Now that Orlando has basically kicked him to the curb in favor of Vince and Sheed/Bass, his asking price just went way down. We're one of only three teams with cap space, and the other two are OKC and Memphis, neither of whom are in the market for a small forward.

Say we could get Hedo for slightly more than the MLE ($5-6 million), do we bring him in if we trade Tayshaun?

IMO, if we can swing a trade for Bosh or Amare, then Turkoglu would be ok. But being that he's already 30, it's only a good signing if we're aiming for an immediate playoff run.

i don't think the magic have done that at all.

nelson PG
carter SG
lewis SF
turkoglu PF
howard C

he's not a true PF, but he can play there some. and he did very often throughout this season. i think they very much want to keep him. they use their wing players a ton and it would be highly detrimental to lose turkoglu, even with the addition of carter.

i think they need to keep him because otherwise the carter deal doesn't put them over the top at all IMO.

but to answer your question, he's worth a good more than the MLE, IMO. obviously you have to try and lower his asking price. but if prince is getting $9 mil a year or whatever the hell he's making, even a 30 hedo in this market is worth an 8 digit salary.

IMO he'll sign a contract that averages 8 digits a year. and while the fact that he's 30 scares some people, i don't think he's a guy who relies a ton on his athleticism. so i think he could maintain his current level of play for another 5 years fairly easily. i wouldn't be scared to sign him to a deal like that. hefty price, sure. but...

...did you read the article in the other thread, or a word of what I just said?

They're moving Rashard back to SF and singing Rasheed Wallace and Brandon Bass. Turkoglu is DONE there. Even Ray Charles thinks it's transparent.

you're like a woman on her period with your bitchy little outbursts! lol

i didn't read the full article until after i posted my response. this isn't confirmed by anybody so until then we shouldn't draw too many conclusions. this very well could be a rumor floated by the magic to show the turk they have other options and are not going to just give him whatever he wants.

who knows for sure? in any case, if we assume the rumor is true for a second then perhaps they legitimately feel they can't re-sign him and are pursuing other options. if so then i still am not 100% convinced that he won't still have a big contract waiting for him.

obviously teams won't outbid themselves but we've seen players and agents orchestrate sign and trades before too. it will be very interesting to see what offers he fields and what his final pricetag will be. the lower the better. obviously i'd try to and would much rather pay him as little as possible. but my point is, if it requires going as high as 8 digits, somebody will pay up. and i would not totally be opposed to that cost, assuming we make other signings/trades in addition to acquiring him.

Say we could get Hedo for slightly more than the MLE ($5-6 million), do we bring him in if we trade Tayshaun?




LOL! Yeah, if we can get him for 6 per we sweep in. Bring him off the fucking bench for 6 per. Aint happening.

I'm not understanding how teams like Toronto & Portland are being mentioned as "frontrunners" for him with deals being reported at ~$10m/yr.

That would mean S&T, and that doesn't seem likely with the Magic in lux tax land.

I think we could get him for $8m, and as I said in another thread this morning, he'd be our primary playmaker.

If Tay is on the move, we could do a lot worse than Turk

What does POR have to spend Glenn? They could write him up a deal averaging 9 per, right?

I didn't think they had that kind of cap room, especially in light of the Darius Miles thing, or has that expired now?

I'm too lazy to look.

Here's the fanhouse blurb...


He is expected to be seriously pursued by Toronto, Portland and Sacramento. He is seeking a five-year deal worth an estimated $10 million annually, which is more than the Magic were willing to pay.

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/08-09salaries.htm

Miles counts for $9m next year still.

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/08-09salaries.htm

Miles counts for $9m next year still.

Yeah, but I thought if they kept outlaw (letting blake go) they had about 9 million to spend even with Miles. Miles getting stuck to them kept them from going max.

he's dreaming if he wants $10 mil.

Would Portland be interested in doing a sign and trade for Hedo?

Would Toronto?

Who would these teams be giving up to get close to $10 mil per?

