# Is 6'10" Hedo Turkoglu the Kings future PG



## benfica (Jul 17, 2002)

Interesting, how will the Lakers handle the Turk man at the point. The Turk is determine to be an NBA star.

At 23, 6'10, 243, could be some interesting matchup problems for opponents.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/4815704p-5829229c.html

Look for the Turk man to bust out this year.


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## LupinIV (Jul 17, 2002)

A short while back, there was a "discussion" about Hedo's ability to play the point. 

Yeah, someone even called the King fans crazy for thinking of putting the blonde at the One.

Hmm.... I wonder where are those people now.

C'mon out, whereever you are.

Btw, I don't think Hedo actually grew two inches. But most countries (I imagine Turkey is one) measure height without shoes. The NBA, of course, measures it with shoes. So you add the extra 1.5" for the sneakers and Hedo comes to 6'10 when you round off his height. 

And yes, Yao is 7'5 without shoes. So he may actually be taller than Shawn Bradly.


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## Wiggum (Jul 29, 2002)

Man, this is weird. Hedo Turkoglu is the Kings backup small forward in 2001-2002. During the offseason, he gains muscle and "grows" two inches, and now he's contending for the starting POINT GUARD position? After GAINING size, he goes from small forward to point guard? :laugh:


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## Petey (Aug 23, 2002)

I think it would be great if he could do the job half as well as Bibby. wow, 2 inches of growth over 1 summer is alot... I think him at pg makes the Kings more dangerous, as it's another option. Options are what makes teams good or bad. Look at the Nets, when Van Horn was playing, Martin was the 3, when Jefferson subbed, Martin slide to the 4. Williams played some 4 and 5...

As on the Kings I remember Peja playing some 2 and 3. This allows for more offense or defense at the end of games... or whatever is called on... or so I feel.

-Petey


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## c_dog (Sep 15, 2002)

Well, he did play PG for Turkey this summer, afterall. Now that Mike Bibby is injured, the Kings need someone to play PG. Bobby Jackson would be a good candidate, but Hedo has been showing tremendous skills. I personally would rather see him play point, too.


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## TheRifleman (May 20, 2002)

Point guards who aren't really in the mind set of being a PG( and at his size) like Hedo might have trouble with small pgs stealing the ball from him. Not to mention the fact of smaller guards driving by the slower & heavier (because of height & weight) Hedo. He would not be able to stop their penetration and they'd end up lighting him up like a christmas tree.

It reminds me of Mugsy Bogues, who used to harass pgs, stealing the ball. They could not return the favor - as Mugsy's turnover to assist ratio is the best of any pg - <b>ever</b>.


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## robyg1974 (Jul 19, 2002)

Turkoglu at PG is a preseason EXPERIMENT, and my guess is that this EXPERIMENT will end pretty soon. I expect Doug Christie to start at PG while Bobby Jackson is out. Turkoglu will then start at SG. Bobby Jackson gets all the backup minutes at each guard spot.


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

You said come on out? Here I am. Are you kings fans serious? Big deal, he started at the one in a PRESEASON game. Wow, they must be planning on giving him the starters spot. Do you seriously think Hedo would play well against smaller, faster players? 95% of whom have better ball handling skills? Being thicker and stronger gives you and advantage at the 3,4 and 5 spot, but not so much so at the 2 and pretty much not at all at the 1. The height would help him, but the possitives do not equal the negatives here. Hedo is very versatile, dont get me wrong, he can play the 2-3-4 spot, but him playing the one is preseason means nothing. He may get some bench minutes this year at the one, but only when the games are in the bag I would think. The Kings are the most tallented team in the league, so they could even put him at center if they wanted to and still have a great record, but Hedo would hurt the team playing at the 1 spot, not help it.


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## bmckay (Jul 15, 2002)

If Hedo was able to handle the point (that remains to be seen) it would be irrelevant if smaller point guards stole the ball from him every now and then. He would absolutely dominate them. His passing lanes would be enormous and he would be able to post any point guard in the leauge.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>R-Star</b>!
> Big deal, he started at the one in a PRESEASON game.


Hedo has played PG for Turkey many times, not just in the World Championships. When Sacramento first drafted him, there was scouts talking about his prior experimentation with the PG position. So being moved to the 1 is nothing new. He has never stuck there but he has flirted with this idea for years.


