And Hedo's still making news. And making waves

Yeah, sorry I’m a bit late. Life and all.

-

Hmm.

Turk.

As I’m sure many are aware, Hedo Turkoglu went on TV back home in Turkey and said he’d like to get out of Toronto, management did him wrong after the now-infamous “he’s out after a missing a game” incident that landed him a de-facto one-game suspension from the team and he’s entirely unhappy.

Now, I didn’t see the interview but it’s pretty clear there some deep issues there.

So, what’s real? Well, there’s no denying he said it but if it caught you and I unawares, it did the same to the Raptors management and it’s all quiet on the record over there.

At least it was Friday night in some brief conversations I had.

(And, as an aside, can’t a guy get a night off around here? I guess not)

Anyway, since no one I talked to is saying anything for public consumption until they get more information, there’s not a whole lot of hard news.

I will tell you this, though, from some other chats I’ve had over the past little while:

If Hedo wants out, they’ll try to move him.

And it might not be as hard as you think.

I’m sure there are teams out there who are interested in his skill set and if anyone thinks the contract is unmovable, they best think again. A lot worse contracts have been traded over the years and that’s not going to be a huge impediment.

But let’s also consider this: Maybe things get lost in translation a bit, maybe Hedo’s “demand” is more of him venting as he did the day after the season ended, when he offered an apology for the way he handled things during the season but also said it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Here’s part of that transcript:

“I came here with a big contract, free agency and people expect a lot of stuff from you and if you don’t do it, it’s normal to get the blame. I’ll take the blame on my side for what I did bad, you guys (the reporters) have to look for both sides and judge it.

“For my side, I took the blame but, like you said, it wasn’t just me. I won’t show any excuses and I’ll just leave to you guys.”

There was obviously a big disconnect between Turk and his bosses that began when the Raptors coddled him for the pre-season and he responded by playing most of the season like an out-of-shape pooch.

But these are grown men we’re talking about and maybe differences can be put aside.

This latest episode – and it truly did catch a lot of people in the Raptors front office totally by surprise – just adds another thing to Bryan Colangelo’s to-do list for the summer.

Should he try to trade him?

Probably, yes; if there’s a deal to be made it’d be foolish not to try and make it work if it brings back something solid in return.

But, first, they need to sit down and talk face-to-face and see if this is salvageable. It’s one thing to be talking to a reporter back home, maybe the words are different sitting across from one another in a boardroom.

-

I was pretty sure, as I sat on a stool next to Stumpy and a couple of other Mighty Yankee coaches last night, that I looked up at the TV and saw Nate Robinson on the court and the Celtics-Magic game was nowhere near garbage time.

And sure enough, reports this morning indicate I wasn’t hallucinating.

Now, as odd as it was that a Kobe Bryant airball decided Game 5 of the Western Conference final, the fact that “Look At Me” Nate played a role in Boston’s Game 6 clincher over Orlando was even more unexpected.

-

What now, Magic?

After carving up the league for most of the regular season and laying waste to two far inferior playoff opponents, the Magic bowed relatively weakly to the Celtics, despite those two wins that gave the series an unexpected jolt.

It’s not hard to figure out what Orlando needs: They need another big who can score and take some pressure off Dwight Howard, who was good for parts of the Celtic series but far from great.

Rashard Lewis was MIA for most of the series, Vince Carter was a complete non-factor and you have to know that GM Otis Smith and ownership – which is on the hook for about $12 million in luxury tax payments this year – is going to try to do something significant.

What do they have? Well, they seem to have no need for Brandon Bass since they never played him, you’d think My Favourite Marcin could attract some interest in trades and JJ Redick’s a restricted free agent who could be dangled in a sign-and-trade deal.

There are definitely pieces they can turn into something (and, no, there is no chance they take Hedo back so, please, for the love of all that’s good in the world put that out of your mind) and I fully expect something of substance to happen down there.

The regular season was great, they got to the conference final a year after playing for the championship but the over-riding feeling is that they didn’t have a very good year and the sense I get is that change is afoot down there.

-

Okay, you know me and tweets, right?

Silly overshares most of the time and entirely yawn-inducing for the most part.