Are any teams considering him as a point forward? Remember that position Scottie Pippen and Grant Hill played periodically? Where it's actually a 3-forward rotation? I thought Hedo was doing a lot of ball-handling in the playoffs before Nelson came back.

I would go no higher than a contract starting at $8 mil. a year. We need bargains and his age is a factor.

There is no rule that requires contracts to increase every season.

He wants to average $10 mil?

Start him higher than that and have it decrease every season by the maximum allowed as he ages.

Or just give him $10 mil per every season for 4 years. On the right team he'd be a weapon. We are not that team at the moment.

We need a real live PF and a capable C before we look at any perimeter players.

Besides, Austin Daye will become a Hedo type, right?

Hedo is overrated, i personally think he's a downgrade from Tay. Snatch Bass from under The Magic's noses, and try to get whichever big men The Jazz don't get signed.

I think that Hedo would be a nice addition with his passing skills. If we don't improve at the PG spot (since it's Stuckey and he's not really a PG) then we need a SF who can pass. If we can sign Turk starting at $8 mil he's still $1.3 mil cheaper than Tay plus then we can dangle Tay to get a big man.

Turk is overrated as a passer to me. There's no dwight howard on our team and imo Turk as a passer is average. He has solid penetration to the basket, but as a passer and a guy running the offense he's overrated. JMHO, but i'd be a lil' disappointed if Joe went after him to dump Tayshaun who imo is a more efficient player than Hedo and better overall(career 46 percent shooter replaced by a career 42 percent shooter who probably will put up not "much" better assist numbers w/o Dwight Howard around?).

Hedo is overrated, i personally think he's a downgrade from Tay. Snatch Bass from under The Magic's noses, and try to get whichever big men The Jazz don't get signed.

Sounds bout right... Hedo isn't interested in defense (only gets worse from here on).
Bass would be a good cheap pick up.

So, we'd replace Tay's rock solid D against every SF not named Lebron or Pierce for a 3 point shooter who can handle the ball but couldn't defend me?

Fuck that!

I've been against signing Hedo from the start and the main reason is obvious: He's already 30 years old. If we wanted an old fucker on the books for close to $10 mil we would have kept Chauncey.

Chauncey was LOVED by the players and a coach on the floor. Sure he had his flaws but if you dump Chauncey do you really replace him with Hedo?

If that trade was suggested last October what would the response have been from the majority here? I seriously doubt it would have been met with approval.

But here we are. Less than 12 months later and people are pushing for Hedo's signature. Why? Is Tay really that bad? Is he the man to trade? I doubt it, and I tried a thousand times to dump him in all my "plans".

The funniest thing is that whenever someone pimps Hedo the reason they give is because Stuckey is not a PG.

WTF?

You're willing to trade Tayshaun Prince AND give Hedo Turkoglu $8+ mil per simply because a dude who was a starting PG for 1 season is not a great PG?

Fuck me! How fucking stupid is that?

If Stuckey is REALLY that bad of a PG then trade Rip for a big man, move Stuckey to SG and get a PG that isn't 30 years old, can run the offense and knock down a 3. I'm sure Glenn has some ideas lol

Switching your SF's because you want a better PG makes zero sense to me.

I'm with P all the way on this.

If we're trading one of our core, I don't relly think Prince is the #1 guy to trade. He's a solid player, he plays great D, and no one is guarding Lebron. We're dogging him because he can't just like everyone else? He'd do a much better job of it if we gave him some inside D. He can play off the guy and use his length to still defend the pull-up. He gets muscled around but if you have help defense, that's not as big of an issue. No one complained about his D at all when we had Ben backing him, or even when we had Sheed in 'play hard' mode backing him up. If anything, we need to solidify our inside defense to help him out.

I'd much rather see us trade Rip than Tay, and the only reason I make any trades suggesting we move Tay is because it seems like it's a very real possibility. I'd prefer to keep Tay, get a combo guard that's a shooter and can share ballhandling and running the offense with Stuckey, and move Rip for a big. I'm not a huge fan of bringing in Gordon, which is why I keep suggesting Hinrich. I don't want us to bring in Boozer either. My ideal situation would be to grab someone like Lee or Milsap (young, developing, hardworkers), trade Rip for someone like Okafor (defensive presence that's still young with potential), and keep Tay.

