Hedo Turkoglu Wants Out Of Toronto

[Built Ford Tough]

I figured I would move away from all of the draft discussion and go back to our favourite thing to discuss during the regular season; how much we hate Hedo Turkoglu. Here is an interview of him with for some Turkish media outlet:

 

http://video.ntvmsnbc.com/hidayet-hic-mutlu-degilim.html

 

This trasnlation was posted on RealGM.

 

...national player Hedo is back to Turkey. After a hard season, he said he could not perform as he wished and both himself and the team had mistakes on this.

 

"Not much to talk about the season. I am sad. You play in NBA finals, score most on your team, carry your team, sign a good contract,.. so expectations were high. When you are not that successful, it affects you a lot naturally. There are reasons behind this, I can talk about these reasons all day long. Of course I had mistakes, but the club also had mistakes."

 

Hedo said that the news on the Canadian press were not right, but the talks about him being unhappy are totally true.

 

Trying to escape from questions about why he is not happy, he said "i signed a good contract and all eyes were on me, there were false news coming out about me. Some of it had little truth in them. I am so unhappy. I am totally unhappy at Toronto Raptors. Especially about the things happened near the end of the season. Let's finish here for now, if we meet again, I will explain detail what I had to live through."

 

While some things can definitely be lost in translation when converting any language to English, but knowing Turkoglu and how much he whined and cried during the regular season about every little thing, I would not be surprised one bit to see this be a pretty accurate translation.

 

The best thing about this whole situation is that Turkoglu said absolutely nothing during his year-end press conferences and now he runs to the Turkish media for him to make his complaints known, just like he did last season when he complained about Otis Smith "lowballing" him with his contract offer. If you are going to complain about, or call out, the situation that you are in, don't hide behind the Turkish media.

 

Then there is this gem:

 

Let's finish here for now, if we meet again, I will explain detail what I had to live through."

 

I'm sure that Turkoglu's life was a complete hell. I mean, I know I would hate to be paid $10M for a half assed effort at my job and spend the rest of my time partying it up in Toronto. I couldn't imagine how hard that was for him.

 

I swear, every time I hear I new interview from Turkoglu, my hate for him increases ten fold. I'm at the point where if he says one more thing, I want to see Colangelo just tell him to stay in Turkey because he will never play for the Raptors again. Pay him to stay in Turkey and shut up so that I never have to watch him play basketball or listen to him talk ever again.

 

Update: Turkoglu Wants Out Of Toronto

 

In a recent interview on Turkish television, Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu explained that he is actively seeking a release from the Toronto organization.

 

Take a wild guess why.

 

On March 28, 2010, Turkoglu was a healthy scratch for the Raptors, his first benching in over four years. The shocking decision came in the wake of reports that “The 53 Million Dollar Man” was spotted out at a Toronto nightclub, immediately after missing a game due to a stomach virus. He was fined by the team.

 

Naturally, Raptor fans and the media were furious. And, well, if you believe Turkoglu’s words in this interview, those last three weeks of the regular season have driven him to extreme measures.

 

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2010/05/28/hedo-turkoglu-i-do-not-want-to-go-back-to-toronto/

Edited May 29, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[BasX]

None of this surprises me but I still don't like to hear it. I think the whole Raptor fan base is disgusted with Hedo, his effort and his excuses. I really hope his attitude in general didn't have any effect on the young players, which doesn't seem to be the case. That being said, Brian Colangelo is on iffy water with Raptor fans because he hasn't put a consistent winner on the court. However there is a couple things he can do to win back the fan base. The fans know Bosh is gone, just get something half decent, we know that you don't get a lot from sign and trades. Trade Jose, please trade that contract and him. Trade Hedo with either. Somehow get these done.

[Guest Zyzz]

Stupid for leaving Orlando.

[BasX]

http://blogs.thescore.com.s3.amazonaws.com/tbj/files/2010/05/CmonLetsPartyDude.jpg

 

In a recent interview on Turkish television, Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu explained that he is actively seeking a release from the Toronto organization.

 

Take a wild guess why.

 

On March 28, 2010, Turkoglu was a healthy scratch for the Raptors, his first benching in over four years. The shocking decision came in the wake of reports that “The 53 Million Dollar Man” was spotted out at a Toronto nightclub, immediately after missing a game due to a stomach virus. He was fined by the team.

 

Naturally, Raptor fans and the media were furious. And, well, if you believe Turkoglu’s words in this interview, those last three weeks of the regular season have driven him to extreme measures.

 

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2010/05/28/hedo-turkoglu-i-do-not-want-to-go-back-to-toronto/

[ChosenOne]

lol money cant buy you happiness.

