Subscribe Feed (RSS)This should be a very exciting time for Trail Blazer fans. The development days are over. For the first time in many, many seasons the front office is chasing a big-ticket free agent.
It’s a test, too — can this franchise lure a key player to Portland? Can Kevin Pritchard make this city a destination for good players looking to win a championship? Or are those players going to do what they usually do — stay with their original team for money or seek the big markets and/or the sun belt?
That’s what we should all be thinking about. But just from the comments in the last few days about Hedo Turkoglu, I have a feeling a lot of Trail Blazer fans are pretty conflicted. Is this really the player who is going to put Portland over the top? Is small forward the position where you felt the most need? Is this a guy you want to see $50 million invested in?
And by the way, if Turkoglu comes here, there has to be some sort of trade in the offing (probably the Kirk Hinrich deal) because Travis Outlaw would never wear a Trail Blazer uniform again.
Honestly, is Hedo the right guy?
I don’t think I’m the only one a little bit skeptical about this. Yes, I wrote yesterday that I was coming around to it. I can see what they see. I guess I’m just not as certain as they are ($50 million certain) that it’s going to work.
I’m not sure this whole thing feels the way it’s supposed to feel.
Tags: Dwight Jaynes, free agency, Hedo Turkoglu, Kevin Pritchard, Portland Trail Blazers
How ’bout this lineup:
PG: Rudy
SG: Roy
point-forward: Hedo
PF: LaMarcus
C: Oden
This gives Hedo and Roy enough touches, and could be a defensive boon.
No offense but anyone that wants Grant Hill over Hedo Turkoglu but they are either a Duke alumni or his cousin.
For all the naysayers. Turkoglu has been a part of winning playoff teams, and is a really outstanding passer, matching Blake’s assist totals, he will add a new passing dimension for our bigs, for Rudy for Roy etc… Marc Jackson and Van Gundy were gushing about this guy. He’s got serious passing skills.
And is a better than average shooter in the playoffs which is what we need!
Steve Blake and Outlaw tightened up in the playoffs and shot brick after brick, worse their passing was atrocious. I am not saying we don’t want those guys on the team but it would be nice to get somebody who performs at a high level whether on the road in Boston, Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles etc…IN THE PLAYOFFS!
We would be getting a playoff producer in his prime. When’s the last time that happened.
As for power forward, we drafted 2 of them in the draft. Let’s see how they do, maybe one of them is a monster rebounder or very physical, they both are better than average defenders from what they are saying, that’s a big upgrade over Frye. Even if the backup power forwards don’t pan out, the Blazers can still make trades and have enough fire power to get by for a while without a true banger other than Oden and Pryz.
Would you rather spend Paul Allen’s 401K $$$ on a backup power forward or a true playoff performer? I think Bayless, Blake, Hedo and Roy have point guard covered.
Elko Steve…
Thank you for making the ubiquitous accusation of “You are a troll” because I do not fall into the “Oden is the messiah” camp…….
Eye roll, eye roll, eye roll……
and we’re all idiots because we refuse to give up on the kid after his first year in the league…
eye roll, eye roll, eye roll…
Seriously, can we just let him play one more year before passing judgement? I don’t think he’s the messiah by any stretch, I never have. I do think he’s got some talent though, and if he can learn to move his feet, shoot the ball a little bit, and not committ dumb fouls, he’s going to be a good player for us.
WTF? It doesn’t take long I guess for these Spanish guys to go all prima donna…I hate this story, it doesn’t bode well for us at all and I really enjoy Rudy…it’s too bad.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4300407
Hedo’s a stud! He provides consistency, leadership, and is a solid off the court role model. He was a large contributor to Orlando’s success this year (Mr. Clutch), will create a lot of mismatches with his freakish abilities for his size, and take the load off of Roye.
Plus… Is anyone really sold on M. Webster? There may be a lot of potential there, but his health is disconcerting, and is he a championship caliber player in the next 2-3 years?
With a Hedo addition and Aldridge and Oden improving their defensive presence.. The sky’s the limit for years to come!
Go Blazers!
Portland’s pursuit of a certain player from Turkey has infuriated the Trail Blazers’ lone remaining Spanish player, Rudy Fernandez, to the point where he’d prefer to play in Greece, Russia or even Spain again, ESPN.com learned Tuesday.
Article up on ESPN right now…… Umm, this could be ugly, and if even remotely true do we start shopping Rudy?
If ESPN is right and Rudy’s panties are in a knot, I think he’s missing the bigger picture…. Turk can play the point, as he did in the fourth quarter nearly the whole Boston series, which opens up even more minutes assuming we don’t upgrade the point guard position because it allows him and Roy to be on the floor together….
Blue you know that is the exact lineup that KP has in mind! Three quality ballhandlers to go with two big men who can post and dish
Arvydas great points as usual
Keep in mind, this isn’t the only move they are working on. Hedo will also allow Batum more time to develop and we are set at the sf position for years…
This is looking good
Hey Dwight love your stuff! I keep getting banned at Blazersedge because I am not a sheep like all of them. I called this move on Sunday and got banned again. Go ME!!!!
Oregonian reporting that toronto will off turk 5 years and 60 million….Nate is having dinner with Turk tonight
and look at detroit WOW…they landed ex uconn temates Gordon and Villanueva
ARIZA!!
ESPN says we are interested in him, but why arent we WAY INTERESTED IN HIM?
Ariza makes more since for so many reasons. And even though Suke didnt like my Ariza suggestion on air because Turk “is a better player”, what about 4 years from now?
1. Ariza would be cheaper
2. Ariza is a better defender and doesnt need the ball as much as Hedo
3. Ariza is 24, which means he is still improving. while Hedo is 30 and has probably plateaued. Not to mention Ariza is the same age as all of our “stars”
4. Ariza has championship experience.
PLEASE GET ARIZA KP. HEDO WILL NOT WIN US THE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SEASON AND BY THE TIME WE COULD ACTUALLY WIN ONE, HE WILL BE OLD, GETTING WORSE, AND MAKING $10 MILLION A YEAR. ARIZA MAKES WAAAAAAAAAY MORE SENSE!!!
Well written, Dwight. I was so, so impressed by Turkoglu in the playoffs. I didn’t know he was so multi-faceted….but it just doesn’t feel quite right. Even if he were 28 I might feel differently. Someone posted elsewhere that all of the trades, D Miles, Steve Francis, etc etc etc etc etc, was it all to……sign Hedo Turkoglu?
I guess it’s somewhat anti-climactic.
Oh could people knock it off with the Ariza talk? What did the guy do, get a couple of steals? He’s no upgrade over what we have. Talk about chasing a fad. Yeah, the guy was on TV a lot recently because his team was in the championship – so we should go get him!
I’d take Martell on a broken foot over Ariza.