Staff writer Craig Yamada takes a look at today’s sad news that Elston Turner has decided to transfer.
by Craig Yamada – Staff Writer
At 10:00 AM this morning, Softy Mahler delivered news that placed a major blemish on UW’s big recruiting week. Elston Turner has filed for a transfer out of UW. After reading Romar’s interview with Percy Allen, it was apparent that something was brewing around a player leaving the team this year. ET was not the player most had pegged to transfer.
No Romar math was needed here. ET had been mulling this over for months and came to the conclusion after speaking with his father about his future. He dropped the news on Romar two days ago and it was officially announced today. ET felt like the situation at UW “slowed down his development as an individual player.” He is looking for an opportunity where he can showcase different dimensions of his game, “not just spot-up shooting.”
Make no mistake about it, this decision did not come easy for Elston. “Romar has been like a father and this team was a bunch of brothers to me.” He is simply looking for an opportunity that allows him to “be the best he could be.”
The general feeling around most of Dawg Nation today was a mixed feeling of sadness and shock. Given the big finish Elston had to close out the season, many pinned ET as a possible filler for Q-Pon’s production next season. Apparently, ET just did not see it that way.
Analysis
Q: Why ET, Why?
A: Romar’s offensive system didn’t exactly lend itself to an opportunity for Elston to showcase all of his abilities. And with the possible emergence of C.J. Wilcox next year, Turner must have felt an increase in playing time was far from a sure thing.
Much like Scott Suggs, ET’s role seemed to be reduced to being a spot-up shooter. As a result, he became labeled as one-dimensional in the offensive scheme. He‘d rather be labeled as a complete player and become a central focus for a team that can get him to the next level.
Q: Where is he going?
A: He has not been officially contacted yet, but did make mention of Texas A&M given his many friends playing for that team and its close proximity to Houston. This would be intriguing as Washington and A&M will play again in 2010/2011 as part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.
Q: How does UW replace the hole that ET has left?
A: I have the utmost confidence Suggs and Wilcox will fill this void in the future, but the experience and confidence that ET showcased will be severely missed. ET proved to be more of a complete player during the latter stages of the season not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive side of the ball as well.
Q: What is the immediate impact?
A: Romar has a new scholarship at his disposal for this year’s recruiting class. We wouldn’t need any Romar Math for either Terrence Jones or Terrence Ross to come to Montlake. Now, if both choose the Huskies, that’s a different story. . .
Q: What is the long-term impact?
A: UW loses its most clutch three-point shooter who has proven to be a bigtime player during high pressure situations. ‘Tourney Turner’ will not be easily replaced.
Top three memories for ET as a Husky:
- Hitting a clutch three pointers down the stretch to help lift UW over Marquette in this year’s tourney
- The spin and step back three drained against Purdue in the second round last year
- The barrage of three balls unleashed in the Pac-10 tourney championship this year to help lift UW over Cal.
Best of luck to you ET. You will always be a Dawg to me.
Thanks for coming. And thanks, Elston for being supportive of the fan community at Montlake Madness when we’ve had the opportunity to speak.
Tags: Craig Yamada
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UW “slowed down his development as an individual player.”
Everyone’s situation is different but not a good parting shot for potential recruits to read about regarding our program.
Always thought Suggs would be the one to go..not ET..who knows, maybe Suggs leaves too in coming weeks.
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This is a tough one. It is understandable, but I think it is a mistake. I do think Turner would have trouble getting much playing time next year. There are just too many good players maturing at the right time at that position. Consider the following players: IT, Overton, Gaddy and Holiday. IT is just a better offensive player than Turner, his defense has really improved; he will play lots of minutes (deservedly so). Overton will be a senior next year. Venoy’s offense has improved every year and his defense remains outstanding — he only needs to reduce his mistakes to earn even more time. Gaddy is a point guard, through and through. With Gaddy’s struggles, if Turner wanted to be a point guard, he could have had more minutes this year. However, ET showed little interest in running the team, so that role was filled by the shorter guards (Overton and Thomas). I would expect Gaddy to improve, leaving less time at that position. Then there is Holiday. He is listed as a forward, but his natural position (in my opinion) is guard. He has the ability to guard other guards (he is fast enough and has very long arms). If Holiday plays in the NBA, he will play at guard. Holiday only needs to be a mediocre offensive player to be extremely valuable to the team. So, when the Huskies “go small” and run a three guard offense, it will usually be with Holiday. Given all that, I just don’t see how ET would have gotten more playing time next year. It is quite possible he would have gotten less (with Overton and Gaddy playing more minutes).
