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Monday, October 08, 2007

Bogans to start in Magic's preseason opener tonight

Veteran Keith Bogans has won the shooting-guard spot left vacant by Grant Hill --- at least for the Magic's opening preseason game tonight against the Atlanta Hawks.Bogans, 6-5, will start with point guard Jameer Nelson in the backcourt.Dwight Howard will start at center, Rashard Lewis at power forward and Hedo Turkoglu at small forward.Bogans is in competition for the job with Trevor Ariza, J.J. Redick and Keyon Dooling.Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy picked Bogans mainly because of the solid defense he displayed in training camp. It is clear that he considers Bogans and Ariza his stoppers at the two-guard spot."I wanted to play the smaller lineup. So I wanted to play Turk and Rashard together. Dwight is an obvious. The guards, both of them, are still up in the air, but I wanted to play Keith with Rashard at the start of the game," Van Gundy said." I wanted to play J.J. with Trevor more so I can get Keith and Trevor really taking on tough defensive assignments. So that was more of it, the combinations, than who has played better."Van Gundy said he will experiment with lineups this preseason.

posted by Big Figure @ 3:36 PM  

6 Comments:

  • At 3:43 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I like the idea of keith starting.He gives us a defensive presence in the backcourt while giving us great depth being able to throw two waves of players at an opponent,Keith and hedo then you can go with JJ and trevor.

     

  • At 3:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It's nice to see that Keith seems to have improved; he was awful after December last season. Still, I wouldn't read too much into the starting lineup for this game because Van Gundy is gonna use different starting lineups for each game.

     

  • At 4:16 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    It makes sense. Keith can shoot the 3-ball, and defend.

    Last year, when Hedo was struggling, I wanted to see Ariza and Redick on the floor together. They compliment one anothers game a whole lot.

    If that's how it ends up, we'll have a solid bench.

     

  • At 4:21 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I did read Van Gundy plans on sticking with Howard, Lewis, Turk, and Nelson.

    But he plans on starting Bogans, Redick, and Ariza all in the preseason to see which one works out the best.

    There was never a time when I didn't like Keith Bogans. He always reminded me of a mini Bruce Bowen. Personally, I think the reason he play went down after December, was because he wasn't playing. Brian Hill put him in his doghouse for a long while. I think he'll be a solid role player.

     

  • At 6:18 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Good point about Bogans, OVERWADED. I checked his game-by-game log from last season, and in 12 of the final 17 games, Bogans did not play at all, and only saw token minutes in the 5 games he did play in.

    I can understand if either Bogans or Ariza will start at the SG, because we'll need the defensive presence in there, especially if Hedo winds up starting. I think J.J. could be possible 6th man of the year material coming off the bench with his deadly long-range shooting.

    The flexibility we have at the guard spot is really nice to have!

     

  • At 6:22 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Also, Bogans didn't play at all in the 4 game playoff sweep against the Pistons, further proof about how Brian Hill was too stubborn and inflexible to change things up when the Magic really needed it.

    Thank goodness we have a coach who has a clue now!

     

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