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WILMINGTON That purple-and-pink “Little Miss Giggles” backpack he wears makes it hard to link D.J. Augustin with “tough.”
The backpack is a hazing prank, courtesy of Jason Richardson. Despite that fashion statement, “tough” is the quality Charlotte Bobcats assistant Phil Ford links most to Augustin.
“A lot tougher than I thought,” Ford said of Augustin, a 6-foot, 180-pound rookie. “That's what I learned in this training camp: As far as getting a big guy off the board or blocking a big guy off, he doesn't back down.”
Toughness is a quality both physical and mental. That's what teammates grasp about Augustin, the Texas point guard the Bobcats selected with the ninth overall pick.
When rookies panic, he's calm. When rookies rush, he's deliberate. And when a rookie might doubt himself, Augustin asserts himself.
“If he makes up his mind to pass the ball, he doesn't think twice,” said small forward Gerald Wallace. “If it's a turnover, then it's a turnover.
“He trusts his first instinct, and he goes with his first instinct.”
Wallace is the Bobcats' best perimeter defender. Twice in Sunday's intra-squad scrimmage at UNC Wilmington, Augustin beat Wallace for baskets that illustrate that point.
First, Augustin used a ball fake to get Wallace off his feet at the top of the lane. Your typical rookie would have been so relieved to beat a defender of Wallace's length, he'd hurry a shot. Augustin took a dribble forward to square his shoulders and calmly launched an 18-footer.
“That's time and situation, and all great point guards understand it,” said Ford, arguably the best point guard in North Carolina history. “It's intuitive and hard to teach. He just gets it.”
The second play against Wallace was a long pass to the corner. He found Adam Morrison, timing it just so for him to make a 20-footer over Wallace's outstretched arms.
“That was a cross-cross skip pass,” shooting guard Matt Carroll said, “and Gerald wasn't helping (leaving his man to guard someone else). For a rookie to see that play and make that play? Wow.”
Despite all this gushing, the kid is hardly infallible. He had five turnovers Sunday, to go with nine points, seven assists and four steals. But he did all the good stuff while matched against the Bobcats' projected starting five.
“I'm smaller than everybody else, and that means I can't afford to be scared,” he said.
“I've been a point guard all my life and I get the two main things – you've got to see everything and know the time you have. My teammates know if they get to the right spots, I'll find them.”
Confident as all that sounds, Augustin isn't cocky: He's understated, like a guy who is used to being in charge.
“It just comes to me,” he said. “I know what to do and when to do it.”
For observations from Bobcats training camp, go to www.charlotteobserver.com/bobcats.
