KP, Do you know what you are doing? Turkoglu agrees to deal

Hedo Turkoglu agreed in principle to a five-year, $50 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers. He gives a young team experience, and wingman that can create for himself and others. He’ll take the pressure off Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. With his passing ability, he can defer to both, or, with his scoring ability, can take over, especially late in the game. He’ll also force the Blazers into a bind.

General Manager Kevin Pritchard has been a genius when it comes to drafting. This is his first bold move via free-agency, so with it comes questioning and risks. He just signed a 30-year-old for five years, someone who may or may not fit into their system. Prior to this agreement, the Blazers were already a force to be reckoned with. Now, they will need to spent time incorporating him into the offense, and it may cost them early in the season. This move could pay huge dividends, and make Pritchard, once again, look like a genius, but time will tell.

There are varying opinions on this signing. Mine has already been voiced (here, here, and here), so I’ll let others voice their opinions on the subject.

Henry Abbot of Truehoop on 95.5 The Game in Portland:

“It’s an interesting move… you never love free agency because you take a whole bunch of money and are choosing from a limited menu… given their options, it makes all kinds of sense to me… it makes a ton of sense to me… you’re already spreading the floor with shooters… now Turkoglu can be a second option to take some pressure off Brandon Roy… He has wanted 5 years and 50 million dollars… Portland has agreed to get there or darn close to there…You’ve got to be a teammate, you’ve got to be a winner, you’ve got to be a shooter… almost alone among NBA players that you can plug into the Blazers team and run the same things they’ve been running and just get more efficient scoring.”

The Oregonian’s Jason Quick:

“Pritchard and Blazers coach Nate McMillan both rave about Turkoglu’s basketball intelligence, and his ability to run the pick-and-roll. Pritchard said Turkoglu can aptly play three positions – small forward, power forward and some point guard – and that his biggest asset is he makes teammates better.”