I can easily admit I’m part of a large group of fans and members of the media who are disappointed with what Hedo Turkoglu has done on the court his season for the Toronto Raptors.

And, if I’m going to be fully honest, ever since he signed with Toronto I haven’t been a fan of the idea of Turkoglu as a Raptor.

This past summer I spent the month of July in Australia for my sister’s wedding but I kept close tabs on Hedo Turkoglu’s courtship by Portland, how he almost signed and then his quick change of mind which saw him ink with Toronto.

When it became official that he would sign a five-year $53 million deal with Toronto I have to admit to stomping around my brother-in-laws house in disgust at this move by Bryan Colangelo.

After my little temper tantrum there’s little doubt in my mind that his family thought I had a couple screws loose.

Unfortunately my doubts about how effective Turkoglu would be in Toronto were re-enforced when he missed most of training camp and the preseason due to injuries.

Things didn’t get any better for Turkoglu as the season progressed because during the All-Star break he spent time in Turkey with his mother after she had open heart surgery. Dealing with a family members medical issues is never easy but when you’re living and working in another country it just makes it that much tougher to focus on your job.

Throw in the fact he had to wear a face mask for a couple of games and that only added to his frustrations on the court.

Then, when Turkoglu finally started to pull it together, he tweaked his ankle at the start of this month.

Through all of these issues Turkoglu just hasn’t been able to find a groove or comfort zone on the court with Toronto so far this season. Even though he’s averaging a respectable 12.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game – numbers that are close to his career averages – they aren’t close to the past two seasons when he averaged 19.5 and 16.8 points per game.

However, against Portland he started to show some signs of life. Maybe it was the fans at the Rose Garden getting on his case after what transpired this past summer but he seemed to finally show some aggressive moves on offense. He was attacking defenders off the dribble.  He wasn’t passing up shots in the paint. And, most importantly, he was looking to get his shot off instead of deferring to his teammates.

While he finished with a modest 14 points and five rebounds, he did it while shooting an impressive 5-7 from the field while being aggressive.

Turkoglu followed that up tonight by scoring 16 points and going 5-12 from the field.

Sure, that’s a bad percentage, but I’ll take it because he attempted 12 field goals and looked confident whenever the ball left his hand.

Plus, those 16 points nearly doubled the 8.9 points per game he’s been averaging so far this month.

After the game Turkoglu chalked up his play tonight to finally feeling healthy.

“I was feeling much better,” a modest Turkoglu told the media following the win against Atlanta. “It has been hard to settle on jumpers. I just decided I didn’t want to play like that anymore and I need to be more aggressive and get to the free throw line. I wanted to make some easy layups to get myself in a rhythm and tonight my ankle was feeling much better. Hopefully in a few days it’s going to be closer to 100 per cent.”

Or, as Chris Bosh told me after the game, maybe Turkoglu’s just one of those guys who thrives on pressure.

He knows there’s been a lot of expectations placed on him after signing a big contract last summer and Turkoglu is aware he hasn’t come close to meeting those expectations.

“I think sometimes pressure is a good thing,” Bosh told Hoops Addict when asked about Turkoglu’s strong play recently. “It brings the best out of some people and it will bring the best out in him during the rest of this reason.”

Regardless of the reason, it’s great to see Turkoglu finally find his groove in Toronto.

It may have taken him nearly 60 games, but if he continues to play like he has against Portland and Atlanta, then he may be one of the key ingredients to any success to the teams has in the postseason.

Which is all Raptors fans are hoping for at this point.