Rumor: Evan Turner is being called selfish by Pacers teammates

The Indiana Pacers have put so much into gaining the best record and top seed in the Eastern Conference. They know that with the best record comes home court advantage in the playoffs, something the Pacers would love to have against the Miami Heat.

The Pacers have struggled since the trade deadline and rumors are that the trade that sent forward Danny Granger to the Philadelphia 76ers or Evan Turner is blowing up in their face. According to NBA insider Ric Bucher, center Roy Hibbert referred to Turner as being selfish in an indirect way.  

With Turner and Lance Stephenson both being in a contract year, Turner reportedly has been taking shots from Stephenson and hasn't been passing the ball. Team chemistry has suffered since the trade. Granger was a veteran locker room leader for the younger players despite being on his way out.

That's why a Heat official said they didn't trade Udonis Haslem. In both cases it's not about production, but more about team harmony. There were opinions out there that said Turner would make the Pacers a worse team and they might've been spot on with that assessment.

Evan Turner says Bulls are a better matchup for the Sixers

The NBA playoffs are right around the corner and we've already had our first brush with controversy. Philadelphia 76ers guard Evan Turner basically admitted that the Sixers are trying to dodge the Miami Heat so that they'll get a first round matchup with the Chicago Bulls because Turner says Miami is the tougher team. Turner feels that if they get Chicago in the first round they have a better chance of winning.



In a story that appeared in the Delaware County Daily Times, Chicago native and Sixers’ guard Evan Turner thinks the Sixers would rather play the Bulls because, “It means we’re dodging the tougher team. That’s what I think." The better team, of course, being the Heat?


“We will be able to compete well against Chicago and have an opportunity to win the series,” he said.


“We probably match up better against them even though they are, by far, the best team in the East,” Turner said. “We match up better with them with our personnel, so you never know.”


The Bulls didn't seem to bite at the comments but Kyle Korver did call the comments "flammatory".


“Well, all right,” he said. “I’m not going to get into a war of words with Evan Turner.


“Come play us. Our goal’s to win a championship. We don’t care who we play—first round, second round, third round—we want to go through everybody. That’s our mindset. We don’t want to go around anybody. We’ve got the one seed and we’re ready for whoever’s eighth.”


Center Joakim Noah didn't put much stock in Turner's comments.


"That's cool," Joakim Noah told reporters in Indianapolis.


“Why doesn't it bother me? At the end of the day you've got to go out there and play the game, so we're only worried about us right now and we'll worry about Evan Turner when we need to worry about Evan Turner, if ... God willing.”

The way the Sixers played after their quick start (20-8), they shouldn't be worrying about seeing who they match up with better. They should concentrate on playing better basketball to be in a position to beat the Bulls.