Orlando's So Depleted J.J. Redick Is a Starter

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.