Hedo Turkoglu Traded Back to Orlando

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Turkish-American basketballer Hidayet “Hedo” Turkoglu has found himself returning to a former team, as he was traded back to the Orlando Magic. The versatile point-forward was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Magic, along with young forward Earl Clark, in exchange for Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first round draft pick, and $3 million. Turkoglu had a couple of career seasons with Orlando whom he first joined in 2004. In the 2007-2008 season he established career highs in points per game with 19.5, rebounds per game with 5.7, and assists per game with 5.0. And those career-high statistics are reflective of his overall versatility, being a big man with surprising agility, ball-handling skills, passing ability, and outside shooting marksmanship. He was named the National Basketball Association’s Most Improved Player for the 2007-2008 season. Hedo was also the first Turkish-born player in the NBA.

In the 2008-2009 season Turkoglu took the Magic to the NBA finals, where they were bested by the Los Angeles Lakers. At the top of his game, Turkoglu decided to opt out of his contract in the summer of 2009 in order to capitalize on his renaissance. And in July of 2009 he was sent to the Toronto Raptors in a sign-and-trade deal. However, he never did fit in with the Raptors and was traded once again in July of 2010, this time to the Phoenix Suns. There once more he was a square peg in a round hole, thus necessitating this move back to the place of his former glory. Let’s see if Hedo can regain the magic. Pardon the pun.

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