But the thing is, that is just next year. Turner would have one more year to really establish himself. Romar has a history of rewarding his seniors, of giving them a chance to prove themselves during their last year. During Turner’s last year, Overton and Holiday would be gone. Yes, he would have to share the spotlight with IT and Gaddy, but the Huskies might just start a three guard lineup. The big competition would be with Suggs, but at this point, it seems like he has earned more time that Scott. We are overloaded at guard, but I think Romar could have made it work.
I’ll miss him, and wish him the best. I hope it works out for him.
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I agree with RossB: Elston probably wouldnt have had a jump up in playing time and might have gotten less. Its very apparent ET doesnt want to be a myopic player or a role player. CJ Wilcox will probably have no problem being a role player/spot up shooter for a one or two years since he has 4 years of eligibility. Suggs doesnt seem to have a problem playing that role either. So, we basically have 2 guys who can fill his role.
I know our last memories are of Turner helping us dramatically and stepping up in the Pac 10 tourney and the NCAA tourney…..but dont forget he could be and was a little inconsistent during the regular season.
I’ll miss him as well but there could be some silver lining here. Aaaaaand by silver lining I mean Terrence Jones. Ha! Cmon Romar! Make it happen. QUESTION: Who gets pushed out if both Ross and Jones want to come to UW as a package??? I say Trent probably.
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both ross and jones are going to come to uw, ive just gotta feeling. lets work this romar math!
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i think CJ wilcox will be able to fill Turners role very nicely. he doesnt have the experience yet but definitely has the physical skills and attributes. i would say he is alot more explosive than suggs or turner, and better at driving to the hoop
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“Elston they love you in Washington!!!” – CBS announcer vs. UNM
Can’t fault the guy for wanting more minutes. I don’t think he has NBA talent, but he wasn’t gonna get the chance to prove it here since he was playing limited minutes. I hope wherever he lands he has a monster senior season (as long as we don’t have to play him). He will only get one season if he plays DI ball since he has to sit out to transfer, right?
He left in a classy way. -
Best case scenario we land Jones and Ross reclassifies for 2011…would Jones stay 2 years so they could play together for a season? Really I just want Terrence Jones. Getting Ross complicates things if he doesn’t go to prep school for a year. Would someone else leave? Who? Turner was the pay his own way candidate, and he’s gone…maybe Holiday could for his last year with help from little bro Jrue. I’m sure Romar has a plan, but any more transfers will start giving me flashbacks to 2006-07. Simply put, Jones fills the void left by Quincy perfectly, while Ross would add another body to an already crowded position. I’d gladly take both, but if any of us had to choose one, it would have to be Jones.
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I think we all want both… no doubt about it.
Grant UW – You bring up an interesting insight about T Jones staying 2 years. With a possible NBA lockout looming next year, T Jones may be forced to stay at a school for 2+ years.
Ross, if he chooses to go to UW, will make things sticky. No one necessarily has to leave, but someone would have to pay their own way in order to free a scholarship. But if we do land both, I would expect one more person to transfer.
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Nice write up Craig. Love the reference to Percy..Elston has been a solid role player, but as mentioned above he still needs to prove himself before becoming the go to go. This past post season he was establishing himself as a consistent role player and awesome 3 point specialist (with a step back or to the side pump fake). He only performed that way, cause Romar pushed him too.
We all know theres a log jam, but he was the front runner. Though it seems like he B*&^ched out and didnt want to comple for playing time. Most of his successors did it, and as mentioned Romar rewarded those seniors. Elston prolly wont be a Broy or Qpon, but could’ve been a Tre. Perhaps is thinking about being a Stephon Curry, though at best an Adrian Oliver.
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“He will only get one season if he plays DI ball since he has to sit out to transfer, right?”
He’ll redshirt the season he sits out, so he’ll have two years to play after that.
