NBA Talk: Raptors Get Turk, Celebrate All You Want, No Success Next Year

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NBA player Hedo Turkoglu, who recently opted out of a contract with the Orlando Magic, says that he is going to play for the Toronto Raptors deciding against signing with the Portland Trail Blazers, which was reported as recently as Friday.

"Yipee!" will be heard from many fans of the Raptors. But the cries of happiness will be wasted. I believe there is no point "Yipee-ing," because the Raptors are not going to be successful next year.

Why? I'll tell you why.

This is the talk. The NBA talk that is.

"Portland did everything we asked them to do, and they would be justified if they feel aggrieved. He [Hedo Turkoglu] simply decided Toronto was a better fit," said Turkoglu's agent, Len Bobby.

ESPN.com said that Turk looks to make $53M on a five-year contract.

One of Turkoglu's suspected reasons for choosing Toronto was the Turkish population in the Canadian city. Turkoglu also had wanted to stay in the Eastern Conference, as he'd love to play against his former team, who just added Vince Carter via trade.

Although on paper, the Raptors look like they could easily compete, I believe there is a very slim chance of Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion coming back to play for the Raptors.

ESPN.com shows a story that Toronto and Shawn Marion are moving farther apart from a deal. As I was looking at ESPN's Anthony Parker profile, it showed in the status note that with Turkoglu in, Parker may not be coming back as well.

Probably the only person that maybe coming back that ESPN mentioned out of these three players is Carlos Defino who averaged nine points per game last year with Toronto.

Defino looks to start at shooting guard this year which makes the likelihood of Turkoglu coming in at small forward higher. Here's what the depth chart may look like coming into next year:

PG: Jose Calderon

SG: Carlos Defino/DeMar DeRozan

SF: Hedo Turkoglu

PF: Chris Bosh

C: Andrea Bargnani

It looks pretty good but I just don't expect Toronto be successful. Sure, it's a good lineup but the Raptors' bench may not be strong enough to get them to the postseason.

It is a nice one-two punch with Turk and Bosh, but seriously, this may be Bosh's last year in Toronto. If the Raptors fall out of contention early, Bosh could easily be traded before the deadline.

The backups on Toronto's roster average no more than about five points per game. Look for Bosh and Turk to be playing more minutes this year than usual.

Sure, the stats will probably be much higher as Turkoglu may be the face of the team now that Bosh probably might not claim the title anymore. But here's the thing, Toronto probably may just end up like the Cavs last year if they make the playoffs.

They make the playoffs next year, but that's it. They may not even pass the first round, or to put it in another way, there is no playoff title for next year at all. With the stars Toronto has had in the past, none of them have been successful enough to lead their team to the postseason.

Sure, a little help from their first-round draft pick DeMar DeRozan can help, but for this year?

Hell no.

And look at the teams they'll have to face next year in their division: Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and New York Knicks. If Toronto was only one game better than New York this year, and the Knicks could be a better team this year as well, how can Toronto pass any of the other teams in the conference.

They'll suffer some painful losses from the Boston Celtics, I can tell you that, because they'll destroy the Raptors. It'll just be Turkoglu and Bosh against all. And with the same solid players they had last year, there was no success.

How can they have success this year with not as many solid players (count that two)?

It'll be near impossible for the Raptors to be successful next year. Look for the 2010-11 season to be even worse as I bet Bosh will be gone by then.

The Raptors are looking at a long road ahead, and Hedo Turkoglu is just the start of the hell in making.

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