Report: Turkoglu does not want to come back to raptors

[lefty]

http://tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=322972

It appears that Hedo Turkoglu (http://tsn.ca/nba/teams/players/?name=hedo+turkoglu)'s days as a Raptor may soon be over, just one year after he arrived in Toronto on a five-year, $53 million contract via a sign-and-trade deal with the Orlando Magic.
According to the Basketball Jones blog, Turkoglu was interviewed recently on Turkish television, where he revealed that he is actively seeking a release from the Raptors.
Turkoglu was fined and then benched late in the season after allegedly being spotted at a nightclub just hours after missing a game with a stomach virus.
In a translation of the interview, Turkoglu described his situation:
"When the circumstances turned against me, I lost my enthusiasm for this city. My lawyers have talked to the front office recently. Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto," said Turkoglu.
"My lawyers talked to Mr. Colangelo and I hope that they will come up with a solution soon.
During this process I talked to [Raptors head coach] Jay Triano several times. I promised him that whether he starts me or not, I will do my best on the court. However, if I had a more temperamental personality, I would have left the team. Yet, I did exactly the opposite. I did my best. I told him that I have no problems with him. I am not a young player, so it's not a big deal for me to come off the bench," said Turkoglu.
The veteran forward, 31, played 74 games for the Raptors last season and averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists for Toronto. He logged nearly 31 minutes per game for the Raptors.

[j.dizzle]

LOL Orl could of used him.

[Bob Lanier]

lol Raptors
lol Turkoglu
lol want

[lefty]

LOL Orl could of used him.
Big time

Lol VC

[Jacob1983]

Spurs will probably get him back.

[Ghazi]

Big time

Lol VC

Hedo was dogshit all year.

[sefant77]

If you dont want to come back then ask them to void your contract...

But of course he wont do that.

[Bob Lanier]

Hedo was dogshit all year.Hedo was really no worse in Toronto than he was in Orlando, and he was no better in Orlando than Wince Harder has been. Or don't you remember his chokejob in the 2009 Finals?

[Mel_13]

Portland suffered through a season filled with misfortune, but the day that Hedo broke his agreement with the Blazers was one of the luckiest days in franchise history.

What a tool. He wants a solution? Give up the 40M left on the contract. I'm sure the Raptors will let him go without a second thought.

[NewJerSpur]

Time for Hedo to go on the Kobe campaign (2007).

[baseline bum]

Same old chickenshit Turkoglu.

[resistanze]

Hopefully Turkoglu's contract gets voided and Colangelo is fired. A man can dream.

[lil_penny]

Portland suffered through a season filled with misfortune, but the day that Hedo broke his agreement with the Blazers was one of the luckiest days in franchise history.

What a tool. He wants a solution? Give up the 40M left on the contract. I'm sure the Raptors will let him go without a second thought.

:toast

[mogrovejo]

He's correct. Toronto used him wrongly. Triano took the ball out of his hands and limited the use of his playmaking. Then called isolation sets for him instead of putting him in the pick and roll when they needed big baskets in the fourth quarter. I'd be mad at them too. They showed they have no idea on how to use his strengths.

[BRHornet45]

sons this is just another reason why professional athletes are over paid. this piece of shit doesn't deserve that ridiculous contract and everyone knows it. its a shame someone won't just take out his knees and end his career.

[JamStone]

I wonder if he'd like to play on my league team. We could use a spot up shooter.

[lefty]

He's correct. Toronto used him wrongly. Triano took the ball out of his hands and limited the use of his playmaking. Then called isolation sets for him instead of putting him in the pick and roll when they needed big baskets in the fourth quarter. I'd be mad at them too. They showed they have no idea on how to use his strengths.
I have noticed the same thing

[DJ Mbenga]

otis, get on the phone

[ducks]

hedo >rj
hedo with manu,tp, duncan blair and spliter

[crc21209]

I'm sure the Magic would love to do a VC-Hedo swap now...:lol

[Pelicans78]

Orlando would have lost to Boston last year if KG was healthy. Basically, Hedo wouldn't have made a difference.

[DPG21920]

:lmao

Get a fat contract, then say you want out. Raptor have it bad.

[fo'shizzle]

This bitch is a primadonna.
Never wanted you for the Blazers in the first place anyway.

[ducks]

hedo>sj

[Crytek]

Charlotte might trade for him.

