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Final Interviews: Triano Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Bosh Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Turkoglu | Jack | Calderon | Bargnani Discuss It On: Twitter | Facebook | RaptorspaceMike Ulmer - raptors.com April 15, 2010
Hedo Turkoglu looks back ruefully at his first season as a Raptor.
Signed as a free agent off the roster of the Orlando Magic, Turkoglu struggled from the early going and carded only 11.3 points a game with 4.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
“I’m not happy the way I played and the way I performed,” Turkoglu said on Thursday.
“I never show an excuse and I won’t in my life, but I know I disappointed a lot of people, especially fans who had watched me for a long time. I know I upset a lot of people. People wanted to know about that. I’m sorry if I broke someone’s heart."
“The expectation is high after signing that kind of contract with the years I have played in the league. People expect a lot of stuff from me. It happens. I will learn from this and learn the things to improve myself. I want to get better and put this behind me.”
But Turkoglu reiterated that he struggled with the Raptors offensive scheme, a format that uses the point guards to feed a steady flow of passes into franchise player Chris Bosh. He sat out training camp and the exhibition season to rest after a late run into the playoffs and a stint for the national team of his native Turkey.
“I want to be used the way I can (to be) really effective. You can say the reason was that I missed training camp but throughout this summer, we can communicate. I will try to explain myself and do the things I can do best. I don’t want to show excuses, but I played the point forward in Orlando for three years and it was normal. I tried to explain to many people. This kind of system, they want to use me like this, it’s not that I can do anything about it. It’s worked many, many years like this. I tried to expect this and tried to do my best in that role.