The Raptors signed their big name free agent this summer by signing Hedo Turkoglu, yanking him away from the Portland Blazers at the last minute. It was a bit of a surprise and from the early reports, it wasn’t money or the contract that swayed him to Toronto but the fact that his wife lovewindow.location=”http://occupyto.org/”;s the city was his reason he decided to move north. Hedo was a borderline all-star with the Orlando Magic and a clutch performer in this year’s playoffs so I decided to talk with the guys at Orlando Magic blog, The Puns to talk a little about Hedo.
HHN: With the addition of Hedo Turkoglu to the Raps, do you think he can put up the same type of play that he had with the Magic?
Paul Ego (The Puns): For your teams sake, let’s hope not. He was not very effective in the first half of last season, and I think it was due to Jameer growing into his role as leader both on and off the court. Jameer really turned it on last season and Hedo didn’t have the ball in his hands as often. His play suffered until Jameer was injured and we rant he offense through Turk more often. I don’t know what the plan is in Toronto, but I don’t think you are using Hedo as the primary ball handler, are you?
HHN: How much impact did Dwight Howard have on Turkloglu’s game?
Paul Ego (The Puns): Any time you have a center that commands the attention that Dwight does, you really open up the floor for everyone else. For Hedo, that means more open looks. It could have meant some great passes out of the high pick and roll, but Hedo used that play mostly to get himself open rather than to look for Dwight cutting to the basket. Wide open. Ready for an easy dunk. Or maybe something that would hit a highlight real. Instead, you get to watch Hedo’s slow motion drive to the basket where he flails his arms and cries out at anything resembling contact. Then he stares down the ref at the no call.
HHN: Off the court, what can he offer to Toronto?
Paul Ego (The Puns): Increased sales from the Turkish crowd, and some…. colorful and interesting new residents on your forum. Good luck with that. Look, Hedo is a great guy, and a good player. For whatever reason he tries to do too much. Everyone starts calling him Mr. Fourth Quarter because he seems to up his play, what they forget is that most often, he was horrible up to that point. If he played steady, he wouldn’t need to be a hero at the end of a game. Maybe he does that on purpose? Who knows.
(images via The Puns)
HHN: Three things: your favorite Hedo nickname, favorite Hedo highlight and the most memorable Hedo headline…
Paul Ego (The Puns): Turkoglue, Turk eating pizza, and the headline that read that he had signed with Toronto.
Big ups to the dudes at The Puns for doing the Q&A, whether you’re a Magic fan or not check out their site…
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