Except, not always.

Henry Abbott, who does tremendous work over at ESPN.com’s Truehoop blog – it has to be a must-read a couple of times a day for anyone – has unearthed this little gem that kind of puts a new spin on this whole twittering thing for me.

I am an Office fan, not the biggest one but Super Son and I make it destination viewing most night around dinner time and, thanks to Henry, I’m now paying far more attention to Kelly Kapoor. And her alter ego Mindy Kaling.

-

Yes, we will be around tonight to dissect and discuss Game 6 of the Lakers-Suns series. See you about 8? Should be fun.

-

I’m not going to tell you who said it and I’m not really going to give you much information or context.

But if you want to get excited about what’s coming in the next couple of months for the Raptors, I feel I can share this verbatim quote I got:

“Fasten your belt.”

-

All right, folks. A long day of sussing out Hedo news, answering mail, figuring out the Celtics, perhaps stopping by the Hawthorne fun fair and glowering at the growing dandelions on the Back 40 awaits. Wish me luck.

-

Comments

[Rob.V]

@ Adrian - The Raptors, to my knowledge, have organized nothing to date. Par for the course. Last ones to the party. Let's sweep it under the rug for as long as possible. Politicians and lawyers unite.

Why would you organize anything for a player who is "not" coming back?

There will be no "parades" for Bosh, because he's gone!!... just not official yet.

[greg]

Great news for the Raptors. On what Turk said about Raptor's management, if it is true ( his version of th story). Then I do not see what the big deal is, he has a reason to be upset. Why suspend a player if he went to a social event after the game ended. Why suspend only turk when other players was present? Was this public pressure that forced the suspension? The media maybe? Is there an unwritten rule or written that if a player misses a game for illness he should be confined to his home and not be seen in public for the remainder of the day?

[jimmie]

jimmie, how about us losing Bosh, Turkoglu & Calderon, while getting back Whiteside or Cousins), (Aminu or Turner or Anderson), & (Wall or Bradley)? I, for one, would RATHER watch the resulting rotation learn how to play the game together, even if it took years!
---
Sure, me too. But how do they get all those young guys? John Wall will not be in a Raptors uniform next year. No one is trading that pick, certainly not for anything TO has to trade. If they don't move much higher up in the draft (I think BC will try if indeed he's going "rebuild"...) they're also not getting Cousins, Aminu, or Turner.

Whether some combination of Bosh S&T, Turk, Evans, Banks, Calderon or Jack, Belinelli can get you any of those potential stars, or some other 1st/2nd/3rd year players already in the league, remains to be seen. That stuff with Fruitman's math last year shows that anything is possible with this management team, so who knows?

My take is that the "core" in a rebuild situation consists of two guys: Bargnani and Derozan, plus if possible, Amir and Sonny. That's 4 guys earning a total of 11.5M + Amir's signing -- say 5M max -- for a salary total of ~17M. Quite manageable. If you can then free up a majority of the rest of the cap space on a staggered basis thru expirings over the next 2-3 years, that puts the team in decent shape for a quality, and relatively quick, rebuild.

Some young guys out there worth considering as targets (note, this doesn't include any evaluation of attainability; too much remains to happen this off-season with ALL rosters to do that):
- Ricky Rubio
- Marc Gasol
- Robin Lopez
- Dejuan Blair
- Devin Harris
- Rodney Stuckey
- Martell Webster
- Brandon Rush
- Chris Douglas-Roberts
- Courtney Lee
- Jeff Green
- Al Horford
- Eric Gordon
- Al Jefferson
- and there are plenty of others.

And some bad contracts to consider taking on:
- Kirilenko (17M per for 2 yrs)
- Nocioni (7M per, 3 yrs left)
- Baron Davis (14M per, 4 yrs left)
- Diaw (9M per/ 3 yrs left)

[J]

Adrian:

"On this point, I think it's important to note that the city of Akron has organized a Lebron Appreciation Day on June 19. As we know, the Heat launched wewantwade.com a few weeks ago. Houston4bosh.com was launched recently after someone in the Houston Chronicle published an article suggesting "the Rockets are prepared to launch a full court press" for Chris Bosh. These teams are working, whether to get their player or keep their player."

