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Well i saw an interview with Hedo in a Turkish newspaper after the Wizards game. I translated the parts related to NBA and Magic. Nothing new actually but...

- What will you do after your contract expires with Magic?

Well you never know what's gonna happen and we are all professionals. i have to think about my life and carrier. I want to guarantee my life standards. Now i am happy here but when the time comes i will sit down and think about the options. lets just say i am happy in Orlando for now.

-A lot of people think that you are snubbed for the All Star Game. How did it effect you?

At first i felt bad. As i basketball player, i have goals and i am doing my best to reach these goals both as an individual and as a team. I think i am having a good season. I thought i would be honoured as an Allstar but it didn't happen. This means i have to work harder for the rest of the season and next year in order to be an Allstar.

-Can you compare Turkish fans and the fans in NBA?

You probably noticed that the crowd in Turkey is much more energetic and loud. In NBA people are coming for see an entertaining show. In Turkey people come to the games just to support their teams. So they chant a lot especially in national team games. I must say the crowd in NBA supports team well mostly in 4th quarter.

interesting. I agree that fans in europe make noise all game long, even if they're just singing/chanting

we should all chant Viva Istanbul during the next homegame...like the drunk guy behind me...

european sports fans>>>>>>>>>>>>>>american sports fans

this is affected a lot by people who get free tickets and can't name 3 guys on the team, and 20 year old girls who go there to see what hot players are playing and just then learn their names

CourtsideTV wrote:we should all chant Viva Istanbul during the next homegame...like the drunk guy behind me...

sorry about that

RawLewD12 wrote:european sports fans>>>>>>>>>>>>>>american sports fans

this is affected a lot by people who get free tickets and can't name 3 guys on the team, and 20 year old girls who go there to see what hot players are playing and just then learn their names

As an extension of what you're saying, I think most of it is due to the level of association of fans with the players.

I mean look no further than the difference between fans at NBA games and NCAA basketball games.

Add to that the fact that you have places like Orlando which will have even less of a fan/player association due to the fact that an abnormally large percentage of the people (at least relative to most teams) will not even be from the area, but rather New York/Boston/etc. transplants.

Of course American fans don't hold a candle to the Euros (Greeks being the best of course ).

Yeah, we Euros have a different way to live the sports, that's undeniable.
This is how a "small" sport is lived here in Portugal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17HkwomYdQ

Rivalries here are something to behold.


Even in very small town like the one I live (8000 people) soccer teams have incredible support and relation with us. This is a video from the last game of last year when our team became champion of the 3rd Portuguese division (this is the small stand of the stadium where usually "singing" fans go, there's another 5000 people stand in the other side of the field):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag4ZdlfS ... re=related

I don't like the fact that he said, "I am happy in Orlando for now."
Translation: If something better comes along, I'm bolting.
You would think that if he really did not want to leave, he would have said something like "I'm happy in Orlando and I want to stay here." Not once did he say he wanted to stay. Maybe I am reading too far into it, but I'm a Turk fan and I hope he doesn't leave.

1. at least he is being honest.
2. grant hill comes to mind.

Tmac970 wrote:I don't like the fact that he said, "I am happy in Orlando for now."
Translation: If something better comes along, I'm bolting.
You would think that if he really did not want to leave, he would have said something like "I'm happy in Orlando and I want to stay here." Not once did he say he wanted to stay. Maybe I am reading too far into it, but I'm a Turk fan and I hope he doesn't leave.

I think ur reading too much into it. Plus this was translated from Turkish so there might be a loss of translation.

magicfan4life05 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




sorry about that

was that you in 111...if so..

thats the first time i saw a profane sign not taken away at a game..

Tmac970 wrote:I don't like the fact that he said, "I am happy in Orlando for now."
Translation: If something better comes along, I'm bolting.
You would think that if he really did not want to leave, he would have said something like "I'm happy in Orlando and I want to stay here." Not once did he say he wanted to stay. Maybe I am reading too far into it, but I'm a Turk fan and I hope he doesn't leave.

he's being honest. everyone would leave if a better contract/opportunity came along

Well i will not claim that my english is excellent (My Turkish is excellent ) but there is no loss of translation. I think he wants to say i'll see what magic offers. If another contender team offers him a lot more than Magic does, he may leave Magic. If there is no huge difference between contracts, he'll stay in Orlando.

As you know, his current contract is around 6m/year. As much as Orlando wants respect, i think he also wants to be respected as a player. I think he feels he is respected by the fans, teammates and coach but the team owner and Otis have to show him that they think he is an important player for the team.

Assume that you are Hedo and after having a great season, you are offered half the money that your teammate makes. Plus you have a 10-15m better deal from Lakers, Spurs etc.... Who would not consider that? Also this will his last big contract. So he will want to make sure he gets a good deal.

As far as i observed Turkish players, most of them want to stay at their clubs but if there is a huge difference they choose to leave. Their first priority is the club where they became famous and known. Okur is a good example of that. He talked to press so many times about how he happy he was in Detroit and he wanted to stay. Then Utah offered him 15-20m better deal for 5 years. 15-20 m is a lot of money to ignore. Now he is a Jazz player.

My point if Orlando gives something close to the money that Hedo deserves, he will stay in Orlando. These are my opinions. I hope he stays as a Magic for the rest of his career.

I was so happy when the Magic signed Turk because I knew he was special, but who would have thought that he would be this good? The Magic have let so many good players walk and I pray that history does not repeat itself. IMO he should be the next highest paid player on the Magic after Dwight. No knock on Shard, but Hedo has better stats than him and has come through more often in the clutch.

If we lock up hedo..we have 3 solid players who can put 20 ppg:

shard
dwight
hedo

Actually starting from his former coaches, the people who are interested in basketball in Turkey were expecting him to be this good. This guy is special. Since i had the opportunity to watch him since he was 17, i believe that this guy could perform better if someone trusted him before. Hedo is raised to be a special player. All the guys at his size used to be raised as either PF or C but this guy raised to become a PG or SG. In Efes this guy improved a lot on defense. His coaches trusted him a lot. Sometimes he played PG, sometimes he played PF (Even in the national team). Thats why he can handle the ball very well. I think we should thank his coaches for raising him as a PG.

its gotta be the hair


lol at this website


"Joakim Noah. His father was a pretty famous, good looking tennis player who won the French Open. His mother was Miss Sweden 1978. There

LOL

1. is joakim really the son of yannick?
2. wow, the last name should have given this away.