Hedo Turkoglu's happy homecoming continues

Money can't buy happiness, even NBA money.

Hedo Turkoglu tried hard to make that deal. It just didn't work.

He wasn't good at being a mercenary.

An unhappy Turk is an unproductive, unmotivated Turk.

Toronto is beautiful, even if it's stuck in Canada, and Phoenix is a desert resort. But Hedo did not like working at either place, and it didn't take those franchises long to realize he wouldn't be employee of the month.

The Magic also feared what might happen if they gave him $50 million over five years. They shipped him to Canada with the loot in a sign-and-trade, and Hedo had to like the exchange rate if nothing else.

"The one thing that's better with Turk was he was out of shape for all the years he was here and now he's like 8 percent body fat, which is the lowest since he's been alive," Dwight Howard said.

"It's great. He's shooting the ball well, he's passing more and he's more dedicated than he was before he got traded, which is great to see."

"This is a good fit for me," he said. "I feel comfortable. All I have to do is play hard here."

He's not always effective or enthusiastic when he's playing off the ball. He didn't have the rock in Toronto and Phoenix.

"When I have the ball in my hands, I'm able to do the things that I'm good at," he said.

This is the same unpredictable Hedo, too.

He can make a great play one minute --- and then have Stan Van Gundy muttering to himself the next.

"He makes a lot of good plays. He also makes some crazy plays," Van Gundy said. "I just want to qualify that. It's a little bit of a roll of the dice, but I feel the odds are pretty good."