Skip to Main Content
Toronto Raptors Team Logo

Toronto Raptors

Hedo TurkogluHedo Turkoglu is in his first season with the Toronto Raptors, after signing with the team last summer for five years and a total of over $50 million dollars. You would think all that money would buy the Raps a little cooperation, but at the moment, in regards to Hedo's latest injury, that's not yet the case.

Turkoglu caught an elbow from the Pacers' Mike Dunleavy a few games ago, and suffered a small fracture of the orbital bone under his right eye. After missing virtually all of the last three games, he's now been medically cleared to play -- but only if he wears a protective mask, which is something Turkoglu is fighting.
More »

Hedo Turkoglu has, for the most part, not lived up to expectations this season for the Raptors. But on Thursday, he was the main reason that his team was able to get a two-point road victory over the Knicks, scoring a season-high 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

But you wouldn't know it by his attitude in this walk-off, live television interview afterwards. Turkoglu seems annoyed while answering the first question, then effectively puts an end to the conversation by answering the second one with a single word ("ball") before informing the reporter he has nothing else to say.
More »
Gerald WallaceOf the four players who will be competing in this year's Slam Dunk contest, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out all but one of the participants.

The league announced a "Slam Dunk-In" last Friday, the winner of which -- either DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon -- would earn his way into the event. The good folks at Nike effectively leaked the name of contestant number two, when they began a contest to design a shoe for Shannon Brown to wear in the contest -- you know, just in case.

The league's collective bargaining agreement requires the previous year's champ to defend his title, so Nate Robinson as contestant number three was virtually guaranteed.

With Dwight Howard bowing out and LeBron James continuing to back off of his bold declaration from last year that he would give it a go, the fourth and final spot went to the Bobcats' Gerald Wallace.
More »

Every year, it seems that the NBA is trying out something new to bring some excitement (and interest) back to All-Star weekend's signature event, the Slam Dunk contest. But so far, none of the gimmicks seem to have intrigued the fans in any noticeable way.

This year's attempt, the "Slam Dunk-In," is no exception.

A season ago, the idea was to have a few rookies campaign via YouTube videos for a spot in the competition. The player with the best dunks, or the funniest video, or the most international fans (as it turned out) would be voted into the event by the fans.

Sure, some of the videos were entertaining, but no one seemed to really care who got this final spot. And while Rudy Fernandez eventually got in and had an interesting idea for his dunk, multiple bad passes from fellow countryman Pau Gasol put a fairly quick end to his quest for the crown.

Now, this season, there will be no such fan vote. The league has narrowed the list of candidates down to two players: the Raptors' DeMar DeRozan, and the Clippers' Eric Gordon. These guys will will have their own, two-man mini-dunk contest during halftime of the Rookie Challenge, which will take place on the Friday night of All-Star Weekend. The winner will get to run it back in the main event on Saturday.
More »
Noor Javed of The Star has a pretty outrageous story about a recent Hedo Turkoglu nightclub visit. The story goes that a female at a Yorkville club was taking photos of a friend when a large hand swooped out of nowhere, grabbed the woman's phone and deleted all the photos stored on it. That hand, according to the aggrieved clubgoer, belonged to Turkoglu.

The crazy thing is that Turkoglu actually confirmed parts of the incident, and doesn't seem to find anything wrong with his stance that no one is allowed to use flash photography in his presence. (You're on notice, Ron Hoskins of Getty Images!) Turkoglu claims a security guard grabbed the phone and deleted the photos. But The Star helped the woman, Jazmine Singh, recover a photo, and Singh confirms that's who yanked the device.

