Ahhh, the benefits of reading the sports pages late at night ... well, early in the morn. Seems the Hedo Turkogly problem is soon to disappear in the land of the sun, out of sight and out of bothering Toronto Raptor fans' minds.
If Paul Coro is correct, and the Phoenix scribe has a good reputation, Turkoglu is headed for the Suns in a deal for Dwayne Jones and ex-Colangelo draftee Leandro Barbosa. THEN, the Raps are supposedly flipping Jones and money from the Bosh trade exception to Charlotte for another Colangelo acquisition, Boris Diaw. Subtract one Turk and add a Brazilian and a Frenchman. Sounds positively cosmopolitan. Or Toronto-ish.
Have to say I love the moves, although the new Dinos have a history of being hurt more often than one would like. But they ARE athletes and usually fast ones at that. Diaw has always been fascinating, having done the Magic Johnson trick of starting at point guard AND at centre for the same team (Phoenix). These days, he's a little chunky for PG moments and a little small for centre minutes, but he can play both forward positions. And Barbosa, the fastest man south of the equator, is sure to revive his once award-winning sixth man career here. DeMar DeRozan can now go all out, knowing his sub is solid too.
Realistically, we can't really figure either player to match previous career bests. They are getting a little longer in the tooth. But give me age, experience and treachery over youthful enthusiasm most nights. And, neither is signed beyond 2012. Love those guys heading into the contract years (well, close enough).
No more commercials with Turkoglu lying around glomming pizza and basically ignoring Triano. No more one word interviews. No more histrionics when he screws up. No more ugly incidents off the court. No more, no more, no more. The pain is gone.
Quite a contrast to Thursday night, hunh?
No comments:
Post a Comment