So, what are your opinions... if Bitcoin gets trouble, could Ethereum become the crypto-leader?
No Way.
although you have to first define "trouble" many think confirmation time or block size is trouble or many other things that are really not an issue at all.
but eve if something happened, the next thing to come up would be Litecoin. and ethereum has been having a lot of troubles from the start that will never let it get even close to bitcoin no matter how big they make its marketcap. besides a large percentage of available ETH is in the hands of a few.