[mingus]

Orlando would have lost to Boston last year if KG was healthy. Basically, Hedo wouldn't have made a difference.

this is stupid. i don't know how last year matters. last year is uncomparable because of injuries and free agent acquisiitions to both teams. two different teams we are dealing with now.

Carter played for shit. sub the guy with a guy that will give u 15-18 points per and 4-5 assists in Hedo, and that's a different series. even with Lewis playing like a dleague player.

[HarlemHeat37]

Huh?..it took Orlando 7 games to beat Boston without their defensive anchor..they went from being an above average team to the best defensive team in the NBA, and they added Rasheed Wallace, a guy that was extremely crucial for them in this series..

I agree that Turkoglu was misused in Toronto, that was one of my main complaints about the Raptors this year, but Turkoglu was one of the most overrated players in the NBA last year, which is something I said at the time..he also now has a horrible contract, so I doubt any team will even touch him..

[mingus]

i'm not even going to attempt to compare last year to this year for both teams. all i know is that this year Carter stank it up and Turkoglu in there instead of him probably would've changed the outcome of the series. most of the time Carter was absolutely invisible, defensively and offensively. it was basically 4 on 5 when he was in there. and when Lewis was in there as well it was 3 on 5. don't get me wrong Boston was great defensively, but Carter lacked aggression and seemed unfocused. numerous times they would pan the camera over to him on the bench and he was laughing it up - when they were down by double digits. i saw that twice in this series. incredible.

Turkoglu's contract is bad, but you would have to be absolutely crazy to think that Carter's is any better.

[HarlemHeat37]

Vince did suck, a lot, but why would Turkoglu have "changed the outcome" of the series?..He wasn't that good last year, and he would have been going up against a Boston team with Garnett and Wallace in the paint..there's a pretty significant difference between going from an above average defensive team to the best defensive team in the NBA..

Vince wasn't unfocused or taking bad shots, he was just missing everything..he was also having trouble finishing in the paint due to the presence of Garnett and the Celtics' elite defense..

His passing also wouldn't have been as useful as last year, because it would have taken away touches from Nelson, and Jameer needs the ball to be effective for the most part..

Carter's contract isn't long and will be flipped if they play it well..Turkoglu's contract is untradeable, and everybody in Toronto already hates him..

[Muser]

That's too bad Turk.

[Blackjack]

Follow the link for some video and the whole piece. (http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2010/05/28/hedo-turkoglu-i-do-not-want-to-go-back-to-toronto/)

Here's the whole transcript from the Turkish interview


Kaan Kural (chubby host): We’ve been wondering a lot about the crisis at the end of the season. Some rumors have been spread about you partying after the Denver game?

Hedo Turkoglu: Yes.

KK: The team’s management didn’t deny it and charged you instead. That’s what got the whole criticism from your own fan base going. [...] To face the fans is a hard thing to do for a professional.

Murat Kosova (other host): Also a dangerous one.

Hedo: Yeah. I’ve been playing in the USA for 10 years and this is the first time I’ve been booed by my own team’s fans. It’s a shocking situation and it made me feel extremely bad after. That was the most embarrassing moment in my life. God bless everyone, no exceptions!

KK: As far as we know, it’s not so common in American sports culture except in a few cities.

Hedo: I never experienced it before, maybe some little grumbles but…

MK: But we can treat Canada as an exception, Kaan.

KK: Yeah, it’s a much different fan base.

MK: Remember the protests against Vince Carter.

KK: Philadelphia and Toronto have bad reputations.

Hedo: Anyway, that’s why I said I have some issues with the organization. I felt sore at the Jazz game and didn’t play against Mehmet [Okur] in the second half. I’ve never come out and said, “I won’t play tonight” during my career. And it was not the case in Toronto either. I played through a hip injury, some ankle pain and, as you all know, cheekbone damage all year. I don’t even remember the shape of my nose anymore. Despite all of these challenges, I always intended to play and try my best.

After a sleepless Thursday night and not having eaten much, they asked me how I felt. I explained the situation and said, “I didn’t sleep. I’m not feeling good.” Their answer was, ‘We shouldn’t put you on the court without practicing.”

Hedo: Our Italian physiologists said, “You are not starting today. After training on Sunday you’ll give it a go against Miami and Charlotte.” I nodded and did some weight work on game day.

