Hedo Turkoglu is the key to our success

[hedo needs ball]

he is the best.. we are so lucky he is playing in our team not portland..

[AWill20Fan]

I agree.

Wayyyyy too many people on here, in the stadium and on radio call in shows are sh__ting all over Turk for no reason. He was having a shooting slump, but he's had such a positive effect on the team in the time he plays. I went to the Milwaukee game a couple weeks ago, and although he shot 2-10 his impact was the main reason we won. He had 4 very nice passes for assists before picking up a BS 3rd foul in the first half. Then when he finally hit two layups (that were insane) both of them brought the team to within 1 point, and the second time they hit the next basket and took the lead for good. Down the stretch he had 2 HUGE blocks/tipped outside shots, and then close to the end he had Delfino trapped against the sideline forcing him to throw the ball straight into Jack's hands. During this game, a fan actually got boo'd because he won a Turkoglu jersey... really? Sometimes Toronto fans are STUPID.

One good point sumone had calling in after that particular game asked why it is Toronto fans are so die-hard for players who do the dirty work (JYD, Oakley) but can't even recognize the non scoring aspects Turkoglu is affecting.

So when people would tell me how crappy he is this season, I'd always have one reply ''sure it'd be nice for him to be allstar level for $10 mil a season.. but all that I really care about is playoffs.' Turk proved last year and in past playoffs he is very capable of performing under pressure. Bosh has really came on and is having a career year, but as far as current Raptors who have been in the playoffs while in Toronto... I fear Turk is the only one truely ready (maybe Jack too). When it hits crunch time, we need Hedo to have the ball in his hands. If he wins us a playoff series like he did last year for Orlando, he's def worth whatever we're payin him.

[gregdj]

he is the best.. we are so lucky he is playing in our team not portland..

slow down there hedo... your alright but not that great.

[AWill20Fan]

In hindsight I would preferred we get player like Battier or defensively specialist who can shot the 3pointer at the SF spot. We probably could get one at around $5M instead of overpaying Turko at $10M. I think our offense would be just as good. And our defense would be much better. It is not so much that Turko is not as advertised but our offense doesn't really need him at the price he comes at.

Last year we struggled because we had literally only one player who we could count on to handle the ball. This year we have Jose/Jack + role players like Beli/DD/Weems who can actually drive to the bucket. Even Wright is coming around. And than you have Bosh playing at super-star level and Bargani playing near all-star level. With future development of DD, Turko role will be diminished as he ages, and his salary will look like huge dead weight.

People keep forgetting that our defense is among the worst in the league. Our management seems to commit to Bosh/Bargs, if this is true, than we need to get SF who rebounds + plays good defense.

Yea and the Raptors would have about 24 wins right now. He is the reason we beat the Lakers at the end of that game. No Turk = Kobe closing out on us yet again. Battier is NOT a game changer when it comes to late game situations and thats exactly why we got Turkoglu.

PS - I dunno what games you're watching, but Turkoglu's defense has been pretty above average for the past few weeks.

[quickymgee]

the only thing that can might be construed as "slumping" or "declining" from last year has been hedo's shooting. Things like shooting and passing are the last things to decline in a player when they age. The fact that he still plays decent D means he still has his legs. His game has not declined, he's just in a shooting slump. We'll know he's declining in a year or two when opposing sfs start blowing by on a regular basis/abusing. Until then, he's simply in a slump.

[Undefeated]

Even when Hedo was in a shooting slump last month, Hedo still helped the Raptors in other areas of the game. Games where Hedo shot below 40% from the field last month, he still managed to average near 4 free-throw attempts, 5 rebounds and 5 assists which are all solid numbers. Hedo is a smart player, when he knows one of his primary skills are off, he’ll look to contribute else where.