Pat Lovell – USA Today Sports Images
The Toronto Raptors are headed towards a 2013-2014 NBA season where it’s hard to know what they are going to be. This is going to be their first full season with Rudy Gay on their roster and they are looking for their big man Jonas Valanciunas to further develop his game and be a bigger part of what they are trying to do as a team.
However, one of the areas that is somewhat uncertain is their backcourt, specifically the point guard position. It can be said with relative certainty that Kyle Lowry is going to be the starter for the Raps at the point, but their reserve point guard situation is somewhat up in the air as D.J. Augustin and the newly signed Dwight Buycks will be battling for the backup job.
Buycks really showed a lot at Summer League, playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder in Orlando and playing for one game with Toronto in Las Vegas. In Orlando, Buycks averaged a solid 9.5 points, six assists, 2.5 rebounds and two steals in just 21 minutes per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the floor. In his one game in Vegas he put up nine points, two assists and two steals on 60 percent shooting.
Buycks was really impressive at Summer League and could earn the backup job on his own merits. However, he should get the job based on the incompetency of Augustin, the Raptors’ other option.
As a backup with the Indiana Pacers last year he played in 76 games and averaged only 4.7 points, 2.2 assists and 1.2 boards in 16.1 minutes per game while shooting an abysmal 35 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from three.
For his career, Augustin has never shown much potential. He’s only a career 40.1 percent shooter and doesn’t have any real elite skills as a point guard in this league. He’s a decent three-point shooter, but his other faults pretty much outweigh that lone bright spot.
Ultimately, Augustin doesn’t bring anything to the floor that the Raptors really want to deal with. Though Buycks may be inexperienced, that inexperience and potential should be worth a lot more to Toronto than Augustin’s general ineptitude is. In the end, Buycks should be the guy seeing the backup minutes for the Raps.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