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## RangerC (Sep 25, 2002)

Whoa, whoa. Mike Bibby is the Kings present and future PG (he's 24, and he's only going to be out for 4-6 weeks of the reg. season). Here's the important quote from that article:

"Kings coach Rick Adelman plans to use Turkoglu at point guard during stretches of games with certain player combinations."

Hedo's going to play PG for limited periods of time when the matchups are in his favor (he can always cross-match with Christie when they are both on the floor; Christie can guard any PG in the L and Hedo can handle 90% of SG's). He's not going to start over Bibby when Bibby is back, and it's unlikely he'll spend more than 15-20 minutes a game at PG even when Bibby is out. Remember, the Kings rely less on a traditional PG than just about any other team since 7 of the 9 players in their rotation can pass, take the ball upcourt and lead the break.

As far as Hedo's height, I don't know how tall he really is (NBA heights are consistantly exaggerated); however, he appears to be slightly taller than both Webber and Stojakovic (both listed at 6-10 this year), so maybe he really is 6-10.


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## JoeF (Jul 16, 2002)

I haven't seen Hedo play enough to know if he can play PG. On the defensive end there is another thing to consider that hasn't been discussed. Matchup problems caused by size go both ways and the smaller player isn't always at the advantage. Hedo could give the opposing PGs problems because of his size. A bigger player can limit vision, take away passing lanes and sometimes reach around a smaller player to poke the ball away, . In the finals When the Bulls played the Jazz, Phil Jackson put Pippen on Stockton and extended the defense. This disrupt the Jazz offense. It made it take longer for the Jazz to get into there offense and in many cases took the ball out of Stockton's hand. It also made Stockton expend more effort. I don't know if Hedo can play this type of defense but if so it may make up for the problem of being beat off the dribble in the half court offense.


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## MightyReds2020 (Jul 19, 2002)

I agree with both robyg and rangerc. I am pretty sure Christie did play PG in Toronto. And Kings' offense relies heavily on Webber and Divac. That's why Bibby's APG wasn't so high. They'll definitely miss Bibby but overall it should not be a big problem because Christies, Tugkorlu, Webber, Divac, even Stojakovic all has the ablity to initiate the offense.


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## beb0p (Jul 15, 2002)

Well, Magic Johnson has always said that he had trouble guarding the smaller guys too. But if I remember correctly, Magic rarely guards the one. He usually guarded the 2 or 3, while his more coordinated teammates picked up the PGs.

So if and when Hedo mans the point spot, he can guard the 2 while Bobby J or DC guards the PG. That's one solution, and if the other team has a talented one and a not so talented two (Nets, Jazz, Hornets, Suns, etc). But most of the time, when Hedo does play PGs, he'll be matching up against others PGs from the second unit, we're talking AJ Guyton, Tyronn Lue, Anthony Johnson, Kenny Satterfield, and Erick Barkeley here. I'm not too worried about those guys dribbling around Hedo. Actually, I'm not too worried about those guys period. Heck if Pat Riley runs plays for Eddie House just because Hedo is guarding him. Then I say Bravo Riley!!


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## TMOD (Oct 12, 2002)

*LOL...*

Just because he has decent handles and passing and is tall...lets try him at point! Gimme a break!

BTW... Not a chance in hell that he is 6' 10 243...:laugh: ...


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## Tom (Jul 15, 2002)

Turkey is so overated its not even funny? He can do a little bith of this and a little bit of that which still ends up being a whole lot of nothing.


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## rynobot (Oct 10, 2002)

some of you makeit sound like he would play there for 40 minutes a game, well he won't if he plays the point at all during the regular season it would probably be for a max of 10 minutes a game. There has been talk ofhim trying to play the point for the last couple of years so I don't understand why some people think that it is completley stupid.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

*Re: LOL...*



> Originally posted by <b>TMOD</b>!
> Just because he has decent handles and passing and is tall...lets try him at point! Gimme a break!
> 
> BTW... Not a chance in hell that he is 6' 10 243...:laugh: ...


Like I said above, he has been playing PG in Turkey for years. When Sacramento drafted him, his scouting report included experience at the PG position. 

He is 243 because he lifted weights to gain 15 pounds of muscle this summer.

Hedo may be 6'10.

Webber is really 6'9 but is listed at 6'10 and I have seen Webber and Hedo stand next to each other. Hedo appears to be taller. So either Hedo's a really tall 6'9 or he is a small 6'10.


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