If the Indiana Pacers choose a point guard with the 11th pick in next month's NBA draft, the two most likely options will be D.J. Augustin of Texas and Russell Westbrook of UCLA.
Point guards from prominent programs heading to the NBA as sophomores, they could hardly be more different in the eyes of evaluators at the predraft camp that concludes today.
Augustin is viewed as pure point guard. Westbrook has and can play the position but isn't considered a natural. NBA scouts use terms such as "1-2"
to describe a point guard who can play shooting guard and "2-1"
for a shooting guard who can play the point. Westbrook generally is viewed as a "1-2."
"He's a great player,"
Augustin said of Westbrook. "He's long, athletic, a great defender. But I've played the point guard position my whole life. I know how to lead my team, get everybody involved, make sure everybody is in the right position to win a game."
"I know about me. I don't know about him, but I know that's what I'm able to do."
Augustin sees the depth of his experience as his biggest advantage over Westbrook, who is not at the predraft camp. Augustin isn't playing this week but was one of the elite prospects who showed up to take a physical and meet the media Thursday.
Westbrook's edge is size. Augustin is listed at 6-0, 180 pounds, Westbrook at 6-3, 187, although that is before the players were formally weighed and measured.
In the NBA, size can be a critical factor. Consider the way Detroit's 6-3 Chauncey Billups handled Orlando's 6-0 Jameer Nelson in the first two games of the Pistons' 4-1 win in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
"I'm not going to grow,"
Augustin said. "My size has never been a problem for me at any level. I always prepare myself for those situations."
"Like I said, I watch a lot of Steve Nash, how he shoots over bigger guys. Chris Paul is a great example of a smaller guy doing great things in the league and hopefully I can go in and do the same thing."
Paul, a league MVP candidate at 6-0, turned New Orleans into a playoff team and was the best player on a team that pushed San Antonio to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals.
Teams covet game-changing point guards. One reason is the impact of players such as Paul and Deron Williams, who led Utah's resurgence.
Another is they have more impact because defenders no longer can hand-check on the perimeter. That allows quick guards to get into the lane and create shots or assists.
Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley has played an average of 49 games -- slightly more than half an NBA season -- the past five years, prompting coach Jim O'Brien to recently question whether he can trust Tinsley to be there every night.
"The necessity to have that position be a solid one on any team, whether college or pro, is of the utmost importance,"
O'Brien said as readied to watch Thursday night's games at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex.