Stuckey
Combo-guard
Prince
Milsap
Okafor

Looks solid to me, depending on who you plug in as the combo guard. Tay has been a #4 option on offense while playing stellar defense for years, and he's done great in that role. Suddenly we're all angry about it? He's not going to play the 2, he's not going to play the 4, he's going to give us 30-35 solid minutes at SF (and we finally have a backup for him so that he won't wear down) with good-but-not-great 3pt shooting and the ability to expose mismatches (guys that are too short, or guys that aren't quick). Plus he started stepping into that leadership role last year. What we NEED is a coach that knows how to use him. Flip used him well on occasion, as did LB, but Curry had no idea last year. Maybe he figures things out after a season of disarray (he was ready to handle a team that self-coached with Chauncey but nowhere close to the disfunction that came up as soon as we got AI), maybe not. But that's not Tay's fault. He's still a young guy, with enough experience to be the team leader.

Essentially, I'd rather we keep him.

As I have said before, I don't think Tay will be here much longer. By looking at the draft choices Joe made, how much mileage is on him, his salary and his knack for disappearing about 50% of the time, it's got to be driving Joe nuts.

If Joe can replace him for half the cost, I think he would (ex. Ariza). Time to sell high.

The thing about guarding Lebron, and to a lesser extent Pierce is that Tay does just as well as everyone else... which is not good.

But let's put Tay up against the other SF's in the league. Does any one of them abuse him on the regular? Not IMO.

The guy has been the glue for this team for a long time. He's come through when we've needed him, most of the time. He's stepped up when called upon, most of the time. He's stepped forward as a leader when times got tough, some of the time (and you can excuse him for NOT leading since Rip, Sheed and Dice "outrank" him in experience)

I guess being pretty fucking good most of the time over a 6 year period just ain't good enough for some...

But what the fuck is people's problem with him? I don't buy it's his D, or his supposed lack of leadership. I think people, me included in the beginning see all this cap space and their minds get blown with all the possibilities.

"Damn! We could have 4 new starters next season!"

That ain't a recipe for a winning team - that's a recipe for disaster.

We're already gonna have 2 new starters at PF and C, and if you believe rumours we're likely to have a new starter at SG. How the fuck do we get everyone on the same page with a Coach like Curry and a PG who is only starting at that spot for his 2nd season?

Easy - you turn to the man who has always been there to rescue you. The guy you point to and say "See, I can draft well". The guy who proved everyone wrong. Remember the Orlando series with Rick Carlise refusing to use Prince until the last possible moment? Remember The Block! The lockdown D on Kobe? The lockdown D on McGrady? The destruction of Philly?

Do I need to go on?

Tayshaun has been here, done it all for this fucking Franchise and it's high time some people bowed down and showed some God damn respect to the man.

Did he whine or pout or fuck about last season? Or was he the dude dealing with the media while Sheed and AI smoked up and Rip wept like a bitch?

And people want Turkoglu to take Tay's spot?

Fuck Turkoglu.

I'll take our Glue over that cunt every fucking day of the week.

A nice debate. P and Zekyl, gotta disagree. You ask me who is first to move, and Prince and Stuckey are the first on my list before Rip.

P if I recall correctly, I think Prince has struggled against many more SFs than LBJ and PP. I don't know the right web reference, but I am certain that he has been torched in the past BADLY by Wallace, Butler, Granger, Iggy. Now honestly I can accept, my problem is that TP's offensive game is completely worthless against better SFs, and it really isn't because of their D. He just goes into Michael Curry mode. At least with a player like Turk, he may get burned but at least can make his man work a little and get us points. I would rather have ANY of the above SFs over Turk, but TP is awful offensively against the good SFs. IF you can't deliver on D, or on O, isn't that a problem.

