RealGM Analysis
With Kevin Durant now playing in Seattle, the Texas Longhorns are decidedly D.J. Augustin?s team (even though he was co-MVP last year). They are an interestingly constructed team that is getting improved play from A.J. Abrams and Damion James with Augustin the do-everything ringleader.
Augustin is preposterously quick and nimble with the dribble, maintaining it effectively to create shots for himself and teammates with his gunslinger mentality. He constantly makes something out of nothing, especially on broken plays. It was evidenced as much as ever when he threw a buzzer beater alley-oop to Damion James to beat UCLA in Westwood.
In the structured halfcourt, Augustin passes one-handed with either hand off the dribble exceptionally well and is something that he can also do in the open floor. His vision is superb, and he sets up his teammates with easy to handle passes. He also effectively uses on-ball screens, inviting double-teams and anticipates where the help rotation will come from.
He would have struggled in the Derek Harper hand-check era, but he should be an effective NBA point guard in the way Tony Parker and Chris Paul have become All-Stars. His small frame lets him sliver into cracks, something he?ll be able to also do in the NBA. Augustin changes pace and spins with incredible balance and is able to freeze in the air while deciding whether to shoot or pass. He is excellent at floating away for those high degree of difficulty jumpers which he shoots with a very pure and quiet shooting form.
Despite being so short, Augustin is able to get shots over taller defenders and also has a superior perimeter shot at this age than the two similar bodied NBA point guards just mentioned. He already can shoot the NBA 3-pointer and is almost 40% this season from behind the arc, down from the 44% he shot as a freshman.
For his size, he is actually an effective rebounder, particularly because he is so quick to the ball and runs down long misses.
Defending bigger point guards like Baron Davis and Chauncey Billups will clearly be a problem, but he is a crafty player and should be able to use his quickness to disrupt said players before and after they catch the ball in the post. Despite being so slight, he is well-built and can withstand physical play.
His fundamentals as a help defender are highly refined, and he is very pesky and will steal a ball or two every single night.
His FIC per 40 is 14.82, ahead of Derrick Rose (14.76), Eric Gordon (14.74), Darren Collison (12.21) and O.J. Mayo (10.41), but behind Ty Lawson?s 18.17.
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Augustin?s intangibles are phenomenal. He is the son of a schoolteacher and finished the fall semester with a 4.0 grade point average. He is fearless in the air and is never reluctant to make a big play in clutch situations.
Whenever he decides to become an NBA player, he is an extremely safe pick for any team (particularly an up-tempo Western Conference club) looking to draft a point guard in the middle of the first round.
Past Prospect Reports
Prospect Report on Jordan Hill of Arizona
Prospect Report on Jerryd Bayless of Arizona
Prospect Report on O.J. Mayo of USC
