When Adrian Woj says something is going to happen you can bet that he is right. Well just now he reported that Turkoglu has backed out on a deal with the Blazers and is most likely joining the Raptors next season.
Free agent Hedo Turkoglu has backed out of his commitment to the Portland Trail Blazers and could be signing with the Toronto Raptors, a source close to the talks told Yahoo! Sports on Friday night.
Turkoglu had agreed on a five-year, $50 million deal with the Blazers, but changed his mind and could be headed for a five-year, $56 million deal with the Raptors. Toronto would have to renounce three free agents – Shawn Marion, Carlos Delfino and Anthony Parker – to create the cap space for Turkoglu.
Apparently, the Blazers are already busy exploring other free-agent options for the $9 million in salary-cap space.
Five years ago, Turkoglu was close to signing with the Phoenix Suns that now-Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo was running, but changed his mind and went to the Orlando Magic.
- Adrian Wojnarowski (Yahoo! Sports)
So is the Raptors free agent search for a small forward finally over? It seems like it. Reports were saying earlier today that Shawn Marion’s camp was asking for $50 million over 5 years, much like the deal that Turkoglu got from Portland. At that kind of money Marion is not an option. Marion seemed like the best bet for the Raptors when reports were that he would sign for $32 million over 4 years, but $50 million over 5 is far too high for him. As a result the Raptors once again tried to make a deal for Hedo by clearing up cap space.
This deal is slightly lower than the previous rumor of $60 million over 5 years, which makes it seem a little better. Regardless, with Marion asking for far too much this was the best option for the Raptors. Now the Raptors have addressed their most pressing need of the offseason, find a starting small forward, but now have to find depth.
The starting lineup of Calderon, DeRozan, Turkoglu, Bosh, Bargnani is pretty exciting to think about. Whats not exciting is the complete lack of depth that the Raptors now have. I like our front court depth, but Parker and Delfino will be gone if Turkoglu signs so depth at both the 1 and 2 are extremely sparse. Ukic has reportedly shown signs of improvement, but I will wait for the summer league to start up before I pass off on that assumption. However, at the 2 rookie DeMar DeRozan is our only option. It is my opinion that we need to find a veteran guard to start for the team on day one and allow DeRozan to develop, but who can we sign now that Hedo takes up the majority of the cap space?
Damn you Marcus Banks! Can you please just retire and save all of us a lot of headache. Chances are slim that he does though, so maybe we buy him out, but as of now the options are slim for the Raptors. My hope is that we can get McCants or Head for very cheap after they get no love from other teams. Check back here later to find out the official details of the deal.
-KC Roberts
FanSided
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