Hedo Turkoglu: from Orlando to Portland to Toronto: Part 2

Hedo attempts to play solid defense

2. Portland Trailblazers

Yes, Portland almost signed Turkoglu because they believed that he could lead the Blazers deeper into the playoffs. The Blazers lost a 5 game series to the Houston Rockets; although the Blazers may be better than the Rockets by the fault with Yao Ming potentially being injured for the nextseason and Ron Artest leaving for the Lakers.

I still don't know whether sigining Turkoglu would have lead for a legitamate chance for a ring. After all, Portland already has incredible depth in the small forward position with guys like Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum, and Martell Webster who are all several years younger than Turkoglu.

You may remember Rudy Fernandez playing ion Spain's Basketball team and posterizing Dwight Howard. Fernandez is also an exceptional 3 point shooter. If the Turkoglu deal was to be consumated, reports were that he was "unhappy" and could have pushed for a trade out of Portland. Such a trade probably would have had Portland not receiving fair value to Fernandez who the Trail Blazers value quite highly.

Rudy Fernandez: the Spaniard Who can Dunk

Still, Portland already has a lot of young talent with players like Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Fernandez, Batum, Bayless, Outlaw, and Webster. It may have been wise for them to have a quality veteran on the team like Turkoglu. A deep run in the playoffs for these young guys would be indispensiable for them moving forward.

3. The Toronto Raptors

Chris Bosh's respone to Turkoglu signing via twitter

@chrisbosh: IF IT'S TRUE..Let's get it cracking H Turk!!

Brian Colangelo also overpaid to get 30+ year old international player in Steve Nash when he was the GM of the Suns. They already have a franchise caliber big man in Chris Bosh and a reliable point guard in Jose Calderon. They drafted DeMar DeRoazan out of USC, who instrumental in the Trojans sucess of winning the Pac 10 tournament and been compared to a much rawer version of Vince Carter,. And let's not forget about Andrea Bargnani, the number 1 pick of the 2006 NBA draft, who is playing in a contract year. It looks like Toronto have the pieces to be competitive for a playoff spot.

It is possible that Chris Bosh bolts to another team and the Raptors would be stuck rebuilding around a 30+ year old swingman. Toronto best case scenario is probably the 2nd round of the playoffs since the Eastern Conference is top heavy with the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Orlando Magic.