Although they allowed me to go home, I wanted to watch the game with my teammates. After the game, I went back home. Some European teammates called me and said, “Hedo, are you sleeping?” Then they told me where they were hanging out, which is actually 100 meters away from my home. I said, “OK” and when I arrived, all the guys were here. And if you check the camera records, you will see that I left there in 15-20 minutes with Andrea Bargnani. I guarantee it. And if they prove me wrong, I will give back my contract!

The day after, the whole controversy erupted. They claimed that I intentionally skipped the game. And the worst thing is that the people making the claims were from Raptors’ management and they wanted to suspend me for two games. My attorney settled the dispute and Mr. [Bryan] Colangelo promised me that things would stay between us.

The following day, I was fined and did not play against Miami. After the statements of the front office, everybody in Toronto heard the news. Think about the situation I am in …

as I told you before, I have played for four different teams in 10 years in the NBA and I have never experienced anything like this. I bet nobody can prove these “party machine” rumors.

In fact, these events put me off both basketball and the Raptors organization. Needless to say, the fans started to lose my love. On the other hand, I have always had a good relationship with the fans. Before this incident they were incredibly happy when they saw me around town … They thanked me a million times for choosing Toronto over other options.

KK: Your relationship with fans in Sacramento, San Antonio and Orlando is well documented. There has never been an issue with you. You have always been a fan favorite.

Hedo: When the circumstances turned against me, I lost my enthusiasm for this city. My lawyers have talked to the front office recently. Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto. My lawyers talked to Mr. Colangelo and I hope that they will come up with a solution soon.

During this process I talked to [Raptors head coach] Jay Triano several times. I promised him that whether he starts me or not, I will do my best on the court. However, if I had a more temperamental personality, I would have left the team. Yet, I did exactly the opposite. I did my best. I told him that I have no problems with him. I am not a young player, so it’s not a big deal for me to come off the bench.

KK: The next game against Chicago, you grabbed 19 boards which was a career high.

Hedo: Yes, I tried hard.

MK: Apparently, problems are much bigger than we thought.

Hedo: I feel relieved now. I spent four weeks with my wife and daughter in Orlando. We had great time. This helped a lot.

MK: Hopefully, you will have a great summer here …

Three things that immediately jump out at me:

1.) Chubby host. L O L

2.) Lawyers is a rough translation that might actually mean agent; they could be working on something like Bruno suggested: renouncing his final year player option (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4382628&postcount=363) ($13M).

3.) What if he's telling the truth and Toronto just saw a situation that wasn't going to work and tried to find the means to get out from under his contract?

[Ginobili2Duncan]

Turkoglu stopped caring once he signed that $52 million contract. Now he would rather be out clubbing than help his team win more games. The reason why orlando traded for Carter was because they didn't want to overpay Turkoglu.

He is a bad finisher around the rim, he doesn't have a quick first step, he is also a terrible rebounder, and an even worse 1-on-1 defender. In Orlando he had Howard behind him, now in Toronto he has Bosh and Bargnani, and you can see the difference. His defense will only get worse as he ages, similar to Stojakovic.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

LOL Orl could of used him.


Or just another KG injury.

[Bob Lanier]

:rollin Yeah, Canadians, we're just famous for being nasty, nasty people.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

this is stupid. i don't know how last year matters. last year is uncomparable because of injuries and free agent acquisiitions to both teams. two different teams we are dealing with now.

Carter played for shit. sub the guy with a guy that will give u 15-18 points per and 4-5 assists in Hedo, and that's a different series. even with Lewis playing like a dleague player.


Hedo has career averages of 12.2 points and 2.9 assists. Good job pulling numbers out of thin air.

[HarlemHeat37]

Raptor fans do get annoying and sensitive at times(almost half my life was spent around them from a basketball perspective, they do get butthurt a lot), but wow, they definitely don't have a "reputation" like these guys are saying..

This isn't going to end well though, because nobody is going to trade Turkoglu, unless they can manage something with his contract like Bruno said, which I doubt will happen..if he's still in Toronto, he's going to get booed out of the building, for good reason..

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

They both suck. Hedo is nowhere the level Carter is as a player, but Hedo was able to use the pick and roll and point forward situation effectively and mesh with ORL system. Carter cant do shit now, he can barely facilitate or play defense.


Hedo's point forward skills don't matter when Jameer Nelson is being a ball hog.