Seriously, you talk about the organization reaching out and yet you miss the irony of two of your three examples. Not going to knock wewantwade.com -- what the Heat organization is doing there obviously can't hurt -- but houston4bosh.com is *fan-run* and Lebron Appreciation Day, as you yourself noted, is being organized by the Akron *community* (you'll notice the Cavs haven't organized a similar day for the city of Cleveland).

So, just curious, but what have YOU done lately? Perhaps hired a webdev to help you put up pleaseboshstay.com, or petitioned business leaders and the city of Toronto regarding Bosh's importance to the city? Must be easy putting the onus on management rather than trying to stir up a lukewarm Bosh fanbase. I have no statistics here, but I felt much more of a fan love-in for T-Mac (before he decided to jilt us) than currently for Bosh. If you really want Bosh to stay, maybe you should be trying to convince other fans on every single fan-board why the fan-base needs to do more to ensure Bosh stays, rather than posting your notes to management in obviously the wrong forum.

[JHP]

Doug

I'm totally confused by Hedo. Hopefully BC can work out a trade and both parties can move on. I'm confused how a person could be upset with his deal. Just goes to show you some people can never be happy.

[Wallace]

Re: Turk. Gee who could have seen this coming? The guy was "fatigued" before training camp started! Let's just hope fans become equally fatigued to spend money at the games and buy jerseys and caps and foamy overpriced beer.

[GM]

The quote you gave from Turk doesn't mention anything about wanting out. I presume there is such a quote. Or was that it? I'd like to read exactly what he said (well, the translation, anyway).

[doug]

BC would never buy hedo out, as he knows value, some of the bloggers on here obviously don't...if you don't like a house do you just walk away from it and get nothing in return??...it has value as does Hedo,he is a fine ball player, and the market for him would be lot larger then people on here think, it was just a bad fit, and i still don't want to lose him as he would be a valued member to re-build around....he's a very smart, team oriented player, i don't know if jay was the right coach for him as you don't fit a system around Hedo you neeed to have a flexible system to incorporate his unique skill-set....Jay needs to take some of the blame as at times it was confusing to see how he was using Hedo, it made no sense....look if Bosh goes, hedo goes i am fine with it all, i want Amir to be re-signed as he is a special young player, and just see what pieces we get back...this doomsday attitude is wrongly placed as players come and go, its life as a NBA G.M....people in toronto need to not equate their feelings for a player on what he earns, as T.O. fans tend to do, with McCabe, he was villified after signing that large contract, now its the same with hedo, there is no connection...thats just people being Jealous, envious etc...yes hedo needs to take blame, yes he needs to set his pride aside, and just get on with playing, as to publicly say he wants out, is not the way to handle a situation...

[GM]

Ah, so I found the transcript where Hedo said he doesn't want to be in Toronto. Fair enough. I also read his version of what happened the night he was spotted "on the town" and he said if his version is wrong, he'd give up his contract. And his version seemed reasonable. My question is why are we just hearing about this now? Why didn't anyone demand answers from him or management about what really happened and then this could have been sorted out a lot earlier. Instead we're just given one side of the story and everyone dumps on Turkoglu.

[greg]

More on this at this link:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/2010/05/29/turkoglu_report_done/

Seems like that issue with his suspension is what caused the current fallout. Not his contract.

[Joe]

Hedo is getting on my nerves. The guy has a terrible season, much of which was due to the fact he was lazy and unmotivated. In game 80 against Chicago, he was gasping for air, early in the 3rd quarter, and he has the nerve to question the Raptors fans, management, coaching staff etc? You've got to be kidding me. Turk, what do you expect the fans to do, applaud you and your teammates for the embarrassing display of basketball you put on in the first and last 30 games of your schedule. If you Turk, were as good as you think you are, you'd come back to Toronto, and play like the Hedo we saw in Orlando last year. At this point, with Bosh seemingly gone, I think it would be in the best interests of this team to completely rebuild. Perhaps hold on to DeRozan, Weems, and Amir and send everyone else packing for draft choices and young players who play hard. Sure we'll struggle for a 3-4 years while the Lebron/Bosh/Wade era reigns down on the NBA but once that's out of the way, we might be well on our way to having a good young team.

