Many NBA pundits will tell you that the biggest transition that Sixers rookie Evan Turner will have to make in the NBA is getting used to moving without the ball. At Ohio State he was free to handle the ball and control things, whereas in the NBA that job will most often fall to the point guard.
To help, Doug Collins called in one of the best in the history of the game at this. He invited his old TNT broadcast partner Reggie Miller to check out Sixers practice, but soon pressed him into duty as a teacher.
Collins wasn’t going to let Miller’s presence go wasted. With a young team that is going to rely on its perimeter talent for much of its success, Collins asked Miller, one of the best players in league history at moving without the ball so he could use his catch-and-shoot skills, to offer some pointers.
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it’s impossible the ignore the fact that Miller’s greatest asset as a Hall-of-Fame talent was in an area that Collins wants his prized rookie to learn and perfect.
Miller wasn't expecting to be enlisted as a teacher, but he didn't seem to mind.
"I was somewhat bamboozled by coach," Miller said. "I thought I was coming here and observe practice ... but once I started to watch practice and saw what coach was teaching, I kind of got excited because I’m an old-school kind of guy who loves fundamentals.
If Evan Turner becomes even close to the player Reggie Miller was... We're in for a fun ride. One can only hope.