 | Rights: None | Last Sal.: $.00M |
| Agent: Supe | Exp: 10+ years | |
| FA Tier: 1 | Age: 45 | |
| FBPPG: | Inj: No Injury | |
| Desired Salary: Between $2.13M and $33.22M | ||
| Contract Status: UFA - Unclaimed Free Agent | ||
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| Game ET | Latest Player News... | |||||||
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Hedo Turkoglu has been named CEO of the Turkish Basketball Federation. Magic on Twitter The Scoop:Congratulations, Mr. Turkoglu. Enjoy your retirement. Nov 16 12:00 ET - | ||||||||
| Trans. May 18 3:09 ET Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu helped lead the 2009 Magic to the NBA Finals, dispatching a Celtics lineup that included Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Glen Davis and Ray Allen. The Scoop: None. May 18 3:09 ET |
| Trans. May 16 9:07 ET The odds, the record, the principals look one-sided. The Cavaliers are prohibitive 1-to-9 favourites to beat Toronto in the NBA’s Eastern final and earn the right to get smoked by Golden State in the finals. After a fractious, seemingly disinterested regular season, the Cavs swept their two playoff series comfortably, while Toronto lurched and shuddered through the full seven-game distance each time in dispatching first Indiana, and then Miami. LeBron James is rested and over 13 years carries an all-time 36-9 W-L record against the Raptors, who come in minus starting centre Jonas Valanciunas until further notice and have a grand total of one day off to draw breath and prepare. True, the Raptors won two out of three games during the regular season, a 56-win march and with this now deepest-ever push into the playoffs the 21-year-old franchise’s finest hours. But there’s not much hope it’ll go any further - except for one thing. Cleveland. Where no visitor appears unwelcome, no home lead appears safe -- where the Factory of Sadness is always open. As a fellow traveller in the Ohioans’ sporting misery, nursing a lifelong affliction supporting the NFL Browns, I say this with the utmost sympathy: the gods of the games have already decided. They have over the years taken great delight in taking Cleveland to the edge of iconic and delirious moments, only to flip the bird. Just call the B roll. Toronto has Carter’s home run and Devon White's catch on instant recall. Bautista’s bat-flip, Lowry’s clutch shooting, Sebastian Giovinco making a defender look silly -- these are good times for sports fans in the 6, and perhaps even Drake, who bestowed that inescapable and mindless handle, will deign to show up and give LeBron a piece of his courtside mind, or even more. Cleveland? Their answering number is Red Right 88, along with The Drive, The Fumble … if you’re ever in Cleveland and want to light up a room, just mention “Jose Mesa.” Then run for cover faster than you can say "Johnny Football". Basketball fans of long memory will recall “The Shot”, a Michael Jordan dagger that ended a very good Cavs season in 1989. More recently, a 66-win team with probably their best chance of the LeBron 1.0 era fell to a barrage of Hedo Turkoglu. Hedo Turkoglu! Raptor fans cross themselves, spit twice and toss salt over their shoulders just at the mention. Even the city’s landmarks suggest it: Toronto has the CN Tower. Cleveland answers with the Terminal Tower. No wonder Mark Shapiro fled. Finally, it’s been 52 years since the Browns gave Cleveland its last major championship -- three years longer than the Maple Leafs’ drought. Hard as it is to imagine for Toronto, there is a place more forlorn, where the karmic wheel that’s spun past Toronto’s No. 1 sporting obsession since 1967 has been out of the station even longer. The Raptors find themselves there, starting Tuesday night. It's the great cosmic equalizer: because it's Cleveland, the Raptors have a shot. The Scoop: None. May 16 9:07 ET |
| Trans. Jan 15 11:00 ET With the tub starting to get a good banging ahead of next month's NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto, which with its uniforms and its parties and its Drizzy-led Celebrity Game thematically marks the league and the game's ascent in Canada to an era of No. 1 draft picks and We The North. But what about the others who didn't get the message along the way? Here's a team we'd love to see next month, if only to be able to stand up and boo their sorry butts right off the floor - ladies and gents, your NBA in Canada all-time Boo-Stars: Kenny Anderson . Once said he'd "chain myself to my locker" when it came up he might be traded to the Raptors. And by the end of his career, he was practically begging to come to Toronto. On this list, that kind of above-and-beyond sense of self-absorption makes him not just a natural here, but maybe the MVP. Steve Francis . Biggest pout in NBA Draft history, though he did warn the Grizzlies he didn't want any part of Vancouver. Imagine that, not wanting to be a part of Vancouver . Hedo Turkoglu . Raptors' all-time Eurobust FA signing and master of the old stomach ache/nightclub one-two. If nothing else, the crowd can stand up and yell "Ball" right back at him Alonzo Mourning . Part of the worst trade in Raptors history, and he didn't even so much as lift a toe to get out of the door and move one foot toward Toronto. If Anderson's the MVP, 'Zo and his two months' worth of DNP-PDs (player's decision) could well be make him the L(east)VP. John Salmons . God told him not to go through with the sign & trade to the Raptors in 2006 - that was his story, anyway, and instead he signed to play in hell (i.e., Sacramento). God finally gave him clearance to come to Toronto in 2013 (was the Pope involved?). On the sideline, Butch Carter could surely throw out the ceremonial first lawsuit. And up in the owners' box, Michael Heisley, the man who bought the Grizzlies and almost immediately began planning their move out. Other candidates? Let's hear 'em. You can reach Chris Young via Twitter @HighParkCy. The Scoop: None. Jan 15 11:00 ET |
| Turk now CEO of Turkish Basketball Federation Hedo Turkoglu has been named CEO of the Turkish Basketball Federation. Magic on Twitter The Scoop: Congratulations, Mr. Turkoglu. Enjoy your retirement. Nov 16 12:00 ET |
