Hedo Turkoglu on Toronto: “Something is wrong with that organization”

Hedo Turkoglu got his wish -- the Raptors traded him out of Toronto to the Phoenix Suns.

But on his way out the door Turkoglu keeps taking shots at the Raptors. Classy.

Sunday there was a needlessly vindictive series of comments with Turkoglu spoke with FoxSportsArizona.com.

“People have to realize something is wrong with that organization and nobody wants to go there any more,” he said in a phone interview from Turkey, where he is captaining the Turkish national team at the World Championships. “It’s not just the players who see this.”

What prompted the latest blast was Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo taking a parting shot at Chris Bosh last week, suggesting the power forward may have mentally checked out on the team. (Which it pretty much looked like he did, but Bosh says that is not the case.)

“It’s funny that people will talk behind your back,” Turkoglu said of Colangelo. “If he was feeling this way, why not have the guts to say it during the season? Why not say it to Chris? Now that Chris has left, it’s not nice to say those things.

“Chris has been a franchise player and he did a lot of good things for the Raptors,” Turkoglu added. “I don’t think Chris is the type of player to quit on his teammates.”

Turkoglu has not exactly taken the high road here. He wanted out of town and Colangelo found a way to make that happen. Turkoglu gets to go to a team that made it to the Western Conference finals last year. He gets to play alongside Steve Nash. But Turkoglu has some residual anger left over, apparently, and took his pot shots before going with the cliché “I’m just looking forward” statements.

Colangelo was given the chance to respond, he decided to take the high road.

“Toronto is a world class city, the Raptors are a terrific organization and we have tremendous basketball fans that recognize and appreciate hard work and a commitment to winning from management and players alike,” he said.