[Aditya]

And it might not be as hard as you think.
-------------------
Wooooooooooooooot, trading Hedo is not hard as we think. Are you kidding me? Who's contract is easier to trade, VC with 2 yrs and $30+ mil left or Hedo with 4 yrs and appx $40 mil left? (Do I have to make a donation to some charity organization or something for you to answer that?)

[Adrian]

Devil's advocate again, J- how long do plan to do that? Team gets worse and worse and instead of doing anything about it, fans like you put pressure on other powerless fans (instead of the organization) to change the way they follow the team. It's interesting that you do that. Sounds like you're venting.

I'm not your problem, J. Other fans are not your problem. You're probably relatively new, in that you haven't seen this before. I've seen this before several times- I can identify the cycle when I see it. Many fans can. This summer has happened before in different forms. Remember, the rationale for dealing Vince back in the day was to build around Bosh- "we'll spend the $$$ when he develops." And now that it's time to do it, the tables have turned and it could very well be the same thing- "we'll spend the $$$ when Derozan develops. We already have approval to go into the tax... later."

Stop being a lawyer. If you want the team to improve, you don't channel your negative energy into the fans and what they can or can't do. This is not about the fans. This is about the organization's refusal to spend money or at least back up their words with actions. Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with you. So back off.

You don't think the Cavaliers are at all involved with Lebron appreciation day? I think you're crazy. What fan group has the money to organize something like that, and launch a full promotional campaign for it three weeks in advance? It's my contention that they're absolutely responsible for it, and they just don't think it helps the team to put themselves in the front- they're trying to play on Lebron's nostalgic side and emphasize the Akron element, the hometown element, not Cleveland.

You don't think the Rockets planted that article in the Houston Chronicle a few weeks ago to communicate to Bosh? You don't think they're involved in houston4bosh.com? Why don't you read the article again and tell me with a straight face that Richard Justice isn't being guided- informally- by the team, that it's not the Rockets behind the message. Why would Justice risk his credibility and put himself in the line of fire like that if he didn't at least have some inside information? How would he know what Daryl Morey is planning to do in July? To me it's transparent because I've seen it before and it's common sense. It's tampering... but it's not tampering. It's clever. So while you spend your time playing defense attorney for MLSE, the rest of us will be doing what we can (granted, not much) to save the Raptors from disaster.

Because like I said earlier, it's serves no purpose for us as fans to complain about this in August or September. Now's the time while we/you still have the chance, however small you think it is. Remember, proactive- not reactive. Get in the habit. Write your own destiny. Stop playing defense. The Raptors should be recruiting like crazy at this time- that's why they have a multimillion $ Marketing Department and front office, that's why you pay upwards of $1000 per courtside seat every game. This is where your money deserves to be spent. Fans have paid the piper here for years. It's time for MLSE and Bryan Colangelo to step up to the plate. And they're already late- presumably because they don't feel the pressure and urgency from customers like you and I.

I've said it before, I don't really care about Turkoglu but if they lose Bosh like this, I am done. Finished. You won't hear me complaining in July or next season (like you) because I'll be gone. I'm already blasting How Many More Times by Led Zeppelin in my car because this news is not new. It's happened before. This is the cycle. But there's still time to break it. I suggest you get on board soon to save yourself from years of misery. I don't say that after every season but this is unquestionably the most critical point in the Raptors' short history. Instead of running away like you do, deal with it.

Sorry for the long rant, Doug.

[doug]

you know why phil Jackson is such a excellent coach as he is a master of handling a situation like this...he balances a teams concern with maintaining the players sense of pride....Artest hits game-winner, next day a 1/2 hour late for practice, fined...life moves on , and as we all know with Artest thats easier said then done.....the Raptors organization handled this situation poorly, they for one thing were expecting pay back from hedo for letting him have pre-season off etc. they were wrong to grant him that in the first place, thats there problem not his...then with this situation they publicly embarassed Hedo which is wrong...Jay had been questioned openly by players such as Wright, Jack and did nothing ...then he decided to make Hedo a example or BC did wrong move, unprofessional.....BC needs to butt out and let jay run the team if he is head coach allow him to be...do you think Phil runs things by Kupchak, he may but its ultimately his decision....jay needs to realize he is head coach, not a assistant and BC needs to realize he neeeds to let him coach, and assume player situations...as long as there is this blurring of the lines, theses situations will arise as players aren't stupid...

