Yeah, me too. But probably not as much as we think. Portland’s situation is not unique.

Phoenix and Steve Kerr parted ways at the end of the season but the Suns are doing quite well these days. Just today, they’ve added Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress and earlier added Hakim Warrick. Really, that’s not too bad.

And still no general manager.

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But I find this situation a little bit ironic:

A week ago, when all you could do was talk to free agents, suitors were lined up at the door at midnight. Mark Cuban flew into New York to speak with Jason Kidd, the Trail Blazers had Hedo Turkoglu’s agent on the phone, there was all sorts of activity — just a few seconds after the talking period began.

But now, when you can actually get somebody’s name on the dotted line, there’s no rush. I expected to wake up this morning and read about four or five players who had already signed. But no, apparently no hurry today.

If I had an agreement with someone, I think I’d be out there pretty fast getting his name signed to it. People can change their mind, you know. Nothing’s binding until you get it inked, which I guess Trail Blazer fans already understand.

Which kind of reminds me that Brian Wheeler said on his radio show yesterday that Turkoglu’s commitment to the Trail Blazers last week was so strong that he’d already selected his uniform number (I think he said it was going to be 26, but I must admit that for me uniform numbers are so insignificant, I couldn’t be 100 percent certain).

I believe there are still some people in the Trail Blazer front office who are very upset with Hedo Turkoglu.

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I’ve said from the beginning of this whole thing that you have access to a lot more talent if you attempt an unbalanced trade with your cap space rather than signing a free agent.

Of course, you have to give up players in a trade and you don’t when you’re signing a free agent — but the problem with that is, when you bring a talented new free agent onto your roster, you normally have to dispose of a player or two, anyway.

If I were looking for a small forward, which Portland seems to be doing, I’d go try to get Washington to deal me Caron Butler. Portland’s had an interest in him previously and the guy is a very good all-around player.

Last season he averaged 20.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists. I know he doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience but for me, even without the deep playoff experience, I like him more than I like Hedo Turkoglu.

What would it take? Possibly, quite a lot. But if you want value, you have to give up value. And perhaps Washington is one of those teams willing to do an unbalanced deal in return for the cap space.

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Hindsight is the clearest of all visions. The Trail Blazers may have learned some big lessons here. At least I hope they did. But even if Hedo Turkoglu completely double-crossed them, the Blazers made some real mistakes. A few random observations:

–  First, you never, NEVER bring a guy to town in a free-agent situation unless he’s going to sign. It’s just not done, at least in a public way like this one. And if you’re not sure he’s going to sign and you need to bring him in, you don’t turn it into a media event. There was no excuse for that to turn into a media opportunity. Fly him in on the team plane and keep him out of sight. It’s most often done that way. I keep thinking of poor trainer Jay Jensen, standing there sheepishly in the airport having to hold up that sign welcoming Hedo in two languages. Ugh. This was so unnecessary. My goodness — this isn’t some goofy college deal where you bring the kid into the gym and show him his jersey hanging in the rafters and make a big fuss. I’m not even sure you send all the brass to meet him at the airport. You recruit NBA free agents with your checkbook, not a guide to your city’s best restaurants and nightspots. That stuff comes after he signs. It’s a business.

– I wrote a few days ago what everyone knew all along with this guy: It’s ALL about the money. People now are saying, “Hey — the money in Toronto wasn’t that much more. It was a combination of things.” Well, you can think that if you want, but it probably WAS all about the money. Even if it was only half a million. I wrote again about this yesterday — that it bothered me that this guy comes off as a total mercenary and that he appeared not to have any loyalty toward a team that just went to the Finals. So do you now understand why he didn’t seem to have any problem walking out on the Blazers yesterday? He had just walked out on a whole locker room full of guys he went to war with in the playoffs.

– When I say these things about Turkoglu, I’m not meaning to rip him. It’s his right to be this way. A lot of money is at stake and he’s doing what’s best for himself. In pro sports, you don’t often have a chance to pick your team and name your price. Ask Rudy Fernandez. But if you are doing business with a guy in that situation you have to understand the ground rules.