[Warren2ThaG]

stop listening to your wife lmao. slut

[Poe]

I know the fans probably don't like the idea, but I think it is possible that it's not the players that are the big issue in the Raptor franchise. They had enough talent to be a playoff team this year. Their underachievement goes beyond the players. The Raptors won't be a winning team until they fix it.

[BasX]

This franchise is the poops. No free agent is ever going to want to come here.

[Cobb]

I don't think he understands that in order to be traded someone actually has to want you.

[Tyler81]

I think after he got hot last year, he basically started believing he was a score whenever he wanted player. The bad thing is, he actually looked that way and got a big contract which has begun with him playing horribly

[bigdog17k]

Hedo Turkoglu: ‘I do not want to go back to Toronto’

In a recent interview on Turkish television, Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu explained that he is actively seeking a release from the Toronto organization.

 

Take a wild guess why.

 

On March 28, 2010, Turkoglu was a healthy scratch for the Raptors, his first benching in over four years. The shocking decision came in the wake of reports that “The 53 Million Dollar Man” was spotted out at a Toronto nightclub, immediately after missing a game due to a stomach virus. He was fined by the team.

 

Naturally, Raptor fans and the media were furious. And, well, if you believe Turkoglu’s words in this interview, those last three weeks of the regular season have driven him to extreme measures.

Hedo Transcript

[Poe]

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.”

 

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.

 

There's always the other side to the story, BFT. Thanks for the link, bigdog.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Poe

[Universe]

VC 2.0

[Smitty]

Ball - The Hedo Turkoglu Story.

[Built Ford Tough]

There's always the other side to the story, BFT. Thanks for the link, bigdog.

 

So what, I'm supposed to believe that Turkoglu, who has a history of running to the Turkish media to cry about his problems? The Raptors are making up rumors about Turkoglu partying in order to discredit Turkoglu, while running the risk of completely alienating theirselves to the rest of the NBA? What exactly do the Raptors organization gain from "spreading rumors" about their marquee free agent signing?

 

Even if Turkoglu's story is right and the Raptors are the [expletive]s in this situation, it doesn't change the fact that Hedo Turkoglu completely dogged it during the season and didn't play with any sort of heart, passion or desire (aside from a handful of games). That is my problem with Turkoglu. I couldn't care less if Turkoglu was going out every single night and getting completely wasted, playing hungover, or anything like that, as long as he gave the effort that you would expect from a professional athlete. I couldn't care less what a player is like off of the court because that doesn't concern me.

 

Turkoglu could've sucked as bad as he did this season and I wouldn't have cared in the least as long as I thought that he was trying his hardest out there, which you could clearly tell that he wasn't. I don't care what he says to dispute that.

 

I know the fans probably don't like the idea, but I think it is possible that it's not the players that are the big issue in the Raptor franchise. They had enough talent to be a playoff team this year. Their underachievement goes beyond the players. The Raptors won't be a winning team until they fix it.

 

What are you trying to say? The Raptors fan base is at fault for the team missing the playoffs? The Raptors fan base is the reason why this team underachieved? The Raptors fan base is the reason why Turkoglu gave half assed efforts all year long?

 

Sure, that last point about Turkoglu playing like garbage may be true, but even then, as an NBA player you are expected to go out and give it your all regardless of if you are happy or not. I don't like Jose Calderon that much as a player, but you won't ever hear me complain about him not giving it his all on the floor night in and night out. One of the things that are simply inexcusable is a professional athlete not giving it his all night in and night out no matter what the circumstances are. If anybody thinks that Hedo Turkoglu did this, they are delusional.

 

Even then, if the fans in Toronto are such a problem, can somebody explain to me why the Raptors have historically played very well at home?

 

I'm sorry, but I don't buy the whole "the fans are the problem" BS. Sure, fans can have an outcome on the game, positive or negative, but they are not capable of being the difference between a team making the playoffs or not. That is on the players, coaching staff and management, all of which are to blame for the Raptors disapointing season.

 

 

 

 

 

As far as Turkoglu is concerned, if I was Colangelo I wouldn't even buy him out. If he doesn't want to play for the Raptors, he doesn't play for anybody unless they make a trade for him (which I find highly unlikely considering his contract and trade kicker). If he won't play for Toronto, he can stay in Turkey. I'm not going to reward him for a year of dogging it by caving to his demands and buying him out.

 

Hedo is trying to play the victim here and I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. I don't care if that makes me a "problem".

Edited May 29, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Check my Stats]

I know the fans probably don't like the idea, but I think it is possible that it's not the players that are the big issue in the Raptor franchise. They had enough talent to be a playoff team this year. Their underachievement goes beyond the players. The Raptors won't be a winning team until they fix it.

 

You don't have a clue.

[Check my Stats]

It is annoying how he is [expletive]ing, it would be one thing for someone producing like Bosh to whine, considering he was our only consistently good player, but Hedo was our worst player, probably even worse than Jose.

