He-dot: Welcome to Tdot!

I dedicated 13 years of my life to the game of basketball. It was my game, every single day, mosty, twice a day. Basketball was my life; the ball and the music and nothing else.

Our stars were Larry Bird, Doctor J and Magic, Moses Malone, Kareem and Akeem. I remember times, all I dreamed of was, to finally see a european player making it to in the NBA. As Petrovic got drafted, we celebrated the whole thing as it were a birthday party.

A turkish player? It was unthinkable then.

Today, 22 years later, there are 4 turkish players in the NBA, one of them already an All-Star, Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz, and then there is our veteran Hedo, Hidayet Turkoglu, ex-Orlando Magic, now of the Toronto Raptors, surely on his own way being an All-Star himself.

What an[other] outstanding season Hedo played with the Magic this year. Together with All-Star Center Dwight Howard and All-Star Forward Rashard Lewis, Turkoglu shouldered the team to Conference Championships, losing only to the dominating Lakers of L.A., crushing the much favoured Cleveland Cavaliers at the conference finals with NBA‘s Most Valued Player of the year, LeBron James.

Being one of NBA‘s best 4th-period performers, Hedo displayed remarkable clutch-time-qualities with his last-second-plays, finishing them typically with incredible game-winning shots.

As sorry as I am to see him go from the Magic, yes they are about to be one of the strongest contenders of the NBA title, especially now with Vince Carter in the team, I couldn‘t really be happier to find out that the game of basketball played a major role in Hedo's decision to choose Toronto over Portland, not money or other concerns. Let‘s not forget, with their agile manager Bryan Colangelo now putting an aggressive team together, Hedo will be a part of an ambitious team with great potential.

We, his turkish fans, loved the Orlando Magic. Hedo owes a lot to Orlando. His great time with the Magic will be gratefully remembered. But now, it‘s time for him to move on. Hence, for us, too.

Let the Superman fly, Orlando - We‘re going TdoT! ..or did I just say YYZ?