Evan Turner on being booed by 76ers fans: ‘Jesus was hated too’

For the second time since becoming a Boston Celtic, Evan Turner returned to Philly to face his former team — the 7ers — and he did not receive a warm reception. Turner was booed by Philadelphia 76ers fans at the Wells Fargo Center every time he touched the ball. That didn’t stop the point guard from feeling like royalty.

When asked if the boos bothered him, Turner offered some fantastic thoughts.

“Before the game I signed like 100,000 autographs, I’m kissing babies and what not and all that stuff,” Turner said sarcastically, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. “I’m getting my hand kissed by people; I got little girls come up to me fainting.

“Once the game started, it was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I was like, ‘This is weird. Did they take all the good people out?”

That wasn’t the best part.

“I don’t worry about it anymore,” Turner said of the boos. “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.”

Saying you don’t want to sound weird before comparing yourself to Jesus Christ is like hurling a huge insult at someone but saying “with all due respect” first.

As James Herbert of Eye on Basketball noted, Sixers fans really have no reason to boo Turner mercilessly. Sure, their team used the No. 2 overall pick on him in 2010 and expectations were high, but Philadelphia’s struggles were hardly Turner’s fault. Maybe the Sixers shouldn’t have valued a guy who runs out of gas in his Ferrari so highly.