The photo (which you can see by clicking through to The Star's story) is a bad one, but most NBA fans would be able to pick out Hedo's face, with his body turned away from the shooter. Singh and her friend (who is in the photo, but obscured and well off-center) claim to have had no idea who Turkoglu is. But Hedo thought otherwise, that the clubgoers wanted a candid of the Raptors forward for their own amusement. It's not obvious one way or the other the motive, though, according to both the law and basic human freedom, it would have been Singh's right to take a photo of Turkoglu.
More »
LeBron JamesDENVER _ Jerry Colangelo is willing to wait until LeBron James' free agency plays out, and is optimistic about having him play for Team USA in this summer's World Championships.

Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball, met with James on Dec. 21 when his Cleveland Cavaliers played at Phoenix. Colangelo was asked in a phone interview Friday with FanHouse whether James told him he wants to play in Turkey.

"Yes,'' Colangelo said.

Colangelo said James has "always been pretty consistent in his commitment to me about'' wanting to play. Asked if he's optimistic James will play, Colangelo said, "That is right.''
More »
ORLANDO -- The sky isn't falling -- like their coach would suggest -- but something has gone seriously wrong with the defending Eastern Conference champs.

They aren't so good anymore.

When the Orlando Magic revamped their roster last summer, changing five of their top 11 players, they became deeper and more talented, but they lost the delicate chemistry that led to the finest season in franchise history.

"We're out of sync and unsure of ourselves right now,'' said point guard Jameer Nelson (pictured right) after a 108-103 loss to Toronto. "The effort, intensity, the focus, just isn't there.''
More »
Pops Mensah-Bonsu Sings National AnthemThe Raptors are going to waive forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu. It's a move which, on it's face, won't send shock waves through the Toronto community.

Unless, of course, some poor soul stumbles while singing the national anthem. Then where will the Raptors be? They'll be without their reserve big man and resident vocalist there to save the day. Oh, the (potential) humanity.
More »

New Year Time Capsule: East

By Matt Moore 1/01/2010 2:50 PM ET

Think of this as kind of a time capsule, for us to look back on in four months when the playoffs begin, in a year when everything settles, or in future decades when our descendants have cloned Tim Duncan and spliced him with Dane Cook to create the ultimate weapon of both rote efficiency and annoying doom.

Here's where every team in the Eastern Conference stands on January 1st, 2010.

Atlanta Hawks: On pace for their best season since 1997, including their best offensive season ever (Offensive rating of 112.9 according to Basketball Reference) and their best defensive squad since 2001. The Hawks are threatening to make the Eastern Conference a "Big Four" though back to back losses to the suddenly red-hot Cavs have tempered that somewhat. Josh Smith is putting forth a strong effort for most-improved player, defensive player of the year, and the All-Star game.
More »
Chris BoshORLANDO -- Chris Bosh is not happy with the Toronto Raptors. And that's not good for the Raptors.

Bosh, their franchise player who can leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer, was second-guessing the Raptors' strategy after getting drilled in back-to-back games by the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

"We make adjustments with teams before we play the game. That sends the wrong message to ourselves,'' Bosh said after losing to the Magic, 118-99, Wednesday night. "We practice all the time so we should trust our system. We need to go out there and play hard. If they beat us for one quarter doing the things we normally do, then okay. Now we can change it up.''
More »

Follow Us

Get the latest sports news from FanHouse wherever
you are and however you want it.

  • Toronto Raptors News

Tweets

  • by NBAFanHouseNBA ref Dan Crawford talks about walking away from the game to follow his son Drew's college career: http://bit.ly/bHpOeI
  • by NBAFanHouseRT @zanelamprey: Kia is the official vehicle of the NBA. No one in the NBA drives a Kia...
  • by NBAFanHouseSome Tough Questions About H.O.R.S.E. http://bit.ly/9YhNet
  • by NBAFanHouseNBA players union revamps website, misspells names of two exec VPs -- "Eaton" Thomas and Theo "Ratlif" http://bit.ly/cYSUyF
Super Bowl Ads
FanHouse.com

Get NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR and college sports news from FanHouse including stats, scores, results, and player updates from pro and college leagues.

Aol Sports. Back To The Top