Larry Brown Sports

Hedo Turkoglu was reminded Thursday night of one cardinal rule in the NBA: never touch a referee. Turkoglu lost the ball on a drive to the basket and the referee signaled Bulls ball. Hedo was incredulous that a foul wasn’t called, and he immediately ran over to the referee in protest. Even though he meant no harm by touching the referee, the context in which he did it was threatening, so he immediately got a tech. It wasn’t an issue for Orlando as they won in Chicago 99-94, but it was a nice learning lesson for the Michael Jordan of Turkey.

Thanks to Eye on Basketball for the video

It was only two years ago when the Orlando Magic had reached the NBA Finals before deciding they had done enough for the season and laid down at the hands of the Lakers. That team had a lethal combination of the most dominant big man in the game, and a slew of shooters knocking down threes from the outside. Though the three-point shooting style of the Magic made them a frustrating team from game-to-game because their performance fluctuated, they were a talented bunch who went far in the postseason. The team’s run to the Finals seemed to signify they were bound to be a consistent force in the Eastern Conference for the next several years, but that all ended quickly.

Hedo Turkoglu, who fit in perfectly with their offense as a 6’10″ forward who could run the point and shoot threes, decided to leave in free agency. The Magic made it to the Eastern Conference Finals without him last season, but they were outclassed by the Celtics falling behind 3-0 before losing in six. Turkoglu meanwhile flopped harder than a Duke player in March during his only season in Toronto, forced a trade to Phoenix, and then he was dealt to Orlando in a blockbuster deal that also involved Jason Richardson.

What we’ve come to learn is that teams that need to overhaul their roster midseason are already in poor shape so making huge trades likely won’t be enough. What we’ve also learned is that the Magic fell behind the Bulls and Heat who both improved drastically over the offseason. Most importantly, we’ve learned that Hedo Turkoglu isn’t half as effective as he was two seasons ago, and the Magic are paying the price.

Read The Rest of the Story…

Would someone like to please explain to me what that was?  Rumor has it they’re calling it the “Shake Weight Dance,” and I suppose I understand that.  The only frightening thing about that is giving it a name implies the dance could become a mainstay.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.

This is the second embarrassing moment Hedo Turkoglu has had since returning to the Magic.  The first, a missed dunk attempt, was probably more humiliating for him but not nearly as ridiculous to us.  For the love of God, Hedo — no more dancing.  Thanks to Off the Bench for the video.

That Hedo Turkoglu hung on the rim moment brought to you by Sprite came on Tuesday night against the Mavericks. Hedo’s embarrassing play made its way around the intertubes Wednesday as expected. Naturally, reporters had no choice but to ask Hedo about the play, and of course he made excuses.

Turkoglu said Wednesday “I was fouled,” while motioning to his hip. Yeah, yeah, he was touched on his hip, but there’s no denying that he took off way too early for that dunk. After that play, his “Michael Jordan of Turkey” nickname may have to be rescinded. Luckily Andray Blatche happened Wednesday to take the pressure off Hedo because there’s really no excuse for that.

The Orlando Magic were dominating the NBA to begin the season, and then December came.  Something has gone wrong for the Magic lately, and it has resulted in five losses over the last six games.  We’ve known for a while that the Magic were interested in acquiring Gilbert Arenas, but we didn’t know they were going to blow up their roster to make it happen.

Pro Basketball Talk called our attention to a lot of dealing the Magic did on Saturday.  First, Orlando sent Vince Carter, Mikael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, and Earl Clark.  When that deal was finished, the Magic then traded Rashard Lewis to the Washington Wizards to get their boy Gilbert Arenas.

Read The Rest of the Story…

What’s more sad, that there were so few fans at a Toronto Raptors preseason game we could hear a fan heckling Hedo Turkoglu, or the fact that Hedo was pwned by said fan? I’m not sure, but it was nice to see someone from Toronto get a little revenge after Michael Jordan of Turkey forced his way out of the city this off-season and got traded to Phoenix. Check out this video of a fan heckling Hedo Turkoglu at a Raptors-Suns preseason game via You Been Blinded:

Turkoglu apparently heckled back when he checked in at the scorer’s table, booing back at the fans. I’d say the fan got the better end of things. By the way, how about that for Toronto fans? We know they boo Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady whenever those guys return to the Air Canada Centre, and apparently Hedo has cracked the list. I don’t even want to know what will happen to Chris Bosh.