76ers' Turner unhappy with his play

Evan Turner, the 6-foot-7 swingman selected by the 76ers with the second overall pick in last month's NBA draft, was hard on himself when he was asked Thursday to critique his performance this week in the Orlando Pro Summer League.

"Horrible," Turner said. "It's not what I expected of myself. I'm not proud of the way I've played. But I'm glad for the experience."

While Turner may not be living up to his own standards, the Chicago native has shown some of the all-around game that last season earned him consensus college-player-of-the-year honors as a junior at Ohio State.

In his final season with the Buckeyes, Turner averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists to become the first player since Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson (1959-60) to put together a 20-point, nine-rebound, six-assist season.

Entering Thursday night's 77-76 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, Turner was averaging 9.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists for the Sixers. He had 12- and 13-point games, twice snatched eight rebounds, and chipped in with four assists a couple of times.

When the Sixers (2-2) dropped their first game of the week, Wednesday against Oklahoma City, Turner came up with only four points on 1-of-6 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds in 27.3 minutes.

At times, the 21-year-old Turner has shown the frustrations of trying to find his way in a new game. His body language tells the story, as do his occasional reactions to calls by the referees.

"You just have to play through it," Turner said. "Sometimes you have to take the bumps and play through that frustration and get on to the next play. It's a little whirlwind getting acclimated to new surroundings, a new system and everything. It's a lot quicker. You can't do certain things you could do in college. You have to make your moves much quicker."

Ed Stefanski, the Sixers' president and general manager, pointed out Wednesday that Turner wasn't helped by being semi-idle after learning that he would go high in the NBA draft. After Ohio State's season ended, Turner did a lot of drilling and shooting but limited his time on the court in pickup games to avoid injury with a big payday coming up.

"You can work out all you want, but unless you play five-on-five, you're not going to get there," said Stefanski, who compared Turner's struggles with those of Jrue Holiday last summer. "He hasn't played in a long time, and now we've played three games in three days."

Friday, the Sixers will take on the Utah Jazz in their last game in the Orlando Pro Summer League. But it's all just beginning for Turner, who said he was trying to find his rhythm.

"I'm going to go back and right my wrongs," he said. "Once we throw in more sets, and our roles get more defined, it will get much easier. Due to the fact that I haven't played for a while . . . I'm a rhythm player. I just want to play like myself. I think 'myself' is going to be pretty good."