Merged: Quick reports talks with Hedo's agent / Hedo Turkoglu discussion

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

Good point.

 

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

Actually no, because I expect Batum to take over starting in a few years anyhow. At the point where Hedo starts to decline he can be a bench scoring guy.

The other thing I would point out is, who cares how old he is down the line if we win a ring. That is the goal is it not? Win it all. Not to have a younger team. Not to have a dynasty. Just to win it all at least once. Once you win it once, then you can start talking about other things. But don't get ahead of yourself.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I hate it when I hear smoke. That usually means it is coming out of my ears because I am mad.

 

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

Because Brandon and LaMarcus are eligible for contract extensions. Greg isn't. They didn't call them to specifically discuss Hedo, they called them to begin discussing their upcoming contract extensions.

BNM

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

This was my thought. Hedo knows how to play with a big man . . . and if the Blazer future lies in the development and production of Greg Oden, Hedo is a great free agent to go after.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I'm still on the fence on this one. He's obviously an upgrade, but is he worth it? I just don't know.

If you remember back to the Rockets series McMillan went with Rudy at the 3(which I was hugely against) in game 6 because he thought the Blazers needed more scoring, and that's why the Blazers seem to be trying to acquire Hedo. I still think a PG is more important than a SF, but I'll just have to try and trust KP on this one.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I don't get where the "no-defense" perception comes from?

 

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

Wasn't it Hedo who hit the buzzer beater against Portland last season?

He's a clutch shooter, and they age well. Even if he can't run up and down as much in a couple of years, the shooter's touch tends to still be there, so he could still be a good role player. How many years are Portland giving him anyway?

I saw him a lot in Sacramento and saw nothing that made me oppose him. And having been happy in Sacramento, he'll do just fine in Portland.

BTW, anyone know if there is any Turkish-American community in Portland, or Oregon?

And remember he's not projected as the core of the team, that already exists. He's projected to fill a need and I think he'll do that.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I was very high on Hedo up through the Conference Finals. I cooled on him mightily after the Lakers series... However, I can't help but wonder if some of his fall-off was attributable to fatigue, rather than being exposed? After all, he looked much better on both ends of the court (especially defense) against LeBron. With the Lakers, he had his hands full with Odom and Ariza, then had to move over to guard Kobe when it was clear no other Magic could. (The match up was much more favorable against the Cavs, with there being no significant SG to key on.) Also, Hedo had been carrying the team as the primary playmaker for much of the season with Jameer down... And as Roy alluded to this year, he built himself up last summer to get accustomed to the longer season in the form of a playoff run. Hedo may have simply wore down at the end.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I am really in disbelief about some of the reaction here.

1. Our starting forward averaged 5 points per game last year, and people wonder why Ron Artest and Battier had such a easy time beating on Roy and making his life difficult. Fucking wake up people. If Brandon Roy keeps taking the beating he is taking carrying this team he will be hurt like Dwayne Wade in no time. In case you haven't been paying attention to current events, the team has a really hard time winning without Roy. As Roy goes, the team goes.

2. As said above, Hedo knows how to play the pick and roll, and he gets to the line, about 3/4 the rate that Brandon Roy does. eFG% of .478 means he effectively scores approximately 48% of the time he takes a shot. That is tremendously efficient at either getting his shot or a free throw line attempt.

3. So somehow he is a worse defender than Outlaw? Are you kidding me? Outlaw is as bad as defender as there is. Hedo is a better defender than him any day of the week. Hedo's problem on defense is focus. He will play good defense while focused, and every once in a while he loses that focus. A good defensive coach will keep him focused. That is what we have.

4. Smarts. Hedo is smart. He is almost the opposite of Travis, who has little basketball IQ, and Batum, who has no experience. He will take advantage of mismatches on switches and he will pass over the top of smaller players who he can easily see over.

5. He wins his battle at SF most nights. His PER average is +3.5 higher than his opponents average for the season. How long has it been since we had a small forward who won most of their battles. Even if he doesn't win them all, he will at least show up and give you some consistent numbers, not throw a doughnut at you in the middle of the playoffs. By the way, Travis Outlaw loses that battle by 3.1 per night. Batum during his short minutes, loses by 1.6. Every night.

6. If Bayless becomes the PG on the team, Hedo provides another passer and playmaker on the floor to help take pressure off of him while he developes. Bayless can just be himself. Just like Courtney Lee in Orlando, he can be that guy they throw the ball to when there are few prescious seconds left who can create a bucket in a hurry.

7. Consistency. Good teams have consistent players. They do not have random players who show up every night and bring home the win. They have a few stars who do what stars do, and they have a bunch of guys who put on their hard hat and go to work, and put out a consistently good effort. Scoring in the teens, every night. Good rebounding, every night. Team defense, every night. Not scoring 20 points in one quarter of one game, and then dissappearing until you ge the right matchup against a slow footed PF on the perimeter again.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

I'm all for getting Hedo. He's like Brandon, he makes everyone around him better. He's played with a power big man (Dwight), so he'd make Greg better. Every team knows we'll give the ball to Brandon if the game is on the line, not so with Hedo on the court. Hedo is an excellent passer, so if he's on the court with Bayless it would allow Bayless to play to his strength which is slashing and attacking the rim (drawing fouls). Hedo's production will probably decline and contract will be over in 3-4 years, perfect time for Batum to take over and be a stud for the next 5 years. We need to improve to contend with the Lakers and even the Spurs now. Hedo does that. It's much harder to improve from 54 wins to 60 wins and get in the WCF then it is for a team to go from 30 wins to 40 and be one and done in the playoffs. We gotta fork over the cash to get the player to get us to that level.

 

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

Dumbest ... thread ... ever

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

QFT.

 

Hedo is NOT coming!

Smoke screen peoples!. Guess who will be coming though !

 

Re: Hedo Turkoglu Welcome Thread

I wouldn't put Hedo as my first priority, but if we can somehow sign and trade for a starting PG and sign or trade for a backup like Turiaf, then I'd be extremely happy. Hedo makes us a better team. A legit scoring threat to accompany Brandon and LA, and I'm sure he'll help us out in finding ways to get Greg more involved.

His ballhandling also allows us to go with a big lineup. If defense is that big of a problem, you can play Hedo, Brandon and Nicolas together in the backcourt, and LA and Greg up front.
I don't think Hedo is that bad of a defensive player anyway. The guy is crafty. He's not an All-NBA defense kind of guy, but he's not the worst. Rudy isn't all that great either.

Welcome Hedo!

 

Hedo needs to be done by Friday

IMO, if Portland doesn't have a deal reached with him and his ageent by Friday, then he won't sign.

If the Blazers fail to get him, I think they will fail to upgrade period. Just a hunch though.

 

Re: CBS Sports reporting Blazers after Turkoglu / Quick reports talks with Hedo's age

If Stern is able to get a hard cap I'd expect them to slowly phase it in over a period of years so we would have time to plan for it. Plus the main element of a hard cap is you can cut players who are overpaid, if Hedo is that type of player in year 4 or 5 of his contract then we could cut him. We would still get that veteran benefit for those first 3 years when Batum and others are developing.

Signing Hedo could cost Allen a lot of money, while he provides benefit it may not be the most cost effective signings. But for fans like me thats just something I don't have to worry about .

 

Re: Hedo needs to be done by Friday

And a pretty crap one too.

Calm down FFS.

 

Re: Hedo needs to be done by Friday

Why Friday?

 

Re: Hedo needs to be done by Friday

I don't know about that, if we don't sign him we have 20mil between cap space and the Blake/Outlaw combo. I have a feeling we could make some interesting things happen with that kind of money.