Now in the defense of Rip, as Hubie would say ," What you got there is a player who is pretty average on D, but can score the ball, shoot from the line, and make the open 3." He has performed relatively well in the playoffs, and I just don't see us getting a better SG in trade. Can you guys think of SGs who we could actually get who would be better?

Lastly Stuck. I like the guy and want to keep him. That said he is our most valuable trade asset due to his potential. If it takes him to notch us a SUPERSTAR, then I am all for it. Anything but that, and I would rather keep him.

GD - replacing him for half the cost is a great idea.

What real options are there in free agency other than Ariza?

Why limit it to free agents?

A nice debate. P and Zekyl, gotta disagree. You ask me who is first to move, and Prince and Stuckey are the first on my list before Rip.


Hate to disappoint you but Stuckey ain't going anywhere unless we get offered Bosh or someone on that level. Joe loves him something fierce.



P if I recall correctly, I think Prince has struggled against many more SFs than LBJ and PP. I don't know the right web reference, but I am certain that he has been torched in the past BADLY by Wallace, Butler, Granger, Iggy. Now honestly I can accept, my problem is that TP's offensive game is completely worthless against better SFs, and it really isn't because of their D. He just goes into Michael Curry mode. At least with a player like Turk, he may get burned but at least can make his man work a little and get us points.


My, my, my how the times have changed.

Since when does a Piston fan not value quality D? Turk gets burned by everyone regularly. Tay might get torched every now and then, but regularly? I doubt it.

And yeah his offense disappears - he's been the 4th option every year. What do you expect him to score? Rip's the first option and struggles to average 20 ppg.



Now in the defense of Rip, as Hubie would say ," What you got there is a player who is pretty average on D, but can score the ball, shoot from the line, and make the open 3." He has performed relatively well in the playoffs, and I just don't see us getting a better SG in trade. Can you guys think of SGs who we could actually get who would be better?

Better is relative - Rip is a better player than Ben Gordon, but for the kind of team Joe has said he wants Rip doesn't fit. Can't create his own shot, not a 3 point gunner, not another ball handler.



Lastly Stuck. I like the guy and want to keep him. That said he is our most valuable trade asset due to his potential. If it takes him to notch us a SUPERSTAR, then I am all for it. Anything but that, and I would rather keep him.

Agree there. Like I said if we could send him and something else and land Bosh I'd cosider the off-season a success, regardless of who else we got.

You build your franchise with a quality big. Let's do everything we can to get one and then move on from there.

Yeah inside out is definitely the way to build. P I think how we build our roster is going to depend on who is the centerpiece. If you get a player like Bosh, isn't a person who can make an open jumpshot a nice player to have? Even more important, what if you get another player who can create their own shot and distribute? A PG like CP3 would put Rip's value through the roof.

Oh yeah and I am all for great D, but Tay doesn't supply it when it counts. LBJ, Pierce, and many of the other SFs we play against are still going to be there when Tay retires and likely still in the East. Maybe investing in a defensive lockdown is a better investment, as Glenn suggested and using that cash to obtain someone who actually can score when it counts.

And just for perspective, don't question my interest in defense when you are pimping Ben Gordon, who is much of a sieve as Turkoglu.

I am fine with Gordon, but he has the same defensive probs as Turk at but at SG, and combine that with his height. I am also fine with BG at PG, but would rather move Stuckey then to get another big and not be smaller on D.

I hesitate to post a list of names, because people get so hung up on the list that it sidetracks the discussion at hand, but I know you want names, P.

There's no shortage of SFs that can be had for less money than Tay makes. A lot of them have a lot less mileage on them too. Sure, they are not all as talented/experienced, but if upgrades are made at other positions, Tay's production can be offset pretty well by some of these guys.

Marvin Williams
Linas Kleiza
Kelenna Azubuike
Shane Battier
Al Thornton
Trevor Ariza (FA)
Rudy Gay
Corey Brewer
James Posey
Jared Jeffries
Jeff Green
Mickael Pietrus
Thaddeus Young
Travis Outlaw
Martell Webster
Andres Nocioni

All of these guys make less jack than Tay, and that doesn't really even touch the free agents. I didn't check, but I bet that all or most of them are younger than Tay, too.

