Most tallied a downgrade as the Magic lost Carlos Arroyo and Keyon Dooling over the summer while picking up Anthony Johnson and Mickael Pietrus. Pietrus, for one, has done well to buoy Orlando's stature. Johnson? Eh. But now the injuries (which avoided Orlando all of 2007-08) come, and things are dicey in the Magic backcourt.Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Pietrus will miss three to five weeks with a torn ligament in his thumb. Keith Bogans broke his thumb last week and hasn't played since. Jameer Nelson has a hip flexor injury, and will be out at least another week. Hedo Turkoglu is your backup point guard (!) and none other than J.J. Redick will start at the two against the Pacers.
Injuries to starters always hurt the team, but this is most fortuitous of circumstances: if Johnson goes down at this point, then rookie combo guard Courtney Lee is getting the start, which isn't good. I don't need to tell you how important Rashard Lewis, Hedo and Dwight Howard are. And hey, you could do worse than Redick off the bench. If there's been one thread through J.J.'s nascent NBA career, it's been a lack of opportunity. Injuries beget opportunities, and Redick probably won't get a better one than he'll see beginning tonight.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
It is too bad it took an injury to put one of the best shooters ever in the starting line-up for Orlando. But-- that is the NBA. The shots go to the one-on-one player who does not mind shooting in the face of some pathetic defensive player ever chance he gets. There is no such thing as team basketball as JJ thrived at when he played for one of the best coaches ever-- Coach K. I watched a little of the Orlando game there other day, just because I am a JJ fan-- not because I am an NBA fan. The game I saw his teammates were not about to get him the ball (or any open player), since they would rather take some ridiculous shot themselves. In the meantime, JJ took a charge, had a great pass for an assist and his defense was superb. Win or lose, Orlando and the other NBA teams are miserable and boring to watch. When will they decide to bring the game back to what it is supposed to be team basketball, with great passing and defense.
You got it right. That is why I don't watch the NBA anymore. It looks like one on one playground basketball. Everybody wants to be like Labron and Kobe.
I don't have a clue and neither do you as to why Reddick hasn't had an opp. Other than injury, keep away, or failure to develope his own shot quick enough, what else is there?