Fantasy Basketball: D.J. Augustin Looking At Huge Role

Injuries are a terrible thing to see in sports, but unfortunately, the team must move on. The important thing for them (and you) is to have a good replacement that can hopefully benefit the team almost as much as the previous guy. We see this situation this week in Motor City.

*All league ownerships are courtesy of ESPN.com

D.J. Augustin (Det PG, 26.6% of leagues): The Pistons announced over the weekend that starting point guard Brandon Jennings would miss the remainder of the season with a ruptured Achilles. It’s certainly disappointing for Jennings who had been on a tear since the team waived Josh Smith in late December. In January, Jennings averaged 20.9 points (15th in NBA) and 7.2 assists (9th). The injury will certainly be tough to overcome for a team that has been on a hot streak as of late. Augustin will most likely be starting in Jennings’ place with Spencer Dinwiddie coming off the bench. In Detroit’s most recent game on Sunday and the first one without Jennings, Augustin played 37 minutes compared to Dinwiddie’s 11. In those 37 minutes, Augustin erupted for 35 points (5-9 3-pt. FG) to go along with 8 assists. Detroit lost the game to Toronto, but the performance can hopefully put the Pistons’ coaching staff at ease. There were rumors that the Pistons could be in the market for acquiring another point guard, but they might want to reconsider after Sunday. Augustin is a veteran of this league and has performed decently when given the opportunity. With Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond down low, the defense will be spread out enough to open up the floor for Augustin and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Augustin is not Brandon Jennings, but will still be a fantasy asset in Detroit.

Nene Hilario (Wsh PF/C, 33.3% of leagues): After Marcin Gortat’s stellar year last season, Nene was almost the forgotten big man in Washington. Nene had a respectable 2013-14 with 14.2 points per game, but his rebounds have been on the decline (decreasing almost every year since 2008-09). He posted 5.5 last year and currently stands at a pedestrian 5.2. But despite those numbers, his stock is currently rising. Gortat is certainly not lighting it up and has his worst rebound average since 2010-11 with the Magic. Factoring in his somewhat lack of offense (especially in January where he only averaged 10.6 points), Gortat isn’t the automatic start he was at the end of last season. At this point in his career, Nene won’t be a rebounding force, but still has the touch under the basket to be of value offensively. He scored in double digits in 11 of the team’s 14 games in January while consistently hovering around 5 rebounds per game. He’s essentially putting up small forward type numbers except with a much higher field goal percentage. Gortat is still the man to have in fantasy leagues, but Nene is close behind him and for a much better price.

More from Fantasy

Evan Turner (Bos SG/SF, 21.9% of leagues): Since the Celtics traded Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks, there has been a lot of confusion as to who exactly the main point guard is in Boston. Marcus Smart seemed like a logical decision, but his development has somewhat slowed. Jameer Nelson was an option coming over from Dallas, but the Celtics quickly shipped him off to the Nuggets. Austin Rivers and Nate Robinson were only members of the team for seemingly a day before being traded or bought out. The one guy left standing is Turner. Still considered a shooting guard, Turner has been the main catalyst on offense for the Celtics. He hasn’t posted less than 5 assists in a game since January 5 and has actually grabbed more than 5 rebounds eight times in that same span. Smart has seen some minutes, but hasn’t done too much with them as of late. And I don’t think Phil Pressey is exactly NBA material. The Celtics are definitely rebuilding and they probably aren’t done getting rid of players, but for right now, Turner is one of the only safe bets in Boston.

Langston Galloway (NY SG/PG, 16.8% of leagues): From one basement team to another: the Knicks are just as guilty as the Celtics. The difference for the Knicks is that the fans don’t even know who plays for the team anymore. The 5 players with the most minutes for the Knicks in their last game were Galloway, Lou Amundson, Jason Smith, Lance Thomas, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Not one of those guys started in the team’s first game of the year and three of them weren’t even on the roster. There’s certainly not a lot to like here., but Galloway has been a big surprise. He doesn’t even start every game playing behind Jose Calderon, but has actually outplayed him and been the second leading scorer on the team in January (not including Carmelo Anthony’s stats from only four games played). He obviously has a small sample size only playing in eight career games, but averaging over 12 points after suddenly being called up from the D-League is not that bad at all. He has a higher ceiling, but I wouldn’t recommend Galloway for standard leagues. He would be more advantageous in deeper leagues where your peers might not even know who Langston Galloway is.

Guys I’ve mentioned previously who are still beneficial: Hassan Whiteside (Mia C, 43.9% of leagues); Rudy Gobert (Uta C, 44.2% of leagues); Elfrid Payton (Orl PG, 43.6% of leagues); Alex Len (Pho C, 13.2% of leagues)

Guys I would be comfortable trading or dropping: Jrue Holiday (if you’re hurting with him out)(Nor PG, 79.9% of leagues); Josh Smith (Hou PF, 71.3% of leagues); Roy Hibbert (Ind C, 69.9% of leagues); Joe Johnson (Bkn SG, 85.4% of leagues)

More from FanSided

Home/Fantasy