Magic battle injuries heading into Saturday's game against Miami
Hedo Turkoglu (groin), Anthony Johnson (eye), and Tony Battie (finger) are all day-to-day as the Magic get ready to play the Heat in Jacksonville Saturday.
In more serious injury news, according to Brian Schmitz's BasketBlog, reserve point guard Mike Wilks is out for the entire season with serious knee injuries, among them being a torn ACL. The Magic had liked the way Wilks was playing, and he most likely would have made the team as the third-string point guard if he hadn't gotten injured.
This likely means the Magic will have to pick up another point guard between now and the start of the regular season, as Jameer Nelson and Johnson are the only point guards on the roster.
In another Magic note from Schmitz's BasketBlog, Coach Van Gundy praised J.J. Redick's defense, saying that Redick has made a significant improvement from the previous year with his defense, and that it's a very close battle with Redick and Keith Bogans as to who will be the first shooting guard off the bench to replace Mickael Pietrus.
I'm guessing that Turkoglu, Johnson, and Battie won't play against the Heat, as it doesn't seem smart to risk their health in a preseason game.
Hopefully, the bench will step up and give a good effort. The battle between Redick and Bogans for backup shooting guard will continue to be watched. Bogans had by far his best preseason game against Charlotte, while Redick has struggled with his shooting the last two games, though he has played well defensively.
Third Quarter Collapse has a very informative post about what Wilks' injury will do to the Magic's salary cap situation. Click on the link to read.
In more serious injury news, according to Brian Schmitz's BasketBlog, reserve point guard Mike Wilks is out for the entire season with serious knee injuries, among them being a torn ACL. The Magic had liked the way Wilks was playing, and he most likely would have made the team as the third-string point guard if he hadn't gotten injured.
This likely means the Magic will have to pick up another point guard between now and the start of the regular season, as Jameer Nelson and Johnson are the only point guards on the roster.
In another Magic note from Schmitz's BasketBlog, Coach Van Gundy praised J.J. Redick's defense, saying that Redick has made a significant improvement from the previous year with his defense, and that it's a very close battle with Redick and Keith Bogans as to who will be the first shooting guard off the bench to replace Mickael Pietrus.
I'm guessing that Turkoglu, Johnson, and Battie won't play against the Heat, as it doesn't seem smart to risk their health in a preseason game.
Hopefully, the bench will step up and give a good effort. The battle between Redick and Bogans for backup shooting guard will continue to be watched. Bogans had by far his best preseason game against Charlotte, while Redick has struggled with his shooting the last two games, though he has played well defensively.
Third Quarter Collapse has a very informative post about what Wilks' injury will do to the Magic's salary cap situation. Click on the link to read.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:18 AM
2 Comments:
At 12:44 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Sorry to hear about the Wilks injury; he had played decently off the bench, with 3 assists and 0 turnovers in 15 minutes against Charlotte before the injury.
Wonder who the Magic might look for elsewhere now as the third point guard; or could they depend on small forward Hedo Turkoglu or shooting guard Courtney Lee to play the point in an emergency.
At 10:25 AM,
Big Figure said…
Yeah you never wanna hear of an injury to any player,but keeping things in perspective wilks was insurance for JN and AJ. As the third string PG he wouldnt have gotten any meaningful minutes in a regular season game unless the games got out of hand. To answer your question mike? IMO turk and CL were gonna play PG this year injuries or not. Turk's play last year basically demands it as he showed he's a little better than jameer with the ball in his hands,i like jameer being able to catch and shoot and if turk handles the ball he can do that. I think both will handle the role with the starting unit. CLee,PG might be the only place he can get on the court because of the way JJ and keith are playing at his spot. I dont think we need a third PG unless someone gets injured,there should be some good prospects in the NBDL at PG though.
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