PROTECT THE PAINT

This past Thursday, Hedo Turkoglu–who opted out in Orlando after vastly improving his stock during the Magic’s run to the finals–announced he would sign a fat deal with the Portland Trailblazers, good for $50 million over 5 years. Sounds good.

Then on Friday, Turkoglu reneged on this agreement to come to the pacific northwest and decided to head about as far north as you can go in the NBA to the Toronto Raptors for $53 million over 5 years. Either way, these two offers for Hedo dwarf the Orlando offer ($35 million over 4 years).

The $3 million more Toronto is offering–which is nothing to sneeze at–may have more to do with placating Mrs. Turkoglu than anything else?

In Portland, Hedo would have joined All-Star Brandon Roy on the up and coming team in the super-competitive Western Conference. Instead, Hedo opted to join a far weaker Toronto Raptors team as part of Bryan Colangelo’s last ditch effort to retain Chris Bosh past 2010. Winning doesn’t appear to be priority number one for Hedo.

Hedo is joining a weaker team in a weaker division for $3 million more (Credit: streetball.com)

In being outbid for Hedo by teams with more cash to spend, and opting to allow Courtney Lee go in the deal that brought Vince Carter to Florida, Orlando has now lost two vital cogs in the rotation that got them to the finals. As a result, the Magic become slower and older. Rarely the elixir for NBA success.

Protect the Paint will now view the pros and cons of Turkoglu selecting Toronto over Portland.

PROS

Hedo's passing skills will be useful for Toronto (Credit: sportsagentblog.com)

Hedo is an amazing passer/ball-handler for a guy his size. There are very few 6′10” players who can drop in 20 points and 10+ assists on any given night. Hedo is one of the few.

Turkoglu will instantaneously make life easier on Chris Bosh. The floor spacing of Hedo, Jose Calderon, and Andrea Bargnani should allow Bosh to have more of an impact late in games when it really matters. Look for a huge spike in production and desire out of a rejuvenated Bosh. No one knows if this will this be enough to keep in him in Canada for years to come, but you have to give the Raptors’ front office and A for effort.

Turkoglu is one of the best at finishing games and his play in the 4th quarter should dramatically help Toronto in close games.

Brandon Roy almost had Turkoglu at his side (Credit: nike.com)

CONS

Adding Turkoglu to the team almost certainly results in Toronto not being able to retain Shawn Marion–a tireless rebounder and full of hustle. This results in the Raptors becoming a much weaker rebounding team.

Boozer started the trend of breaking verbal agreements (Credit: nike.com)

Turkoglu’s reputation takes a hit here. Hedo is now the latest to pull off a Carlos Boozer. It’s not quite the same scenario. Boozer was let of a deal and then hosed the Cavs. Hedo opted out. He’ll say he didn’t use the Blazers offer as leverage for something better. We’ll never know for sure.

Hedo will take extra money and justify it by saying he can be in a more international, multi-cultural city. Although there may be a Turkish community up there, there is no Championship-caliber basketball team. This indicates where Hedo’s head and heart are, or maybe better put, where they’re not–not concerned with winning. If they were, he would choose Portland by a landslide. Gotta keep the wife happy though.

SYNOPSIS

Hedo’s arrival in Toronto will result in a 7-8 playoff seed. That’s better than last year, but it is doubtful they will go any further as they will lose Marion, Anthony Parker, and possibly more in order to pay his salary, in addition to stockpiling the money needed to resign Bosh. The Raptors are now good enough to get in the playoffs, but will be ‘one and done’ once they get there as rebounding and tough defense keeps you alive in the post-season.

Bosh will have 1 year with Turkoglu to decide to stay in Toronto (Credit: cbcnews.com)

Bosh will not be able to carry this load. He will be frustrated his team won’t advance past the first round, and sign elsewhere (in America) in 2010. At least Hedo will have his international city, and Turkish community, and oh yeah, the $53 Million. That kind of coin always helps ease the sting of losing.

Seems like Portland managed to dodge the bullet of signing a player more focused on money and living situation over winning.

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