By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Sacramento veterans like to joke with venerable assistant coach Pete Carril about his unwavering infatuation with ex-King Hedo Turkoglu. When Hedo was a King, various vets would routinely tease Carril by asking him to choose the better talent: Hedo or Michael Jordan? Hedo or Magic Johnson? Hedo or Bill Russell?
To this day, the only way to get Carril to vote against Turkoglu is to ask: Hedo or Geoff Petrie? Petrie, of course, played for Carril at Princeton long before he became the Kings' front-office mastermind.
Turkoglu, mind you, doesn't lack for big-name backing in his new city. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford are longtime admirers of the young Turk, who returned to Arco Arena on Friday night as a visiting player for the first time and scored 13 points. The Spurs wanted Turkoglu in the three-team Brad Miller trade not only for his expiring contract, but also because they hope to lock Hedo up long-term as part of a versatile swing rotation that features Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen.
As far back as November, in fact, Pop called Hedo "the key" to San Antonio's season. The Spurs' free-throw woes have since become a bigger key, but three months later, you're finally starting to see what Pop meant.
After a nightmare final season with the Kings, and an even worse summer with the Turkish national team during which his weight fluctuated wildly, Turkoglu is gradually rebuilding his confidence and regaining his aggressiveness. Pop incessantly needles Hedo about rebounding and defense, as he does with everyone wearing silver and black, but the Spurs have also stressed the need for an offensive thrust, desperately lacking good shooting with Steve Kerr and Danny Ferry in retirement and Stephen Jackson in Atlanta.
The result? Turkoglu started slow, his self-belief still smarting from a lost season in Sacto and the blame he took back home for Turkey's disappointing European Championships. Now he's a starter for the Spurs -- in for Ginobili -- who ranked sixth in the league in 3-point shooting (43 percent) entering Friday's homecoming game. Since his promotion to the first five, Turkoglu is averaging 10.3 points on 47 percent shooting, 52 percent on threes. As a reserve, he was shooting 37 percent from the floor and averaging only seven points.
"I don't think they know who they got with Hedo," Kings center Vlade Divac said. "They're lucky. They got a great player. I still think he can be a franchise player."
Said Turkoglu: "Nobody is as lucky as me. I've been with two great teams. Now I have to do the things to stay here (in San Antonio) longer."