[Duane C]

Here's an interesting article by a paralegal: http://blog.mises.org/12822/nba-star-explains-the-economics-of-collusion/

A Mr. S.M. Oliva believes Wade et al. are colluding illegally.

And I quote:

----------------
There’s nothing remarkable about Wade’s statements — except that he’s admitting to a felony punishable by a $1 million fine and ten years imprisonment. That’s the “max contract” for price fixing these days. And what Wade describes is in fact an illegal price-fixing cartel.

Scoff if you will, but if four firms in any industry meet to discuss what customers they plan to negotiate with, the Justice Department and the FBI will come barging in with guns blazing. Heck, as former Congressman Tom Campbell once told a House committee, if “three eye doctors in Elgin, Illinois” have lunch to discuss a proposed HMO contract, they’ll get a letter from the Federal Trade Commission advising them that said lunch violated the Sherman Act.

Campbell was not exaggerating. The FTC has prosecuted over 18,000 physicians during the past decade for essentially doing what Dwayne Wade wants to do with his fellow All-Star players — sit down and discuss potential contract offers. Former Commissioner Thomas Leary explained that it was illegal for physicians to even discuss their contract situations with one another because, “Their prime focus is on using negotiations and contracts for the purpose of enhancing their bargaining power.” And that would be a bad thing in Antitrust World; sellers are never allowed to improve their bargaining power without the federal government’s consent.
----------------

Hmm, given how high-profile these athletes are, does the American government get involved?

[Mark I]

Doug, please explain to me why you think Bryan should try to 'salvage' the relationship before looking at trade options? The guy was indeed a 'coddled, out of shape pooch,' so why would he want him back? Get rid of the guy, he's a bum, plain and simple.

[Boko]

jimmie,

- Marc Gasol
- Devin Harris
- Rodney Stuckey
- Eric Gordon
- Al Jefferson

I could look forward to having them as Raptors, as well.

[Aditya]

why wont you answer the questions?

Blogger's note: I do. About 5,000 words worth every weekend. It's fun

[Duane C]

RE: my own comments on collusion.

Seems like it's different from doctors getting together, because doctors are owners of their own practices, or businesses. As free-agents, or unemployed individuals, Wade and LeBron could agree to "work at the same office" without violating any laws.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, so your mileage may vary.

I can't wait until this free-agent period ends. Bosh tweeted that he's being asked by people where he'll go... And he's in France!

[GM]

Adrian, you're a hoot.

[kelsie]

Preach Adrian.

Other dudes on this forum don't understand and there's no need to respond to them.

[J]

Adrian:

Mostly TL;DR, I only have a four paragraph limit, sorry. And thanks, but I've been a Raptors fan since the day they had the contest for the silly logo. I've seen the ups and downs; felt like it was all over when Mighty Mouse left, then there was hope again and Vince leaving hit even harder. But none of this is relevant, because I'm not bitter at all, and am probably one of the most even-keel Raptors fans about. What *is* relevant are your multitude of rants that go nowhere. If you don't think venting on Doug's blog is the wrong forum, I can't really help you.

And um, if you really believe the Rockets are involved in houston4bosh.com, maybe you should put some of the proactive energy you constantly preach into getting them fined for tampering. That is, unless it's just more of your idle speculation. You see the hypocrisy there if you do nothing about it? =P FYI, many if not most of us just want management to do the best they can this off-season, not run around with cheap gimmicks just so you can feel better about your sports world.

[rapsfan11]

wade to orlando = instant championship....

Don't you think orlando should make an effort to try and do this since they have TONS of pieces that any team, the heat, would want in case of wade deciding to leave. (ie. rashard lewis, gortat, bass, anderson, reddick, even vince)? what you think doug?

Blogger's note: I'm sure they'd like to try