[Legacy]

His wife wears the pants.

[Poe]

I never said the fans were the problem... lol. Please pinpoint to me where I said it.

 

 

Anyway, the actual problem that I am suggesting goes within the organization itself. Getting player X, Y, and Z isn't enough to make a winning team. Though getting the best players you possibly can is obviously important, it's up to the organization to make the most out of them.

 

If you take a look at certain teams around the league, you'll notice there are generally good organizations and bad ones. The Suns, for example, have good coaches and an excellent staff. Notice how Shaq got in very good shape when he went there. Notice how many of their current players - like Dragic, Frye, and Dudley - were complete nobodies before they got there, and now have made a name for themselves as glorified bench players. The Suns organization knows how to put their players in position to be successful.

 

Then look at an organization like the Knicks. Players like Quentin Richardson and Eddie Curry got completely out of shape when getting there, but Q-Rich gets right back in shape after getting traded to a better organization like the Heat. Look at an organization like the Warriors, when Raja Bell deliberately chose to get his surgery when traded there. Also, many of their players continually request trades such as Stephen Jackson, who had a bad reputation among the fans of the team he played on until getting traded to a winner, to a team that could make the most of his abilities.

 

Then look at the Raptors, who seem to be gaining a history of players who want out. I'm inclined to believe it goes beyond its location, and obviously has nothing to do with its fan-base (fans have little to do with team success anyway, other than perhaps home-court advantage.... the Warriors and Knicks have good fans as well).

 

 

I'm not saying for certain that the Raptor organization is completely at fault, though it seems highly likely. When you have a team that includes a top 3 PF, the 2nd best player on an NBA Finals team, a 3-years developed #1 overall pick, a top 5 assisting PG in the league (8.9 apg the previous year) with possibly the best back-up PG in the league as his replacement, a high-potential slashing guard, and pretty solid back ups at the wing and big positions (Weems, Wright, Amir, Rasho)..... and this team doesn't even make the playoffs??? Something is up here..

Edited May 31, 2010 by Poe

[Built Ford Tough]

I never said the fans were the problem... lol. Please pinpoint to me where I said it.

 

Well considering I have never stated that the blame should be relied completely upon the players and have critcized the Raptors coaching staff and management on numerous occasions, and you singled me out with your post while never actually directly mentioning who exactly it was you were refering to, I thought you were talking about the fan base.

 

If you would've actually clarified exactly what you were talking about, rather than leaving a vauge response that can be easily misinterperted, like the one you posted, it would've been easier to understand exactly what you were trying to say.

 

My bad for assuming you meant something that you didn't, though.

 

Anyway, the actual problem that I am suggesting goes within the organization itself. Getting player X, Y, and Z isn't enough to make a winning team. Though getting the best players you possibly can is obviously important, it's up to the organization to make the most out of them.

 

Clearly. When have I ever implied that simply getting a random collection of talent that doesn't mesh well at all is the way to make a winning team?

 

I have actually stated on numerous occasions that the Raptors team has some decent talent (although not nearly as much as some people them out to be) but Colangelo did a piss poor job of getting talent that meshses well together. Getting a player like Hedo Turkoglu, when you already have ball dominant players like Jose Calderon and Chris Bosh, isn't exactly the best idea, and I have mentioned that plenty of times over the past year here on OTR as one of the reasons why the Raptors struggled so much.

 

The Raptors had a terrible compliment of a roster. On one hand, you have some hard nosed, physical players like Reggie Evans, Antoine Wright, Amir Johnson and Jarrett Jack, but you also have soft, no defense, all offense oriented players like Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu.

 

You have players that thrive in an open court situation like Jarrett Jack, DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson, but you also have players that don't like to get out on the break (or aren't as well off playing at a faster pace) in Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright and Reggie Evans.

 

The only players on the Raptors roster that you can say would fit in with any sort of system, pace or anything like that is Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack.

 

Obviously this problem starts with the people in charge of building the team and goes to the coaching staff and then the players itself. I'm not saying that the players are 100% of the problem and you will never hear me say that.

 

If you take a look at certain teams around the league, you'll notice there are generally good organizations and bad ones. The Suns, for example, have good coaches and an excellent staff. Notice how Shaq got in very good shape when he went there. Notice how many of their current players - like Dragic, Frye, and Dudley - were complete nobodies before they got there, and now have made a name for themselves as glorified bench players. The Suns organization knows how to put their players in position to be successful.

 

Again, I'm not saying that the Raptors are some top notch organization that is run to perfection. I hate the way that Colangelo builds his teams and MLSE has notoriously been cheap owners when it comes to the Raptors.

