DJ & his (Lack Of) Assists

[spectre]

http://blogs.charlotte.com/inside_th...i-suspect.html

I keep getting emails saying D.J. Augustin is this team's best point guard. Nope. Augustin is a talent, but he has nine assists in the past six games. Felton has that many in last night's loss.

It's actually worse; 11 assists in the last 8 games.

*Last night...1 assist in 24 minutes which came on Boris' last 3 at the end, and it was a shot Boris wouldn't normally have taken (semi-contested).

*Boston...19 minutes, 1 assist

*LAL...20 minutes, 0 assists

*NYK...26 minutes, 4 assists

*Philly...16 minutes, 0 assists

*WAS...24 minutes, 3 assists

*Indiana...21 minutes, 1 assist

*Toronto...14 minutes...1 assist

He has had a couple of good assist games in the past...notably vs. Toronto (6 in 20 minutes) and against the Clips (8 in 27), but for the most part he's been kind of weak for a PG who everyone considered "pass first".

Thoughts on why?

[ohara831]

I've beenwondering the same thing. I wish someone would put LB on the spot in an interview and just ask him. Is he trying to make DJ more of a small 2 and telling him to focus more on scoring? Is DJ just not getting the ball to the people in the right position? I know for much of the time he is in there with the 2nd team so he's not in there with our best, but he does get a good bit of time with the starters when he plays, so I cant give him that excuse. Dont know, but not happy about it either. Gotta improve.

[dnbman]

First off, I like Augustine as a player.

However, I NEVER understood why people thought he was a pass first pg, other than winning the Bob Cousy award. He looked like a score first guard all of the college games I saw him play. So, I didn't understand why people thought he was going to be a lot different than what we had in Felton, other than his ability to stroke it from outside.

So, I don't think it's any problem with his development. I just think he is who he is. I definitely think he can be a quality pg. However, it was a bit disingenuous by folks to label him pass first just because he was a good guard in college.

At this point, I'm see him as a Ben Gordon type, though less prolific a scorer and a bit better creator.

[amour217]

First off, I like Augustine as a player.

However, I NEVER understood why people thought he was a pass first pg, other than winning the Bob Cousy award. He looked like a score first guard all of the college games I saw him play. So, I didn't understand why people thought he was going to be a lot different than what we had in Felton, other than his ability to stroke it from outside.

So, I don't think it's any problem with his development. I just think he is who he is. I definitely think he can be a quality pg. However, it was a bit disingenuous by folks to label him pass first just because he was a good guard in college.

At this point, I'm see him as a Ben Gordon type, though less prolific a scorer and a bit better creator.

I agree with you completely: I figured out pretty quickly that Augustin wouldn't be racking up the assist totals. While his offensive game is refined, particularly for a smaller player, his playmaking skills could use improvement (and honestly, whose wouldn't?)

[TattoodCats4life]

DJhas been playing a lot of time with Felton on the court, so his first pass is to Felton, who then passes it to Diaw (for another pass) or wallace for a drive, or Oakfor for a dunk.... He is also fantastic at scoring, so he gets balls passed back on the 4th and 5th pass and puts them up for long 2, 3, or occasionally (less since the ab strain) a run to the rack for a fade away... DJ doesn't have the defense to play very much off the ball, but playing felton off the ball still leaves DJ without assists because he is a rookie and sends his first pass to Felton. I see him getting 5+ assists/night next year as he defers to felton less and less,but does lacking assists really mean he's not a great PG?

[spectre]

In Larry Ball it does. Remember Billups' story where he thought he'd had a bad game, scoring low points on a bad % yet LB was ecstatic because he'd racked up a lot of assists?

DJ played most of the 2nd quarter last night without Felton...no assists.

I pretty much concur with DNB...the Texas games I saw Rick Barnes played him off the ball for the most part. I understand he was much better when Durant was there, but we don't have that "go to" scorer who can bail you out.

Not saying he can't pass...he can. He can make some really sweet passes. He seems very conservative tho, like he's afraid to do anything that's not a sure fire catch.

[dnbman]

but does lacking assists really mean he's not a great PG?

No. However, his mentality is to score. He's not selfish. However, he's not the pass first point guard that people were thinking he was.

Of course, I'm one of those people that doesn't put a lot of stock into the whole "need a pass first point guard" approach. I just want my pg to try and make the best decision for whatever the situation is. If that means he doesn't take a shot or takes 30, it's all the same to me.

Part of Felton's problem is that he'll get frustrated if the offense doesn't execute for a while and then start trying to take over the game. However, when guys are moving and the offense is working, Felton will go for long periods with relatively few shots.