[ploto]

Lawyers is a rough translation that might actually mean agent; they could be working on something like Bruno suggested
Lon Babby is Hedo's "agent" (like Timmy) and he functions and gets paid like an attorney and not a regular sports agent.

[lefty]

Hedo's point forward skills don't matter when Jameer Nelson is being a ball hog.
That's why I liked the combination of Hedo and Alston

Fuck SVG for playing fucking Nelson in the Finals :pctoss

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

OK, the combination of Hedo and Alston wasn't gonna beat the Lakers or win a championship anytime soon. It would have lost in the 2nd round if KG was healthy.

[lefty]

OK, the combination of Hedo and Alston wasn't gonna beat the Lakers or win a championship anytime soon. It would have lost in the 2nd round if KG was healthy.
But look at the only game Orlando won in the Finals; Jameer played only 10 minutes

In the other games, he had much more PT and they lost; not to mention his 2 brainfarts against Fisher in game 4 :bang

Plus, Hedo was a matchup nightmare, and the offense was smooth with Alston running things, great rythm

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Ariza had no problem matching up with Turk. Turkoglu sucks, plain and simple. He had a great series when Delonte West was guarding him and because of that people are on his nuts.

[mogrovejo]

Turkoglu has one high-level talent - his playmaking ability off of the pick and roll. If utilized properly, he is a very effective player that creates high percentage scoring opportunities for his teammates. If he isn't used that way, then he's a dime a dozen role-player. That's why he was so good in Orlando.

I can't blame Orlando for getting Carter:

- he was still very good last season with New Jersey. He got old in a hurry. Not foreseeable.

- he's basically an expiring contract that they may be able to use in order to find a younger replacement for him, so it gives them more options in the future.

[siraulo23]

Ball.

[mingus]

i don't know what kind of statistics i'm pulling out of thin air. i couldn't care less about Hedo's career stats. he was utilized properly in Orlando, and his averages, both season and playoffs, in his tenure there show for it.

would KG and Sheed have bothered Turk? of course. but i don't believe Turk would have played as abismally as Carter did this series, or anywhere close to it; he was that bad. it's hard to believe that.

with the amount of money the Magic were willing to spend on Carter, Bass, Barnes, Gortat, it was stupid to give up Turkoglu. i think Turkoglu's contract is ridiculous, but money wasn't really the issue for the Magic. they wanted a talent upgrade. the thing is - i'm going to borrow what Dwight Howard said in the post-game press conference, as well as Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in the broadcasts - they needed competitors out there. Carter may have been a talent upgrade, Rafer, Lee, Hedo were all guys who put it all out on the line and competed and are clutch. gimme those guys over Carter and whoever else they got in that trade. a rotation of Hedo > Carter; Lee and Hedo >>>> Carter. perfect example of trying to fix something that maybe needing a little tweaking and some room to grow.

[redzero]

I'm sure the Magic would love to do a VC-Hedo swap now...:lol

Not really. Hedo's best season was two years ago, and he's only gotten worse since then.

He's just another overpaid role player, like Posey.

[HarlemHeat37]

Turkoglu has one high-level talent - his playmaking ability off of the pick and roll. If utilized properly, he is a very effective player that creates high percentage scoring opportunities for his teammates. If he isn't used that way, then he's a dime a dozen role-player. That's why he was so good in Orlando.

I can't blame Orlando for getting Carter:

- he was still very good last season with New Jersey. He got old in a hurry. Not foreseeable.

- he's basically an expiring contract that they may be able to use in order to find a younger replacement for him, so it gives them more options in the future.

Which is strange, considering Vince was very good at the same thing in NJ..he made a scrub like Sean Williams look good using the same p&r plays, and he had nice chemistry with Brook Lopez running the same plays..so it's strange that it didn't work with Howard, I guess..

Carter and Gortat worked a lot better together..

They didn't utilize VC in the same way, but he did get old in a hurry..he was showing signs of aging during the 2nd half during the last season in NJ, but he was very good in the 2nd half of the season this year for Orlando..he just somehow fell off a cliff in comparison to what he showed in the past few seasons, it kind of came out of nowhere..it got to the point where he couldn't even make wide open 3s anymore..

[ploto]

The same source told me that a Turkoglu trade was already in the works and could happen by the draft. While the source was confident something would happen, the source didn't disclose the potential destination(s).

http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16700/raptors-cleaning-house