Commentary

Turkoglu shakes up free-agent market

The Blazers and Raptors still have decisions to make after the Turkoglu reversal

Updated: July 5, 2009, 3:54 PM ET
By John Hollinger | ESPN.com

Anyone who saw the footage of Hedo Turkoglu meeting Blazers bigwigs at Portland International Airport on Thursday had to get a little bit of a weird feeling. Especially any married guys. Turkoglu came alone, amid rumors that his wife very strongly preferred to be in Toronto, and I remember thinking at that very moment that the Blazers' recruiting pitch was doomed to failure. It was going to be tough to sell her on the charms of Portland if she wasn't there.

Thus, despite two days of Chamber of Commerce weather here in the Rose City, replete with blue skies and Mt. Hood views, and tours of the Blazers' first-rate training facility in Tualatin, Turkoglu isn't coming to the Blazers. After an 11th-hour Boozerang that will forever immortalize him as "Hedon't" in the local vernacular, the Turkoglus are heading to Toronto instead -- a place they never visited on this free-agent tour, apparently because they didn't need to be sold on it.

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