The biggest move from the trade deadline day was undoubtedly the one deal that snuck by everyone.
Shortly after the whistle was blown and teh trade deadline passed, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported the Pacers had acquired Evan Turner from the 76ers along with Lavoy Allen for Danny Granger. Everyone got what they wanted — the Pacers got six more fouls to use on LeBron James and a multi-faceted young player to bring off the bench. The 76ers got a body that takes up salary space and comes off their books at the end of the year.
Does Turner put Indiana over the top? No — if Indiana needed that in any case.
Turner though does provide them something Granger could not — consistency.
Danny Granger has slowly been weeded out of the lineup and out of the rotation thanks to his own injuries and Paul George's emergence. At one point, Granger was the Pacers' franchise player and it looked like he could carry that load.
Injuries have sapped him of that status and he was struggling coming off the bench. Granger has appeared in 29 games, scoring 8.3 points per game and grabbing 3.6 rebounds per game in 22.5 minutes per game. He is shooting just 35.9 percent from the floor and 33.0 percent from beyond the arc, where he typically was so strong. He is posting a 10.4 PER.
Granger is a shell of his former self and just doesn't fit the role he is asked to play.
Evan Turner, on the other hand, is like an oversized point guard in a lot of ways. He was probably mismatched in Philadelphia as a primary option and could be much more effective coming off the bench.
This year, Turner is averaging a career-best 17.4 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game and 5.0 assists per game. He was labeled a Jack of all trades, master of none coming out of Ohio State and he has lived up to that billing in many respects.
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That is exactly why he might fit in with the Pacers. He does not need to be scoring to be effective. He can do a number of different things depending on the situation in the game and who is hot on the floor. He can run some point guard like George Hill and Lance Stephenson can. That gives Indiana some incredible versatility.
Turner's advanced numbers are not impressive — 13.3 PER, 45.1 percent effective field goal percentage. But he also has not been on a team with this many weapons around him. That should give him space to create more and get cleaner looks. This could be a perfect situation.
Or it should allow him to do what he has already done on a bigger stage in meaningful games.
In either case, it is probably better than what Granger was giving the Pacers.
Only time will tell whether this move helps Indiana overtake Miami.
