Turner making the best better
It was June of 2013 in Charlotte, N.C., when trainers at a Stephen Curry basketball camp noticed a 10-year-old named Danny Gerber.
They noted the San Francisco lad’s footwork, fundamentals and shooting form. They asked where he learned it all.
With that one inquiry, the trajectory of Packie Turner’s life and career went unexpectedly and organically soaring.
Turner, a former do-everything guard at Holy Names University, had been tutoring Gerber and others like him the previous year.
Curry’s people eventually contacted Turner and in 2015 — during the Warriors first championship season — Turner was training Curry himself. “Crazy, right?” Turner said. The 29-year-old from Fort Bragg makes it crystal clear he wasn’t Curry’s primary trainer then, nor is he now. He’s mostly on call.
But that crazy, unlikely connection from Turner to Gerber to Curry and back to Turner was better than any play the Warriors ever designed.
“Doors flew open,” Turner said.
He worked with then-Warriors players Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli and Warriors guard Patrick McCaw, which led Turner to NBA players Aaron Gordon and Skal Labissiere, which led him to local college standouts Frankie Ferrari (USF) and Reid Travis (Stanford), among many others.
Turner and his wife, Bianca, now own Unlimited Potential Basketball in Burlingame. Turner and trainers Larisa Nakasone, a former Holy Names player, and Chris Head, a former St. Mary’s-Berkeley and Hampton University standout, guide players of all ages in the fast and ever-evolving hoop game.
“All I ever wanted to do was be involved in the game and help young people,” Turner said. “I never imagined it would evolve into this. I’m living my dream, no doubt about it.”
Though Turner works with some of the game’s elite, he takes equal satisfaction working with high school kids.
After Holy Names, he was an assistant coach at Albany High under Bill Tressler. More than diagramming plays, he found his niche teaching skills one-on-one.
Now he trains many of the best local prep players in the region.
Ten of the players who will be announced Sunday in The Chronicle’s All-Metro teams have worked with Turner, including Salesian-Richmond guard James Akinjo, Los Gatos forward Dylan Belquist and Clayton Valley-Concord guard Garrett Pascoe.
All three will play at the college level in the fall: Belquist is headed to USF, Pascoe to Boston University and Akinjo, a top-100 national recruit, is still deciding.
“He’s really helped sharpen every tool I have,” Akinjo said of Turner. “He sees things, too. We break down film. We talk about how to get out of double teams or dribbling less and expending less energy. … Besides basketball, he’s just a cool dude. He works you hard, but he’s not a hard-ass. He’s funny.”
That sort of relationship, or physical exertion, might pose a threat to some local high school coaches.
But Salesian coach Bill Mellis said Turner is careful not to step on toes or interfere with the school season.
“I’ve heard nothing but positive things about Packie,” Mellis said. “He’s not going to overwork these guys. Personally I think it’s good for James and others to hear another voice and get another perspective.”
Mellis thinks trainers like Turner might be beneficial to local programs in another way.
Rather than elite players leaving high school for basketball academies like Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., they might stick around to get highlevel training at home through Turner.
Belquist, a 6-foot-6 swingman and four-year starter at Los Gatos, said he’s seen big results since going to Turner in the fall.
“I played with a lot more confidence this season,” said Belquist, who averaged 26.1 points and 9.2 rebounds for the Central Coast Section Division 1 champions. “Packie really pushes you out of your comfort zone. So when I got into games, everything felt a little easier, a little clearer.”