– By the way Portlanders, Toronto IS a heck of a city. It’s New York without the stink. That a guy would rather live there than here is no surprise and you shouldn’t be offended. Think SkyDome vs. PGE Park. That’s the difference between Toronto and Portland. “Keep Portland weird” is probably never going to be a viable recruiting slogan when it comes to NBA free agents.

– Is there a Plan B? Well, I’m sure they’ll say there is.

 – It still all goes back to the Darius Miles affair. Giving him the big contract was a huge mistake. Without that deal, there was plenty of room to sign Turkoglu and anyone else out there. And don’t talk to me about Memphis and that whole mess of trying to get out of paying Miles the money. That just made things worse. He should have NEVER been given that deal in the first place.

– Hedo saved the Blazers from themselves. The last two years of this contract would have been brutal for Portland. I’m still not convinced this thing was going to work on the court. Turkoglu and Roy together, each initiating offense? More likely, Turkoglu would have just deferred to him, found a spot on the wing to stand and just thrown up a ton of threes. And missed a lot of them.

– A guy this concerned about the money, once he gets that last, big, final, lucrative deal — does he continue to work hard? Maybe. Probably. But maybe not.

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Hedo Turkoglu, according to The Oregonian, said this to the Blazers today:

Never mind.

Interesting. And even more interesting to read stuff from commenters on blogs. For two weeks they were telling us why they didn’t want Portland to sign the guy. Then today, when it appeared Turkoglu was coming here, they were talking about how brilliant it all was.

Now, they’re going to be back hating the guy. At least until he changes his mind again.

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Forget the tours. Don’t worry about the fancy dinner or the luxury items.

Be careful about bidding against yourself, but you better acknowledge right now what it’s really all about. It’s always about the money. Always. And it’s the guy’s last big contract.

If you want him, it’s real simple. Pay the man.

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Now he’s reportedly upset with the Blazers for chasing Hedo Turkoglu:

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.

A league source told ESPN.com that Fernandez has already been courted informally by European powerhouses Olympiacos, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow as word spread that the Blazers had become the apparent front-runners to land free agent Hedo Turkoglu.

And then this:

The Blazers have been made aware of Fernandez’s feelings, the source said. The source added that Fernandez has not formally requested a trade but has expressed his dissatisfaction with the way he was used by Portland coach Nate McMillan over the course of his rookie season. Fernandez averaged 26 minutes off the bench and scored 10.2 points per game, rarely handling the ball or acting as an offensive initiator — two of Turkoglu’s specialties.

Every time I write it, people want to skewer me, but the fact is, Rudy didn’t come over here to be somebody’s backup. He’s been a star his whole life. Long-term, as long as Brandon Roy is here, Rudy is never going to be a starting off-guard, which is what he wants to be. You might as well trade him now — because later you’re going to lose leverage if he stomps his feet and goes home in a snit.

Better to trade him while you have options than wait until he’s holding all the cards. You might get one more season from him where he’s content, but that’s going to be about it.

LATE ADD: The word around the league is that Rudy’s agent has made it clear to the Trail Blazers that if Turkoglu signs with Portland, it’s time to trade Rudy.

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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.

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My bad. All along, I was thinking in terms of a point guard being the answer to Portland’s problem of getting the ball more frequently into the low post. But as David Thorpe points out on True Hoop today, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.

The side pick-and-roll is the most devastating play in basketball and Portland didn’t have a lot of success running it last season. Mostly, that was because nobody looked (or had the ability) to dish the ball to the guy rolling to the basket. Greg Oden got so tired of not seeing the ball on the pick-and-roll that his frustration was apparent. And face it, Joel Przybilla used to thrive on this play when Damon Stoudamire was still a Blazer. Damon used to tell me later what an underutilized offensive player Joel was in Portland once he left — Joel really was a pretty good finisher on this play. But he had nobody to run it with here the last few seasons — only Sergio Rodriguez was skilled at making the pass on the end of that play.

Hedo Turkoglu can run it, though, and run it just about as well as any big player in the league:

Thorpe says that if the Portland rumors are true, Nate McMillan should already be watching the Magic and planning to add a side pick-and-roll to the playbook with Turkoglu and Greg Oden.

