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.
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