They make less money for good reason.

I agree, it's based on their past performance (or rookie contracts), not their future value.

Tay's getting paid for what he did 5 years ago, what's he going to do now?

Most of these guys haven't (yet). There are exceptions, of course (Posey, Battier, Noc, etc.).

But you can go ahead and nitpick the list now, I'm going to play golf.

What nitpick? I'm saying Tay is better than all those guys.

Have fun sucking up to Spartans.

Is Stuckey as valuable to other teams as he is to us?

If we were making a push for winning now AND we're trading Stuckey: Bringing in a facilitating PG to pair with Rip and Tay, then using Stuckey to net us a stud big then getting another solid big with our cap space would be our best bet. I just don't know if he has as much value as we seem to think. Is Stuckey getting us someone like Bosh or Amare? I doubt it. We'd have to get a guy like that for us to beat Orlando, Cleveland, or even a revived Boston (though Allen and KG are starting to show signs of age).

We'd still have room to sign a facilitating PG and one solid FA like Milsap or Lee, then we could trade Stuckey and take back more in salary. Who could we honestly get for him?

Andre Miller/Bynum
Rip/AA/Washington
Prince/Daye/Summers
Milsap or Lee/Max
Trade/Kwame

Is that team topping Orlando or Cleveland? Depends on what you can get for Stuckey.

I don't see Stuckey getting us anyone better than what we can get in FA (Boozer/Lee, etc).

We just have to hope he'll develop an outside jumper. He hasn't had a lot of time to so we'll see.

Tay's hasn't had a backup who's as good as Pietrus. Tayshaun is absolutely sucking against LeBron, yet he plays 38 mpg (the most of any player) in an elimination game that's over by the start of the 4th quarter.

It's not in his nature to begin with, but we surely don't do much to back up Tayshaun so he can play aggressively, take some chances with contact, etc. He's playing without a net, and playing too many minutes for his frame.

Besides Tayshaun, the only player in the top 10 in minutes who's not an All-Star or clearly destined for one is Felton, and he's got some starting-class backup in Augustin and Diaw.

Hopefully, this draft's changed the equation here, and isn't some prelude to trading Tay for garbage.

Did you just say Diaw is a backup for Felton? When was the last time you heard Diaw mentioned as a PG?

When he was in Atlanta and being considered a total failure.

When he was in Phoenix, he was a point-forward when Nash was off the court. He was doing similar things for Charlotte with Augustin playing.

he was the fucking CENTER in phoenix.

When Amare came back, he was back to playing small and he was once again a failure.

Without that one season, nobody would give two shits about Boris Diaw. Every other season he's had has been shitty.

My thoughts exactly, K. When he moved to Phoenix, he started playing SF/PF full time and broke out. He can handle the ball and distribute a bit as a point forward, but he's not a backup PG by any means.

He can take other bigs off the dribble and find the open man. But run an offense? Not in his life.

When he was in Phoenix, he was a point-forward when Nash was off the court. He was doing similar things for Charlotte with Augustin playing.
But they still had a PG on the court in both those cases. They still had Barbosa on the court in Phoenix and Augustin on the court in Charlotte. He was never running things, just helping.

Being a point forward is not the same as playing PG. It just means you are used part time as a facilitator. Diaw isn't out there guarding PGs.

Correct, and neither Barbosa nor Augustin were bigtime distributors. I simply mentioned Diaw because he's part of what Charlotte does for backup PG responsibilities. Watch the games.

I dunno what makes Diaw's motor tick, but he had a pretty good season this year under LB. He's not a one-season wonder, or benefiting from the awesome glow of Steve Nash.

If he made MLE money he'd be a good value. At 9+ mil a year he better give you 30 minutes of good play.

Fuck Diaw.

GD's list and my comments:

Marvin Williams - I have mentioned signing him

Linas Kleiza - as a starter? No thanks

Kelenna Azubuike - dude can shoot but what else can he do? I didn't see many GSW games this past season.

