When a player joins a new team and returns to play against their old team, they usually get booed; well depending on how they left. Turner was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Indiana Pacers before joining the Boston Celtics. When Turner made his return to the City of Brotherly Love, there wasn’t much love there even though he didn’t leave voluntarily.
Evan Turner was greeted by fans with mixed emotions. The current Celtics forward felt the love from fans before the game.
“I signed like 100,000 autographs, I’m kissing babies and what not and all that stuff,” Turner joked. “I’m getting my hand kissed by people. I got little girls come up to me fainting.”
And then the game started, with Turner – a former No. 2 overall pick by Philadelphia in 2010 – not getting in until the 4:14 mark of the first quarter.
The ho-hum Sixers crowd, and I use the word “crowd” very generously in describing those on hand, became very vocal as they boo’d him whenever he touched the ball.
“Once the game started, it was like, ‘what the hell is going on?'” Turner said. “I was like, ‘this is weird. Did they take all the good people out?”
The boos didn’t have much effect on the game — Boston came away with a 105-87 win — but did getting boo’d have an effect on Turner?
“I don’t worry about it anymore. I don’t want to sound super weird, but Jesus was hated too. At the end of the day, I just worry about the stuff that’s important. If it makes you happy to boo me, go ahead. I’m still happy. I put all that stuff behind me.”