“Dwight Howard was amazing at diving to the hoop on the play, running straight down the lane to make himself a threat to catch the ball at the hoop. Greg Oden will have to do that, and then if I were LaMarcus Aldridge, I’d spend the summer mastering the NBA 3, like Rashard Lewis — because when the small forward and the center are running this play , the help usually comes from the power forward who can be wide open in the corner.

But Thorpe sounds a warning, too, and it’s one that would concern me if Turkoglu becomes a Trail Blazer. The guy needs the ball, needs to be “engaged” to get the best out of him. I’m not sure how that works with all those touches Brandon Roy gets:

Thorpe cautions, however, that he does not believe Turkoglu would thrive in any system. “He’s a little bit like Lamar Odom. The game comes so easy to him, and he’s so talented, that sometimes he loses focus. Stan Van Gundy handled that really well. He was very smart. He ran a ton of side pick and rolls for Turkoglu, which forced him to lock in. People criticized Van Gundy for that, saying he should have gotten the ball to Dwight Howard more … but a lot of those side pick and rolls ended in dunks for Dwight Howard. If you just stuck him on a team as complimentary player, and expect him to hit some open shots, then I don’t think he would be nearly as productive. But when you keep Turkoglu engaged, he’s a very special small forward.

“Turkoglu may have been the third or fourth best player on the Magic this season. But he played better than that, because of how the team forced him to be playmaker, which is what he does best. Now, his sense of urgency still wavered some. But in the playoffs, his focus was just about always there, and that’s a huge part of the reason the Magic made it so far.”

I appreciate the knowledge. I’ve gone from being anti-Turkoglu to now being a little more accepting. But you must remember, a lot has to change for Portland to have success with “The Michael Jordan of Turkey.” Brandon Roy is not only going to have to give up the ball some, he’s going to probably have to expect to score fewer points. Not only will Turkoglu score, he’ll get Oden points, too. Aldridge must learn to hit that corner three-pointer. And the point guard must be a pretty good spot-up shooter, too.

It would make for a fascinating new approach.

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On Wednesday, NBA teams can begin talking to free agents and their agents, although they can’t sign anyone for a week. But already there are rumors about which teams are chasing which players.

I believe the Trail Blazers have their sights set on adding not one but two new players. And everyone seems to be saying they’re after Hedo Turkoglu. I must say that I’m a little surprised by that. While he’s a great guy and a very good player — as we saw in this season’s playoffs — I just don’t know that he fits real well with Brandon Roy.

Turkoglu seems to operate best when he has the ball. The Magic made best use of him in a 1-4 set, the same thing Portland often uses with Roy. When he doesn’t have the ball, Turkoglu tends to stand around a lot. And he’s not much of a spot-up shooter or defender.

Last season was far from his best year. He shot only 41.3 percent from the floor, 35.6 percent from three-point range. He averaged a nice 4.9 assists per game but that was mitigated by 2.65 turnovers per game.

I’m not sure that’s worth $10 million a year, which is what he’s seeking — although in today’s NBA I’m not sure he can get it.

The other player Portland is rumored to be seeking? Well, the Kirk Hinrich gossip just won’t go away. A player the Blazers could have had prior to the trading deadline, he has more value now because of a solid playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

If most of the free-agent budget is spent on Turkoglu, Hinrich is an available option through trade. It would probably cost the Trail Blazers Travis Outlaw (expendable with the arrival of Turkoglu) and one of the point guards, either Jerryd Bayless or Steve Blake. I’d guess the Bulls would want Bayless.

I’m not enamored with these moves. I’d much rather see Portland go get a better point guard in an unbalanced trade. I’m not in love with this free-agent class. Turkoglu is one of the better ones, but it’s a weak class. This is probably the Blazers’ last chance for quite a spell with this kind of cap space and I’m not sure Hedo Turkoglu is where you’d want to see that money spent.

One thing is sure, though. The NBA expects Portland to be big spenders. One NBA source, who has been in the league quite a while, expects the wallet to open and the Blazers to try to clear as much cap room as possible:

“They’re going to shift into ‘drunken sailor mode,’” he said.

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