Mickael Pietrus Has His Work Cut Out For Him
by Evan Dunlap on Aug 19, 2008 7:35 PM EDT
in Commentary
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PrintLast season, the Magic surrendered season-high scoring totals to not a few shooting guards. They signed Mickael Pietrus last month to fortify their weakest overall position last season and, more importantly, to give them the lock-down defensive presence they lacked last season.
Based on the Magic's schedule, they'll know fairly quickly if they made a wise investment.
Here are the players we presume Pietrus will be asked to guard in the first ten games of the season: Joe Johnson of Atlanta; O.J. Mayo of Memphis; Kevin Martin of Sacramento; Derrick Rose of Chicago; Andre "Don't Call Me Iggy" Iguodala of Philadelphia; Gilbert Arenas of Washington; Brandon Roy and Jerryd Bayless of Portland; Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City; Josh Howard of Dallas; and Jason Richardson, a former teammate of Pietrus' in Golden State, of Charlotte.
Potential All-Stars, or at least All-Rookie team selections, await Pietrus in each of the Magic's first ten games. Bearing that fact in mind, how do you think Pietrus will fare defensively in those games?
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Good question
Can I answer :better than either Dooling/Evans/Bogans would do?
Also, I think he’ll do good enough to make it where we don’t LOSE because of that spot.
You have just added to my overall anticipation level for next season…Thanks!
'Coach, Dwight is a nice guy. Dwight don't hit anybody. But Superman will knock the crap out of you.' - D12
We might lose at the other guard spot
Still worried about defense from the point guards. Nelson tries hard and takes charges, but he’s too small. Johnson has a rep as a good defender, but age has caught up with him and I don’t think he’ll live up to that billing.
He’ll be fine, this is a role that he will excell in. I’m sure of it. I’m very excited about having him in the line up. I also believe that Courtney Lee will be an improvement at the position as well.
By the way, are we really stuck with both Bogans and Reddick??? One of those guys has to be moved eventually, it’s got to happen.
I’m still hesistant about Pietrus. I’m optimistic that he’ll be an upgrade at the SG position, but at the same time, I realize that he wasn’t too effective for the Warriors.
Of course, he didn’t have the consistent playing time then that he’ll most likely have now, but still, I’m going to have a “wait and see” approach. I thought Mo Evans was at worst “solid” for the Magic. Hopefully, Pietrus will prove to be better than him.
Yeah, he won’t get enough shot attempts to average that many points. I think 8 is a more realistic estimate, but we really won’t know until Stan comes up with a rotation.
J.J. vs. Courtney for the third-string shooting guard spot should be interesting.
i may have over shot,
but without a back up small forward, someone will have to play the position and i see bogans doing that. if turk starts at the 3 and lew start at the 4, we don’t have another 3 except for pietrus, who will be starting at the 2. either way with enough defense on the floor, lee will get plenty of PT.
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