Canada sour on Turkoglu. Last chance for Atkins?

”Brother Hedo” is no bro to Toronto fans. This I’ve gathered in reading scattered articles from Toronto area publishers. The general consensus seems to be that Hedo Turkoglu (pictured with Alvin Gentry and Lon Babby) was disappointing during his one season stint in Raptor-land. My thought is that Hedo was exactly what he is. He’s a nice wing player. He’s not an all-star. It seems to me that Toronto fans saw Turkoglu excel during the Playoffs when he was with Orlando in 2008-09, and they over-inflated his projected worth. We had Hedo ranked 26th at his position last year which would mean he is a “lower tier” starter at this stage of his career. Turkoglu, who was tabbed “Brother Hedo” by Chris Webber when he first arrived in the USA as a Kings rookie, is now the property of the Phoenix Suns.

Chucky Atkins - the 36 year-old NBA veteran is also in Phoenix. However - unlike Turkoglu, Atkins has no guarantees. As it stands - Atkins is the fifth point guard on the Suns training camp depth chart. In front of Atkins are starter Steve Nash, and his backup Goran Dragic. Undrafted rookie Matt Janning landed a partially guaranteed two-year deal as the third PG, and Zabian Dowdell is the fourth floor general. That means this could be the end of the NBA line for Atkins. We ranked Atkins 80th at his position in 2009-10.

Former brick-laying free throw shooter Chris Dudley is running to be the Governor of Oregon. Dudley is repping the Republican party.

The D-League announced it will change goaltending rules for the 2010-11 season. Serving as a crash-test-dummy for the NBA, the D-League is switching to the international take on goaltending—meaning you can swipe at the ball while it is on the rim. This is REALLY incredibly dumb to me. Why confuse the big men who are trying to reach the NBA with a rule that is in direct contrast with the NBA’s interpretation? The rules should be the same in the minors as in the big show.

In Philadelphia, Doug Collins has former Duke assistant and Missouri head coach Quin Snyder (pictured at left) on his staff. I was surprised at Snyder’s flame-out at Mizzou but I still believe he is the kind of guy with the drive to one day be a head coach in the NBA.

While on the topic… my favorite NBA coaching candidate is Milwaukee assistant Kelvin Sampson.