Preface
If you want to talk about the most eye-catching teams this season, some fans may say the Timberwolves, Thunder, and some fans will say that the Rockets, these teams have performed quite well compared to last season. However, there is another team that cannot be ignored, and that is the Orlando Magic, which has reached the fourth place in the East this season under the leadership of Paolo Banchero, the Wagner brothers, Jalen Suggs and others, and as long as this performance continues, it is no problem to return to the ranks of the playoffs.
Since Dwight Howard left the team in 2012, Orlando has not been so passionate for a long time, which also makes fans full of emotion, after all, although the team failed to win the championship, but also reached the finals, giving fans a lot of hope, and that team lineup, in addition to Howard, there are sharpshooter Rashad Lewis, "Street Ball King" Ralph Alston, "French Jordan" Michael Petrus, and of course, today's protagonist Sido Brown. Turkoglou, who was able to reach the finals in 2009, played a very important role in Turkoglou, and even the team's influence could be comparable to Howard's, so where did Turkoglou, who was nicknamed "agent" by fans back then, go later?
Turkey's genius, but not reused in the NBA.
Like most players from Europe, Turkoglu has a very outstanding European basketball career, born in Istanbul, Turkey, he has loved basketball since he was a child, although the overall basketball level in Europe at that time is not as good as the United States, but emphasizes the learning Xi of the tactical system, and attaches importance to the cultivation of players, growing up in such an environment, Turkoglu is also deeply influenced by European basketball culture, no matter at what level, he can stand out, so in 1996, at the age of 17, he got a professional contract from the Turkish league team Efes, and since then began his basketball career。
In the four years here, whether it is the Turkish local league or the Champions League, Turkoglu has played very well, especially in the 50 games of the Champions League, he scored 8.4 points with a 58% shooting rate, especially in the 99-00 season of the Champions League, he can average 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, helping the team to the final four, and the performance is very eye-catching. Eventually, after the season, he chose to pursue his basketball dream in the NBA.
In the 2000 draft, there were few rookies who were too good, and at that time, the NBA didn't pay much attention to European basketball, and he was 21 years old, so many people didn't think Turkoglu would be drafted in the first round. However, the Kings, who were playing the "Princeton" system at the time, took a fancy to the young man, so they selected him with the 16th pick in the first round, and since then he has successfully entered the NBA.
However, during his three years with the Kings, the team was full of talent, and despite his 10.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and two assists off the bench in his second season, and helping the team to a tiebreaker with the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, the team did not choose to keep him, which also made Turkoglu feel disheartened. Eventually, in the summer of 2003, the 24-year-old Turkoglou came to the Spurs in a three-way trade and began working with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
Shined in Orlando, but chose to transfer away.
In the 03-04 season, Tekoglou who came to the Spurs was reused by Popovich, playing 80 games throughout the season, 44 of them as starters, averaging 9.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, including a 41.9% three-point shooting percentage , excellent ball quotient allowed him to quickly integrate into the Spurs' system, but unfortunately the Spurs failed to beat the Lakers this year, and Turkoglou, whose rookie contract expired, got a contract worth 38 million from the Magic, so he chose to leave San Antonio.
After coming to the Magic, because the team's main forward position was held by Grant Hill at that time, Turkoglou could still only play as a substitute, and by Hill's side, Turkoglou's understanding of the game has been improved, which is also a big reason why he was transformed into a "playmaker" in the future, and he averaged 14 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in his first Magic season, making a good start to his career in Orlando.
After Hill suffered another serious injury, Turkoglou was put in the position, and he was seen as an important part of the team, both under coach Hill and later on Big Van Gundy, and his playmaking talent began to develop, and Turkoglou began to reach the top.
In the 07-08 season, the 29-year-old Turkoglou averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5 assists per game, which was already an All-Star level statistic at the time, helping the Magic team to a 52-30 record in the third place in the East, and it was because of this that he got the MIP, his vision is very broad, his passing imagination is full, and under the height of 2.08 meters, he is very flexible on the dribble, and can change the rhythm at any time according to the situation on the court.
In the 08-09 season, he shone in the playoffs, especially in the Eastern Conference finals with the Cavaliers, he averaged 17.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, connecting the whole team, if Howard is the axis of the Magic, then Turkoglu is the engine that can make the shaft work, although the Finals lost to the Lakers, but Turkoglou's performance has made many teams salivate. In the summer of 2009, Turkoglu did not renew his contract with the Magic, but accepted a five-year, $53 million contract from the Raptors, which was later considered a failed signing by countless people, and Tekoglu's career ushered in a turning point.
All kinds of water and soil adaptation, only magic has a manual.
After joining the Raptors, Turkoglou did not play as expected, his average data shrank to 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, in the Raptors he has never been able to adapt to the team's system, most of the time the ball is held by Calderon, Jarrett Jack, which naturally can not play to Tekoglu's organizational advantages, and finally only one season later, he was sent to the Suns by the Raptors, and in Steve Brown. Nash's side, Tekoglu's possession of the ball can be imagined, after all, compared to the two, unless he is a fool, no one will let Nash assign the ball to Tekoglu to control, and finally after 25 games, he was sent back to Orlando.
However, unexpectedly, after returning to the Magic, Turkoglu seemed to be able to play, and in the remaining 56 games, he averaged 11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, including a career-high assists.
Unfortunately, due to injuries and doping violations, Turkoglu only played 11 games in the 12-13 season before not appearing on the court, and the Magic, who began to rebuild, cut the 35-year-old Turk at the beginning of 2014. Although the Clippers gave Turkoglu a one-year, $1.4 million base salary contract, but the increase in age and the decline in form have made it difficult for him to help the team make enough contributions, playing 62 games for the Clippers in the 14-15 season, averaging 3.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game became his swan song in the NBA.