Suns fans, watching Hedo Turkoglu play in Turkey will not make you smile

Turkey - Russia . Day 2 of the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Ankara , Turkey . 29 August 2010.Preliminary round

No Amare Stoudemire but you’ve got Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress so everything will be just fine in Phoenix, right?

Well, that assumes you get the 2009 playoff version of Turkoglu. You know, the one the Toronto Raptors paid for but called lemon law on. But now out of Toronto, fresh start in a great city, Phoenix is going to get the vintage Turkoglu back, right?

Suns fans, I hope you haven’t been watching the games from the World Championships in Turkey. Unfortunately Mike Schmitz of Valley of the Suns has and he doesn’t like what he sees.

But the fact is, Turkoglu is still shooting 23.5 percent against mostly non-NBA talent and hasn’t looked like he’s in the greatest shape in the world. Suns fans should hope this isn’t the Hedo they’ll be getting come Oct. 26 when the 2010-11 season tips off.

In a bar in Toronto, some Raptor fan just fell off his chair laughing.

As Schmitz notes, Turkoglu’s Turkish squad is undefeated and some of those misses have come in garbage time of decided games. There are a number of mitigating factors, if you want to buy all of them.

But still, you have to be a little concerned, Suns fans.