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Orlando Magic News for November 19th: Marcin Gortat Dunks; The Magic Aren't For Real, but Jameer Nelson is; and J.J., J.J., J.J.

J.J. Redick dribbles the ball upcourt in his first career NBA start last night against Toronto. Redick's performance has captivated parts of the blogosphere.

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Lots of news today. The first four bullets are sort-of general, while the rest of them concern J.J. Redick. Just a warning for those of you who are sick of J.J.:

  • This story is now all over the blogosphere, so you may have seen it already, but I'll post it because I'm kinda in love with Marcin Gortat. Anyway, as Kyle Hightower reports, Gortat won a bet with Mickael Pietrus by dunking from the foul line after a recent practice. Dunking from that distance is impressive for anyone, but especially someone who is 7-feet tall. So congratulations, Marcin!

  • Kevin Sawyer, in a guest post at Detroit Bad Boys, writes that the Orlando Magic aren't "for real", but "could be a real threat come playoff time."

  • FRANCHISE of Raptors HQ offers his thoughts on Jameer Nelson in his recap of Orlando's victory over Toronto last night:

    Nelson is a great example of a player who has done the most with his talent as he's turned himself from an undersized scoring point guard with a suspect jump shot, to a solid starter in the league who can now hit that mid-range shot with ease. He absolutely killed the Raptors last night coming off of high screens and hit 10 of his 15 shots on the night.

    A fan of an opposing team respects Jameer Nelson. I never thought I'd see the day.

  • Magic point guard Mike Wilks underwent surgery to repair his knee today. When asked his name after coming out of surgery, Wilks answered, "Barack Obama." Don't laugh. Wilks may have a point, as he and President-Elect Obama will play the same amount of minutes for the Magic this season: zero. Best wishes on a full recovery, Mike.

  • Goathair of Hardwood Paroxysm reviews each first-round draft pick in four words. The verdict on Courtney Lee? "Outplayed by J.J. Redick."

  • However, Magic beat writer Brian Schmitz believes that J.J. will once again find himself playing behind Lee and Keith Bogans once Mickael Pietrus is available again, which could be as soon as Friday against Indiana. From a career-high 34 minutes last night to a possible garbage-time cameo or DNP this Friday. Yup, that's J.J. Redick's career.

  • In the same post linked in the previous bullet, Schmitz writes that either Redick--who appears to have backed off his trade request--or Keith Bogans "is going to get moved" this season. Brian Cook, who can't crack Orlando's rotation despite his great three-point shooting, may also find himself packing his bags sooner rather than later.

  • For his part, John Denton believes that Redick and Lee will split minutes as the team's third shooting guard, behind Pietrus and Bogans, depending on the situation:

    Most likely, [Magic coach Stan] Van Gundy will opt for Lee when the Magic need perimeter defense and Redick when Orlando is searching for shooting and scoring punch.

    Then, Stan offers his comments on the situation:

    "You just don't know because I like all of those (shooting guards)," Van Gundy said. "I just want our guys to understand that nobody is down for the count for the year. All those guys can help us and their time will come. J.J. keeps himself ready."

  • Finally, you can find video of J.J.'s post-game interview with Sun Sports' Paul Kennedy on J.J.'s blog.

Tomorrow's Off-Day Open Thread, if there is one, will likely discuss Orlando's shooting guard situation. Unless, that is, you'd rather discuss something else; I don't blame you if you're sick of J.J. talk.

0 recs | Comment 8 comments

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How do you get sick of the JJ talk? You should just go ahead and name the blog after him, I wouldn’t mind. It really was great seeing him start for a winning team last night.

by magic fanatic on Nov 19, 2008 6:30 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Thoughts ..

… Lee should really be Jameer’s back-up at PG if SVG is willing to explore the idea. Anthony Johnson is a vortex of nothingness and he doesn’t contribute anything positive. At this point, Lee has more to offer than Johnson currently does at this point in his career.

That allows Redick more PT at the 2-guard with Bogans.

I don’t buy the “we’re not for real” comment. I do realize the pecking order at this point is Boston/Cleveland and/or Detroit … but I feel we can make some noise this year. There’s a concern that one of our guys could go down with an injury, but our Big Three has proven in their careers they’re the most durable. ‘Meer & Pietrus can be described as ’injury-prone’ but … given that losing them isn’t as bad as the prospect of losing one of the Big Three, I think we’ll be okay.

I’m concerned about our depth at PG, but I’m satisfied with the rest of our bench.

Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
Class of 2009 - DePaul University

by erivera7 on Nov 19, 2008 6:45 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Fan reactions

I was blessed with the opportunity to go to that Magic game with a friend. We were doing our usual cheering for the starting lineup and I looked up to see J.J.‘s image on the Magic-vision. I thought it was some kind of joke until the announcer actually said his name. I’ve never seen so many people confused since… well, the Magic game that Dwight Howard wasn’t in the starting line-up some time ago!

by GuapoDCole on Nov 20, 2008 12:17 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

start the guy and then give him a dnp? he earned some minutes the other night. fn play him.

www.last.fm/user/mhetrick04

by mhetrick14 on Nov 20, 2008 1:44 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I can see the logic. Bogans has been great in the second unit all season, why screw that up by starting him agianst Toronto? That is Bogans’ spot in the line-up, he has done nothing to lose it.

by magic fanatic on Nov 21, 2008 9:55 AM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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