Magic veteran D.J. Augustin
Now a starter, PG gives Magic perimeter threat
is ready to tackle his new role as the team’s starting point guard for the remainder of the season.
D.J. Augustin set the tone for his 2017-18 season in the Orlando Magic’s second game.
On Oct. 20, midway through the second quarter in Brooklyn, Augustin caught a pass at the top of the arc, pump-faked once and then elevated for a 25-foot jumper, shooting the ball over the outstretched left hand of Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie. Descending from its high arc, the ball fell through the hoop, making a swish sound as it passed through the net.
Sixty more 3-pointers have followed since from Augustin, and with each one, he has given the Magic a weapon the team hasn’t had since Jameer Nelson’s heyday: a point guard who consistently makes long-range shots.
Nelson, Victor Oladipo, Ronnie Price, Luke Ridnour, C.J. Watson, Brandon Jennings, Shelvin Mack and Elfrid Payton played extensive minutes at point guard for the Magic since the team started its rebuild during the 2012-13 season, and none of them shot the ball from deep as well as Augustin has this season. Augustin will enter
the Magic’s game tonight in Chicago having made 39.1 percent of his 3-point tries, one of the top percentages in the league for a point guard.
“D.J. spaces the floor,” teammate Aaron Gordon said. “He’s a knockdown shooter. You can’t leave him or you’re going to give up three points. So the spacing is there. It allows driving lanes for the rest of the team.”
Augustin now matters more to the Magic than ever.
On Thursday, minutes before the NBA trade deadline expired, the Magic dealt Payton to the Phoenix Suns for a 2018 secondround pick. Team executives had decided they would not re-sign Payton in restricted free agency this summer because of Payton’s weakness as an outside shooter and subpar defense. By trading Payton, the team received an asset in return instead of seeing Payton leave for nothing.
With Payton gone, the Magic have turned their starting point guard job over to Augustin for the rest of the season.
Augustin regards the final two months as a special opportunity. He played for seven teams before he joined the Magic in 2016 on a four-year deal worth $29 million. Now 30 years old, this may one of his last chances to prove he can be a viable NBA starter.
“I’ve started before,” Augustin said. “I’ve been a backup before. I’ve been benched. I’ve been cut. I’ve been traded. I’ve been
everything. So I know how to handle myself and how to be ready at all times, and that’s something I pride myself on: just being ready for whatever I need to do to help the team win.”
Augustin has fared well this season as a starter. He took over the job for a brief stretch when Payton suffered an early-season hamstring injury, and Augustin has started two games since the trade. The Magic are 6-3 with Augustin as a starter.
“Definitely [with his] shooting it’s going to open up a lot of things for us as far as spacing,” swingman Evan Fournier said.
“D.J. is a veteran, so he does the little things. He’s actually one of the best players at boxing out. He’s just a player that does the right play pretty much every time on defense and offense.”
Twenty-seven games remain, and Augustin faces tough tests ahead: an increased workload, more minutes against starters than second-stringers and perhaps more pressure.
His teammates insist Augustin can handle it.
“You can tell him to do something and he can go out there and translate it,” Mack said.
“Some guys, you have to show them [something] multiple times for them to finally get it. But he’s one of the guys that you can tell him one thing and he picks it up right away. He’s been around. He understands other guys’ tendencies. He loves watching basketball and League Pass. Those kind of things make for a good player.”
“You can tell him to do something and he can go out there and translate it.” Magic G Shelvin Mack on teammate D.J. Augustin