he was the first men's basketball player to finish in the top two in each of these categories and the first to finish in the top five in each category in the same season.

He holds the conference record for most Conference Player of the Week awards, both in a career and in a single season.

In March 2022, Evan Turner started a podcast with his former teammate from the 76ers, Andre Iguodala.

The podcast is called Point Forward.

Turner was born weighing 10 lbs.

Within his first year, he endured chicken pox, pneumonia, asthma, and measles.

He was drafted second overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2010 NBA draft.

Turner attended St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois.

By his senior season, he was one of the top high school basketball players at his position in the nation.

In 2010, Turner was a first-team All-American and the John R. Wooden Award National Player of the Year while playing at Ohio State University; he also became a two-time scoring champion and the Player of the Year for the Big Ten Conference.