Hedo Türkoğlu suspension: Jacque Vaughn reacts

Wednesday evening, about an hour before his Orlando Magic tipped off against the Atlanta Hawks, coach Jacque Vaughn met with the media for the first time since the NBA announced a 20-game suspension for Magic forward Hedo Türkoğlu due to testing positive for a banned substance.

Vaughn declined to mention what specific message he had for Türkoğlu.

"I think overall we spoke to him as an organization," Vaughn said, "and showed our support for him. I think Rob [Hennigan, the Magic's general manager] laid it out earlier a little bit, but just really our support of not what happened, but him as a member of our organization."

The suspension to Türkoğlu is another item in a series of bad news for Orlando, which has contended with a season-ending injury to Glen Davis, two separate losing streaks of 10-plus games, and the unavailability of Al Harrington as he recovers from a staph infection.

"There's a great thing called reality," Vaughn said, "and you have to accept it. Today was an unfortunate reality, and you accept it and you move forward."

Vaughn also addressed how losing Türkoğlu will affect his team on the floor.

"It takes away a wing for us," Vaughn said. "We've been having to kinda scrape and claw trying to put lineups out on the floor whether guys were available or not available. So it takes an available body away from us, and a wing player, and a guy who can play multiple positions for us."

Though naturally a small forward, Türkoğlu can shift to power forward in some alignments. His versatility as a playmaker and ballhandler make him a capable point guard when the need for one arises.

In 11 appearances, Türkoğlu has averaged 2.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 26.4 percent shooting from the field.

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