Hedo Snubbed? Maybe Not

As many of you know, the NBA All-Star reserves were announced yesterday, and the one glaring omission, at least from the eyes of Magic fans, was the absence of Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu is having a career year, and his late game heroics have vaulted him to near legend status in Orlando, well...at least for this year. Turkoglu is averaging 19.4 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on the season, white shooting nearly 85% from the free throw line. All numbers worthy of all star consideration. Hedo played as well as anyone in the league during this stretch run before the break, as he capped off a fantastic week by hitting a buzzer beating 25 footer to beat the Boston Celtics last Sunday afternoon, propelling him to his first Eastern Conference Player of the Week award. Orlando GM Otis Smith was asked about Turkoglu's absence from the team, and he responded-

"Obviously he should be on the team, but it is what it is."

So far we've made a pretty good case for an all expense paid trip to New Orleans for Hedo, now why isn't he going? The four biggest reasons come from Washington, Toronto, and Boston, in the bodies of forward's Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Chris Bosh, and Paul Pierce, the players that actually were selected. Washington's duo, Butler and Jamison, each average better than 21 points per game, they each average more rebounds, and Butler has more assists. Simply put, if you are going to add someone to the roster, namely Hedo, you must remove someone, and Butler and Jamison are both very deserving.

Let's look at the other two stars that "took" Hedo's spot. Chris Bosh averages nearly 23 points per game and pulls down better than 9 rebounds. Bosh is also averaging better than a block per game and is the primary reason that his Raptors are five games over .500. Paul Pierce, Boston's veteran forward leads the team with the best record in the NBA in scoring and assists, with 20.3 and 4.9 respectively, and also pulls down nearly 6 rebounds.

To sum it all up, Hedo has had a fantastic first half of the season, but so have the guys that were selected. Part of his omission from the all-star team may be the fact he plays in a smaller market in Orlando, and some of it may be his reputation around the league as somewhat of a journeyman. Celtics all-star Paul Pierce weighed in- "(Turkoglu) doesn't get the recognition that I think he deserves. He's one of the more underrated players in the league and he's a big reason why (the Magic) are one of the NBA's best teams."

Like Magic general manager Otis Smith said, "it is what it is." Whatever the reason for Turk not making the team, it really doesn't matter. Hopefully for Orlando, this slight will give Turkoglu an added chip on his shoulder and he will continue his solid play in the second half of the year and into the playoffs.