I was kinda thinking the same thing.
I guess you would instead have Turkey towing the US line far more closely, with "big brother" providing even more support for their "little brother" ISIS and AlNusra moderate head choppers.
At least with Erdogan there is a loose cannon, a potentially volatile unknown and unpredictable factor in play that has it's own unaligned agenda.
RE: What if Putin Didn't Save Erdogan from the US-backed Coup in 2016?