Just a year ago, Hedo Turkoglu was a key factor in the Orlando Magic’s NBA Finals run. He often served as a primary ball-handler for the Magic, a solid secondary-scorer, and was a reliable outside-shooting threat when the frequent double-teams on Dwight Howard arrived. His inspired play in the postseason made him a hot commodity in last summer’s free-agent class. After backing out of a lucrative deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, Turkoglu signed a 5-year, $53 million contract with the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto had hoped that Turkoglu would bring his winning ways to the Raptors, and be a formidable sidekick to their blossoming frontcourt of Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani. However, Turkoglu often looked disengaged, uninspired and passive during stretches during this season. While preseason expectations were that Turkoglu would at least help the Raptors to reach the playoffs this season, they fell short of that goal and finished with a 40-42 record. It should come as no surprise that Turkoglu now wants out of Toronto, as he recently indicated to a Turkish television station:
“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. [Bryan] Colangelo and I hope that they will come up with a solution soon.”
While Turkoglu doesn’t want to be a member of the Raptors, chances are good that the Raptors don’t want him either. Not for the kind of money he is making. One would imagine that when one of the best players from an NBA Finals team moves to another team that is substantially less talented, he would produce at an even higher level – but that certainly wasn’t the case this year. His lackluster play resulted in a reduction in minutes from last season and a scoring average of 5.5 ppg less. This just screams of a player who became complacent after a massive payday. Toronto owes him $43.8 million over the next four years.
If the Raptors do intend on trading Turkoglu, they will likely have to enter into a deal for another player who is being payed high above his level of play. Maybe they can work something out with the Washington Wizards to exchange damaged goods (Gilbert Arenas)? The Raptors would have to package a fairly sweet deal for another team to take on Turkoglu for such a high price tag. Perhaps the Raptors can work on a buyout with Turkoglu and give more playing time to young players like DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems.
What do you think is the main factor behind Turkoglu’s rapid decline?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
He got paid!!
And I don’t think there’s anyway Washington trades Arenas for him. I think they’re still holding out hope that Arenas can be a solid producer at the 2 spot (which he can, I think).
Who would take him at this point? Maybe Orlando, since we hear all during the playoffs about how much they missed him. But really he has almost no trade value at this point.
Yeah, VC for Hedo. Heh heh.
Why not? Bosh will likely be gone anyway, and Carter can fade off into the sunset with a flurry of ill-advised shots and highlight dunks. At least Raptors fans can be entertained as Toronto continues to pile up loss after loss.
Man, Hedo was such a good player in Orlando. It’s gotta be the city or management in Toronto that made him suck.