Hedo Turkoglu Wants to Be Orlando's Leader

Is it that hard for people? Seems to me like it's spelled just like it sounds. Moving on ... Hedo Turkoglu recently gave an interesting intrerview with HoopsWorld in which he talked about several things, including the apparent leadership void on the Magic:

When you first made it into the NBA I remember your first dinner with Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac...Vlade was there in Sacramento to help teach and lead the young players. With all the young players you have now, who is Orlando's Vlade Divac?

"We don't have him. They made a team behind Dwight Howard, and he is a kid. This team was built for him. We of course have Grant Hill, and he sometimes has great games, but we are not consistent. If we can teach that to our kids, we would be ok. Its hard to play without Divac on your team, but its not easy to find something like that. They made a team for Howard and Nelson, and since i have been in this league for a while, I sometimes really want to take that roll (sic) of a leader."

Is Orlando OK with that idea? Are they going in that direction to let you be more of a leader?

"I have been in the league for a while. They are telling me they want me to show up everyday and they want the kids on the team to look up to me and my work ethic. That's what they are saying."

Reading between the lines (which is always completely safe and responsible!), it sounds like Turkoglu is taking a mild shot at Orlando's management. But then again, why does he need permission to take on a leadership role? Either the team respects a guy or they don't, and I imagine that's largely determined by how he carries himself in the locker room and whether he chooses to speak up when needed.

Reading between the lines and making assumptions is fun, no? Let's continue:

What would you do if you were the Orlando coach for a day? Darko told me jokingly he would shoot 30 three pointers. How would your starting five look like?

"That's not easy to say. There is no answer that I can really officially say, but I'll say this: if players are tired, lets get them of the floor and lets let some other players get in."

It's obvious they were fishing for a funny answer like Darko's, but instead he comes with something extremely basic. So ... does this mean he's saying Brian Hill doesn't do that? Or was this completely innocent and not meant to implicate his current coach? It's hard to tell. You lose a lot of the conversation's tone when you read it instead of listening to it, but if you're already of the mindset that Brian Hill is almost off his rocker, then it's not too hard to see this and use it to reinforce the idea that perhaps the players are getting sick of their current head coach.

(Hat tip for interview: Orlando Magic Fan)