Shane Battier - of course - but will Houston deal him?

Al Thornton - maybe, but will the Clippers deal him?

Trevor Ariza (FA) - I mentioned signing him

Rudy Gay - no fucking way we can get him.

Corey Brewer - I'm interested - what would it take to get him?

James Posey - I could be convinced he's a good move.

Jared Jeffries - really?

Jeff Green - not gonna be dealt IMO

Mickael Pietrus - not gonna be dealt

Thaddeus Young - not gonna be dealt

Travis Outlaw - I mentioned trading Tay for Blake and Outlaw.

Martell Webster - depends on his health. Dude has/had huge potential

Andres Nocioni - no thanks.

Yes, we have plenty of options at SF but I don't know if Tay is on the block.

I believe Rip might be on the block, simply because he doesn't fit the "high volume 3 point shooter, extra ball handler" type Joe mentioned.

Reportedly (per Florida Today) the deal that Turk turned down from the Magic was 4 years at $35m.

Sources: Turkoglu, Blazers agree

By Henry Abbott
ESPN.com

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.

The Toronto Raptors expressed interest in Turkoglu, but were constrained by their other efforts to keep Shawn Marion and Carlos Delfino.

Turkoglu, a 6-10 forward from Turkey who played a prominent role in the Magic's recent trip to the NBA Finals, had been looking for a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $50 million.

Experts believe the cap likely will be somewhere between $57 million and $59 million. If the cap number comes in at the high end, the Blazers can offer close to what Turkoglu is hoping for.

After having dinner with Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan in Florida on Wednesday, Turkoglu flew to Portland on Thursday to visit the the team and see the city.

ESPN's Ric Bucher reported that the Turkish star remained in Portland on Friday, where he and the team were working on a deal.

The Blazers, one of the youngest teams in the NBA, had been intent on adding experienced players this offseason. They targeted the 30-year-old Turkoglu as a player who could take pressure off team leader Brandon Roy, who has carried the burden of creating most of the team's scoring opportunities.

Ben Golliver (http://twitter.com/blazersedge): Quick: "Turkoglu has not reached an agreement with the Trail Blazers, a team source announced at 2:20 p.m. Friday." bit.ly/2jCgn (http://bit.ly/2jCgn)

Holy shit. Hedo changed his mind and is going to Toronto!


Adrian Wojnarowski: Hedo bails on Blazers www.bit.ly/kGNAH

whats that do to Bosh?

He never committed to the blazers to begin with. Even the Blazers said as much this morning.

Methinks some people at ESPN jumped the gun on how sold Hedo was on Portland. Perfectly in his rights to check out the Raps (better fit).

Turkoglu, Portland negotiations fall apart

By David Aldridge, TNT Analyst
Posted Jul 3 2009 9:40PM

An already crazy free agent period in the NBA got downright bizarre on Friday, with the supposed sure deal between free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu and the Portland Trail Blazers falling apart late in the afternoon, with the veteran seriously contemplating taking an offer from the Toronto Raptors that may be in excess of the five-year, $50 million proposal the Blazers have had on the table since the start of the negotiating period on Wednesday.

"He won't be coming" to Portland, a league source said late Friday.

In the end, Turkoglu, who spent the last two days in Portland with every intention of agreeing to terms on a deal (he wouldn't be able to sign a contract until July 8, when the league officially sets its 2009-10 salary cap number), simply changed his mind, deciding that he and his family would be more comfortable in Toronto, with its international makeup and large Turkish population. The deal with the Raptors is not done yet because in order to clear enough cap room to sign Turkoglu, the Raptors will have to renounce their rights to several of their own free agents, or do sign-and-trade deals with those free agents to other teams, taking no salary back in return.

Among the potential renounced players would be forward Shawn Marion and guards Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino and Quincy Douby. However, it's believed that the Raptors are trying to keep at least Delfino, who played last season in Russia, but with whom Toronto has been trying to work out a new deal to return to the NBA.

