Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bulls just won’t go away and backup point guard D.J. Augustin is leading the charge to the NBA playoffs and dragging fantasy owners along with him.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Augustin and the Dallas Mavericks’ Vince Carter.
» D.J. Augustin, PG, Chicago Bulls (65.3 percent owned on ESPN.com)
22 points (5-10 FG, 7-7 FT), 5 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 3 turnovers vs Nuggets.
D.J. Augustin has been much maligned throughout his NBA career since he was drafted ninth overall by the Charlotte Bobcats out of Texas. He saw his replacement get drafted with the Bobcats in Kemba Walker, floundered as a back-up in Indiana and was so bad in Toronto earlier this season that he was outright waived in December.
That’s why his level of play since arriving in the Windy City has been so surprising and pleasing — all at the same time.
He’s only started nine of the 34 games he’s played in Chicago, playing behind Chicago stalwart Kirk Hinrich. When Hinrich hurt his hamstring in late January, Augustin exploded and was one of the hot waiver-wire pickups in fantasy basketball.
But Captain Kirk returned and D.J. slid back into his backup role and was unjustly jettisoned by a number of fantasy owners. The starter designation is not as important as it may seem to many people, however. In the last month, Hinrich has averaged 25.2 minutes of court time, while Augustin has played 32.7 minutes.
In those 14 games, Augustin has put up 16.6 points, 2.8 three-pointers, 4.9 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 87 percent from the foul line, good for 64th in Basketball Monster.com’s rankings.
Those numbers scream “must-own” at me as they should do to you as well. Augustin is going to continue coming of the bench for the Bulls, but don’t let that scare you away. He and Hinrich will continue to share the point guard role, playing alongside each other at times as well.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
» Vince Carter, SG/SF, Dallas Mavericks (9.8 percent owned)
7 points (1-4 FG, 4-5 FT), 1 three-pointer, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers vs 76ers.
No, I’m not writing this article in 2003. It’s just as surprising to me that Vince Carter can be a fantasy contributor, 15 years into his illustrious NBA career. But that’s exactly what he has become this season in Dallas.
Like D.J. Augustin, Carter is a player who is content in his role coming off the bench. He is averaging 24 minutes per game in that sixth man role and the stats he’s putting up are worthy of a much higher ownership percentage.
For the month of February, Carter is averaging 10.5 points, 1.4 three-pointers, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 turnovers and 1.1 steals, which lands him at 82 in Basketball Monster.com’s rankings. There’s nothing that’s particularly outstanding in those numbers, he just adds to a number of fantasy categories and doesn’t hurt you anywhere apart from field goal percentage.
Carter has no competition for his role as the top bench scorer and player in general, so there’s no reason why this sort of top 100 form can’t continue. You could do a lot worse than adding old man Vincent Lamar Carter to your squad as we head to ward the fantasy playoffs.