James

Augustine

Augustine was waived by the Magic in 2008 and is a long shot to ever return to the NBA.

Augustine is fighting to have his contract fully guaranteed, so he came to Summer League on a mission. Orlando gave him plenty of minutes in all five games in an effort to assess the second-year forward.

Van Gundy has settled on using an eight-man rotation between forwards Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu; guards Jameer Nelson, Carlos Arroyo, Keith Bogans and Keyon Dooling; and centers Dwight Howard and Adonal Foyle. Ariza has gotten off to a very slow start, averaging just 2.3 PPG in 22 minutes over three games.

No word on whether or not he’s accepted the deal, believed to be worth about $700,000. Augustine rarely plays, but the Magic have to fill out their 15-man roster, and they need to do it cheaply with all their money tied up in their core players.

Augustine appeared in a total of 27 games the past two seasons for the Magic, so this move shouldn’t have fantasy ramifications.

“We’re going to keep him with us,” coach Brian Hill said. “Now, sometime down the road, James could get out there and get playing time.” The rookie has not been activated for a regular-season game yet.

On Friday, he scored 26 points and added 10 boards, four steals and two blocks. If he continues to light it up, the Magic will want to have another look at him soon.

Coach Brian Hill said after Friday’s shoot-around that, “James just needs to play.” Augustine has not played in a game this season, unable to crack the big-man rotation of Dwight Howard, Tony Battie and Darko Milicic.

He wasn’t sure exactly when that would be, but the team wants Augustine to get some much needed seasoning. He’s the first player Orlando has ever shipped to the D-League, as it seemed unreceptive to the idea last season, so the Magic will pay close attention to how Augustine does in assessing the value of farming players out.