Man, I really liked him on Portland, too, since they are MY WC team and all.

But isn't Toronto your Canadian team?

That's a solid point, right there.

And this probably helps them keep Bosh, IMO.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Blazers sign Andre Miller now.

And this probably helps them keep Bosh, IMO.

agree

Hedo has a history of this. He did the same thing to PHX before he signed with Orlando.

Hedo is lucky he has 2 franchises dumb enough to chase him

The Blazers don't need him - he doesn't put them over the top IMO

And Toronto are in disarray (as opposed to array?) with so many free agents and very little talent around Bosh that they are clutching at any straw they can find.

The Blazers could have really, really used him. A break or two and the Blazers could have been legit title contenders.

He's wasted in Toronto, though.

Lets hope that Gordon and V don't do this...for the peeps that want them on 'our' roster, et al.

Gordon and V committed. Hedo never did that. It was bad reporting on ESPN's part.

Portland came out this morning and said there was no commitment from Hedo. he didn't back out of anything concrete.

The last (and only) guy that did that was Tracy McGrady 9 years ago backing out on Miami to sign with orlando.

"and only", lol

Boozer and probably many more.

"and only", lol

Boozer and probably many more.
1. Boozer's deal was illegal, and 2. he never publicly committed to cleveland.


Feel free to prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

"publicly committed" is a new caveat you added. I was implying that it happens more than we know before the deals ever get announced publicly.

1. Boozer's deal was illegal, and 2. he never publicly committed to cleveland.


Feel free to prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

I swear John Salmons did this a few summers back to Toronto, changing his mind and signing with Sacramento instead.

Edit: Yup - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2526850

Hedo Turkoglu's About Face

July 3, 2009 11:08 PM
By Henry Abbott

Have you ever bought a house?

You know the deal. You shop around. You look at the prices, and then at some point you find the house you like.

You make an offer. The offer sounds good to the sellers. You agree to buy the house. You agree on the price, and the house comes off the market.

Then there's that period between agreeing on the basics, and the closing. That's the day when contracts are exchanged and you get your keys. In between there are inspections, and haggling over little things like whether or not that chandelier will be staying in the entryway.

During this period, there is a nervous and tentative love. Everyone is so excited that this big project is almost done. And everyone knows that there's just some percentage of a chance that something crazy will happen.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Hedo Turkoglu went all the way down that road. They made it through the inspections, and by mid-day Friday, all the important parts of the deal were done. It was nearly celebration time for all involved.

The only question marks were little things, mostly related to hearing the salary cap numbers from the NBA next week, which would inform how the deal would be structured.

Then, according to sources, something crazy happened. Hedo Turkoglu shifted course, deciding late in the day that he wanted a different house.
The Raptors had been serious in their pursuit of Shawn Marion and Carlos Delfino. Now the most likely scenario is that they'll be renounced or traded, along with Anthony Parker. To clear the kind of cap room that would be required to sign Turkoglu would probably take renouncing every free agent Toronto has, including Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Jake Voskuhl and some cap holds from players overseas. That would give the Raptors room to offer Turkoglu more money than Portland was offering -- although there are plenty of details left to be worked out, especially as Toronto may first try to trade some of those players instead of letting them go for nothing.

Toronto, as a roster and a city, offer an international flavor that Portland does not have. And with similar money, that proved more appealing than anyone had thought it would.

As for the Blazers? Well, no one likes wasting all that time almost getting a deal done. But there are worse thing than being back on the market, with nearly $9 million a year to spend.

Gordon and V committed. Hedo never did that. It was bad reporting on ESPN's part.

Portland came out this morning and said there was no commitment from Hedo. he didn't back out of anything concrete.

The last (and only) guy that did that was Tracy McGrady 9 years ago backing out on Miami to sign with orlando.

His agent says that Hedo did indeed commit to Portland and then changed his mind when Toronto came strong.

Didn't his wife have something to do with it?

I read something about her wanting to live in a more Euro-like city.




If she wanted to live in a Euro-like city then she should have stayed in EUROPE!