To the mercenary professional athletes who ply their trades here, Toronto's cozy ethnic neighbourhoods may as well be on Mars and "living" in the city means going from condo to arena to airport to an off-season home.
To the newest Raptor, the city's charm is the attraction.
Hedo Turkoglu and his wife, Banu, who grew up high school sweethearts in their native Istanbul, should arrive here this week to officially sign a five-year contract worth about $53 million (U.S.) and – in a departure from the norm – it wasn't the money that attracted them.
It was the city and what it had to offer.
According to sources, Banu Turkoglu, who gave birth to the couple's first daughter earlier this year, is wildly enthusiastic about the significant Turkish population here. The couple appreciates the European flavour of the city and decided lifestyle concerns were enough to opt for the move.
"It's a uniquely cosmopolitan and international community and it suits him and his family best," Turkoglu's agent, Lon Babby, said in a conference call last night. "The comfort level was just best in Toronto."
Toronto has been a haven for international NBA players dating back to 1995, when one of the starters on the original Raptors team was Zan Tabak of Croatia.
But Turkoglu is the first significant free agent – able to sell his services to any team in the league – who actually chose to come to Toronto.
The Portland Trail Blazers originally thought they were going to get Turkoglu on a five-year, $50 million contract, but the couple reconsidered the offer overnight Thursday and turned it down late Friday.
It came as a shock to some basketball observers, who see the young and talented Portland team as a much more enviable destination for a player of Turkoglu's talents than Toronto, where the Raptors missed the playoffs last season after posting a 33-49 record.
"Toronto's offer was better (financially) than Portland's was but that wasn't the driver here," said Babby.
The deal cannot be publicly discussed by the Raptors until Wednesday under rules of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. League accountants are poring over the books of each of the 30 teams this week to determine next season's salary cap and until they come up with a number and teams know precisely how to spend, clubs can only negotiate with free agents such as Turkoglu.
"We'll be available when (Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo) is ready," said Babby. "We're hopeful it's Wednesday but if it pushes over to Thursday, so be it."
The addition of Turkoglu, 30, gives the Raptors another foreign-born player on the roster and while they were all added for their playing abilities, it is no secret around the league that the ability to acclimatize to Toronto is far greater than in a large number of other league cities.
Point guard Jose Calderon was born in Spain and his backup, Roko Ukic, is a native of Croatia. The team's starting centre is Andrea Bargnani, who was born and raised in Italy, and backup centre Nate Jawai is a native of Australia. Anthony Parker, who will likely be cut adrift to make room for Turkoglu, cut his basketball teeth playing in Israel.
Toronto has had great success in the past with other foreign-born players, including Spain's Jorge Garbajosa and Rasho Nesterovic of Slovenia.
But Turkoglu is the first of all of them to pick Toronto specifically when he had other options.
"It's uniquely suited for him," said the agent. "That's his background. He's looking forward to joining the Turkish community there."
Turkoglu has played basketball all over the globe. He played four seasons with the iconic Efes Pilsen team in the Turkish league and was drafted 16th overall by the NBA's Sacramento Kings in 2000. He spent four seasons with Sacramento, was traded to San Antonio where he played for one season. He spent five seasons with the Magic, culminating in a trip to the NBA championship series last month when Orlando lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
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