 

However, using players like Frye and Dudley as an example isn't exactly fair. Yes, part of the reason why they are so effective in Phoenix is because of the coaching staff, but a lot of that has to due with the system that the Suns run and some guy by the name of Steve Nash, who happens to be pretty good at getting players open looks. If you are a shooter, odds are you are going to thrive in the Suns system.

 

I would be willing to bet that if Frye leaves the Suns next season and signs with a half court oriented team that doesn't have a playmaker like Nash, he is going to find himself at the end of the bench rather quickly, just like what happened with Damon Jones after he left the Heat and no longer had Shaq and Wade feeding him open looks.

 

I don't know though, I could be wrong and somebody like Frye or Dudley aren't products of the system Phoenix runs and the coaches have developed them into great role players.

 

Then look at an organization like the Knicks. Players like Quentin Richardson and Eddie Curry got completely out of shape when getting there, but Q-Rich gets right back in shape after getting traded to a better organization like the Heat. Look at an organization like the Warriors, when Raja Bell deliberately chose to get his surgery when traded there. Also, many of their players continually request trades such as Stephen Jackson, who had a bad reputation among the fans of the team he played on until getting traded to a winner, to a team that could make the most of his abilities.

 

Raptors stuff....

 

Yeah...

 

Clearly some organizations are run better than others. If you wouldn't have made such a vauge original statement, it would've made the entire second half of your post pointless as I would've actually known what you were talking about and not have to guess as to what exactly it is that you are trying to say.

 

I'm not saying for certain that the Raptor organization is completely at fault, though it seems highly likely. When you have a team that includes a top 3 PF, the 2nd best player on an NBA Finals team, a 3-years developed #1 overall pick, a top 5 assisting PG in the league (8.9 apg the previous year) with possibly the best back-up PG in the league as his replacement, a high-potential slashing guard, and pretty solid back ups at the wing and big positions (Weems, Wright, Amir, Rasho)..... and this team doesn't even make the playoffs??? Something is up here..

 

I'm not saying that the players are completely at fault either. There is never a situation that can be blamed 100% on management, coaching staff or the players. It is always some sort of combination between the three.

 

You do tend to overrate how good the Raptors are though. Yeah, Bosh is a great player, but he was injured for a month which hurt the Raptors tremendously because of how much they relied on him. He also was completely hesitant and passive for the first two weeks of his return as well.

 

Who cares that Turkoglu was the 2nd best player on the Magic last season? He clearly wasn't the same player that he was last season, whether it was because of his role being diminished, his skills declining (or just not being as good as people though), his effort and attitude not being there or whatever. The fact of the matter is that Hedo Turkoglu was an 11/5/4 player on 40% shooting who got worse and worse as the season went on. Who cares what he did last season in the playoffs when he was god awful this year?

 

Bargnani was a #1 pick, so what? The fact of the matter is that Bargnani is an above average offensive player, a good shooter, a decent shot blocker, a lousy defender and a horrific rebounder. Just becaue he was a former #1 pick doesn't mean anything. Look at his play on the floor rather than his draft position.

 

Calderon sucked this season and wasn't anything special last season. Again, who cares what he did 2 or 3 years ago?

 

DeRozan was exactly that; a high-potential player. Potential. He was what you would expect a raw 20 year rookie would be this season. Up and down.

 

Weems, Wright and Amir were all solid backups (well, when Wright wasn't chucking and thinking he was Kobe Bryant, which was the majority of the time, so he wasn't that solid). Rasho played less than half of the season and only averged like 10 minutes a game when he did play, so he is a non-factor.

 

Anyways, since I have to go and I want to post this before I leave, I'll just leave it with this. The Raptors underachieved this season (although some can argue their expectations were just too high but that is not the poitn of this) and the blame can be placed on the players, coaching staff and management. I have never once said that it was 100% on the players and I have been highly critical of Triano and Colangelo. I don't think for a second that the Raptors organization is some epicly run machine and they have plenty of flaws that I acknowledge. I don't have a problem with saying any of this.

 

I do have a problem with Hedo Turkoglu playing the victim and people making it seem like it is the Raptors managements fault and giving the players a free pass, because, ultimately, at the end of the day, this is a player driven league. Management and coaching play a large role, but no role is larger than that of the players because at the end of the day, management and coaching can do whatever they want, but it is up to the players to perform on the court.

 

EDIT: One thing that I forgot to say in response to your examples of Richardson and Curry, is that it is worth mentioning both of these two had recently signed fairly lucrative long term contracts with their new teams. Richardson did get in shape upon arrival in Miami, but him being in a contract year may have played a part in that. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Check my Stats]

I read on the Raptors board at RealGM that there is speculation of a Hedo-Diaw deal, that would be awesome, but it will probably cost us another pick to turn that 4 year contract into 2 years.