Hooped Up

A move made too often?
It was early in the game, first quarter if my chicken-scratch notes are to be believed, when Andrea Bargnani did it again.

He gets the ball about 18 feet from the basket, pump fakes to get his man in the air and when the guy doesn’t bite, Andrea still tries to lean in, draw contact and a foul and hoists some odd, flat, silly shot.

Didn’t get the foul – which was the right call by the officials – didn’t make the shot and it’s about the third or fourth time in the last couple of weeks I can remember him pulling off the same play. And I don’t remember it working too often.

It’s maybe something he only wants to pull out rarely, or work more often on in practice because he doesn’t quite have it down pat.
Toronto Star
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The Toronto Raptors will attempt to extend their National Basketball Association winning streak to six games without the services of Hedo Turkoglu.

Raptors coach Jay Triano confirmed after today’s practice that the veteran forward will travel with the team to Indianapolis for Tuesday night’s rematch against the Indiana Pacers but won’t play. Turkoglu suffered a small fracture to the orbital bone beneath his right eye early in Sunday’s 117-112 win over the Pacers at the ACC.

“He’s getting it re-evaluated right now,” Triano said. “He will travel with us but probably won’t play.”

Triano said he is not sure how long Turkoglu will be lost to the team.

Globe And Mail

Since signing a big deal with Toronto. At times, all Hedo Turkoglu looks like he’s done since reaching Canada, is drink up all the Sprite and eat off all the pizza in T-dot. Fans would call that under achieving, Pizza Pizza calls it a marketing opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong. The image of Turkoglu sitting in the dark on his couch, refusing to shower after games or to clean his place while scarfing down sub-standard pizza would be totally acceptable — if he wasn’t getting a gazillion dollars from the Raptors to look like he actually cares about his health. If you want to call this an epic marketing FAIL, I will not disagree with you.

Cindy Lauper was so right, money does change everything.

Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs.

The Raptors appear to be heading north as an organization, making few mistakes to improve their roster along the way. Cool handed GM Brian Colangelo had another productive summer adding Hedo Turkoglu, Marco Belinelli, Reggie Evans, Amir Johnson, Rasho Nesterovic and promising rookie DeMar DeRozan to the mix and on paper things look like they’ll improve in Toronto. Read More »

A lot of players went other places today as a four-way deal between Dallas, Toronto, Memphis and Orlando went down with Wal-Mart like logistics precision.

The Dallas Mavericks acquired four-time All-Star forward Shawn Marion from the Toronto Raptors in a multi-player, four-team trade, they said on Thursday.

Marion, forward Kris Humphries and center Nathan Jawai will join the Mavericks from the Raptors in exchange for guard Antoine Wright and forward Devean George, plus two-way cash considerations.

In related moves, the Orlando Magic sent prized free agent Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto for cash considerations from the Mavericks and Raptors while Dallas traded Jerry Stackhouse to the Memphis Grizzlies for fellow guard Greg Buckner.

Just for poops and laughter, I’m gonna try this deal on NBA 2K9 and substitute the two-way cash considerations for a first round draft pick to see if it works there too. Either way, I”m sure digital Jerry Stackhouse will be pissed he’s going to Memphis like real life Jerry Stackhouse probably is.

Via Reuters

Hedo Turkoglu has backed out of negotiations with the Blazers, which could pave the way for David Lee to Portland. ”We had been talking, but we’ll talk now,” Lee’s agent Mark Bartlestein told The Post last night.

Turkoglu reportedly agreed to terms with Portland early yesterday on a $10 million per year deal, then ended negotiations and was said to be Toronto-bound, according to ESPN.com.

The Blazers have long lusted after Lee, who also seeks $10 million per season, exactly the amount the Blazers are under the cap. Bartlestein said because Lee is restricted, the Blazers were fearful of waiting 10 days to see if the Knicks would match and instead jumped at the surer thing in Turkoglu.

New York Post

Hold the phone youngin, Hedo Turkoglu has backed out of his deal with the Blazers and will now join the Toronto Raptors — for now.

The Toronto Raptors have signed coveted free agent Hedo Turkoglu, various news outlets reported late Friday.

Turkoglu, fresh off a run to the NBA final with the Orlando Magic, has reportedly signed a five-year deal worth over $50 million US.

It means one of the most sought-after free agents this off-season is landing in The Big Smoke, making his signing a huge coup for the Raps.

This signing is exactly what the Raptors need and I’m not shocked that Bryan Colangelo pulled this one off. Finally the Raps will have a wing player that can actually create his own shot. Welcome back form obscurity T-dot.

Via CBC

If you’re Rudy Fernandez, then look away! The Trail Blazers have reportedly struck a deal with Hedo Turkoglu.

Hedo Turkoglu has reached an agreement in principle to join the Portland Trail Blazers, according to sources.

Although a verbal commitment may be announced sooner, the terms of the contract cannot be finalized until Wednesday when the NBA informs teams what the 2009-10 salary cap will be. The Orlando Magic’s recent trade for Vince Carter, who has a large salary and plays small forward — which is Turkoglu’s position — made it highly unlikely Turkoglu would be back in Orlando.

This signing won’t put the Blazers over the top in the west, but it will make for a very deep and youthful team. Then again, the Blazers already kinda had that going on without Turkoglu too.

Via ESPN

UPDATE: Hedo Turkoglu has backed out of his deal with the Blazers and will play for the Toronto Raptors instead.

Portland Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard contacted Lon Babby late last night, to begin discussion about adding his client Hedo Turkoglu to his roster. However, Rudy Fernandez ain’t happy about that.

“Kevin Pritchard and [assistant general manager] Tom Penn called me at the earliest possible moment and expressed enthusiasm for engaging in discussions about Hedo becoming a Trail Blazer,” Babby told the Oregonian. “We have begun that process.”

After Fernandez hear the Blazers were interested in adding Turkoglu who plays the same position as him, rumours of him going back to Europe (for more money) surfaced and Portland could have some problems on their hands if Turkoglu and Fernandez are wearing the same jersey.

What’s a GM to  do?

Via The Oregonian + ESPN

Orlando and New Jersey have agreed in principle in a deal that will bring Vince Carter to the Magic and send Tony Battie, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee to the New Jersey, according to a league source.

The Magic have yet to confirm the deal, but the addition of a scorer in Carter, the trade would seem to end the Magic’s quest to bring back forward Hedo Turkoglu for a long term deal.

The deal also could include Nets’ forward Ryan Anderson. But there might still need to be some maneuvering done because the salaries are way off. Read More »