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I still don’t get it. With losing QPon that opens the spot up for someone to step up and fill that offensive void…Turner seemed the logical choice to everyone…but he didn’t see it that way apparently.
Why???
Regardless of what he said, it doesn’t make any sense. Why would he assume he didn’t have the opportunity to do next season exactly what it is he hopes to accomplish somewhere else? Will he step into any better opportunity than what he would have at UW? That is hard for me to imagine, unless he goes to a team with less talent where he is really ‘the guy’ and pretty much the only guy (aka Klay Thompson).
I’m not blaming him, I too have been a huge Turner fan, I just don’t really follow his line of logic.
I do hope he succeeds wherever he goes though…as others have said, he’ll always be a Dawg in my eyes.
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Thanks cassino, apparently you only lose a year of eligibility if you transfer from a pac-x to school to another pac-x school.
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I don’t think that transferring to be “The Man” on a new team is necessarily the best move for Elston or anyone else with NBA aspirations, but at least being a big-time scorer will often get you invited to things like the Portsmouth Invitational as a senior.
However, based on his comments, I think Elston wants to develop himself to be more of a playmaker and in order to do that he’ll have to go to a team that doesn’t have the kind of PG depth that the Huskies do. The NBA rarely drafts 6’4″ shooting guards in the first round unless they are a guy like OJ Mayo or James Harden. Even Jodie Meeks (28ppg .415 3p% at Kentucky) had to wait till the mid 2nd round. 6’4 guys that get drafted are usually groomed to be a PG at the next level. Turner will definitely benefit from the redshirt year if he wants to improve his playmaking skills. Whether or not he ends up putting up 25 shots a game on a new team will depend on the program he goes to and who he is surrounded by.
A mistake many players make is thinking that they need to score more in order to be noticed by the League. I don’t think that will be Turner’s problem, but he likely will score more wherever he goes. I would think he has some pretty good advisers, considering his dad is an NBA coach, so if Elston thinks this is best for him, I’ll just wish him good luck.
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Mr. Yamada,
Your 3rd highlight for Turner never happened. He scored 5 consecutive points vs Cal in the Conference Final. They were critical points but they were his only points of the game.
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I guess he rather create for others than hit big shots in the tourney
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Big news outta Montlake:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2011648918_umen20.html10 more years!
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Thomas tweeted that he was having surgery on Friday, anyone know what it’s for? I assume it’s something to do with his hand, but I’m still curious.
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ESPN ran a What If.. article today
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5118600
What if Garcia had been cleared by the retards in the admissions office?
IMHO, UW has a better shot at beating teams with length that gave us trouble all year (USC twice, WVU)…
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most likely the surgery is for his fractured hand that he wore the michael jackson glove on.
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If Terrence Jones commits to UW, he would take the position that Garcia could have had which went left unfilled. Add in Aziz N’Diaye and some more depth at SF and this could be a very very dangerous team.
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Trent transferring to SU. Whoever called that… mad props to you.
The stars are alligning for the Terrence Jones and Terrence Ross. And possibly Remi as well?
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OMG Romar you mad scientist, you’ve done it again. Although I will miss you Clarence Trent it is a win win situation. You get more playing time at Seattle U., and that now opens things up for the Terrence’s.
Craiger: Who is Remi?
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Remi Barry. He is a 6’8″ PF French national player. He has been bouncing from school to school since Freshman Year. He has played in France, Florida and is now sitting his senior year out as a Senior due to eligibility issues.
He is playing AAU ball at the moment. Romar has been said to have been visiting him at home in Los Angeles. Ben Howland has an in home visit today and he is reportedly going to have a visit at UCLA this weekend.
He looks like Jorge Gutierrez, the mutated version after he drank the ooze.
Here is a highlight video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBSNj3x_28o
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T-Ross looks like he will be ours:
It was cited today that he was wearing a purple UW shirt on campus today. Monday will hopefully seal the deal.
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Nice find Craiger!
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Big news outta Montlake:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2011648918_umen20.html10 more years!
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OMG Romar you mad scientist, you’ve done it again. Although I will miss you Clarence Trent it is a win win situation. You get more playing time at Seattle U., and that now opens things up for the Terrence’s.
Craiger: Who is Remi?
Reply
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