Those intangibles have got to count for something. Add his IQ, basketball and otherwise, a bright kid who grew up around the game with a top NBA coach as his dad. I think he's going to have a long NBA career and he's as good a pick at 14-16 as Fredette, Rodney Carney or Ronnie Brewer were.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/221472/Report_Rivers_Has_Lottery_Promise I'm thinking the same. Them or Portland
Someone said Mayo. Mayo at 14 is great, but not at 3 or 4 where he was drafted. I like rivers alot even though he's not a blow by athlete playing a very athletic position, but he's 19,great bbiq, and i think he has all star potential. Maybe not yr end,yr out potential,but i can see 3 or 4 times type like joe dumars. I think they need to have a plan of some kind to get off the track. If they take rivers, chandler is good enough defensively to help him. If they bring over D-Nuts,then they need to have a more defensive type of center also like Fab Melo type. Dragic,if resigned,rivers,parson,donuts,melo as a starting 5 would be going forward. Put a 3/4 type on the bench,a 4/5 type on the bench,and a 1/2 type on the bench. Versitility is the name of the game.
Ron Harper without injuries would've been a really good player, but he was nowhere close MJs stratosphere. Not even in the wettest, fantastical dream.
Anybody catch Rivers mentioning Chandler Parsons as one of the guys that went to the "perfect place" though he was taken late in the draft? I think he named faried and parsons.
Though, Rivers is not your typical Duke player. Moreover, the best Duke players in the last decade or so have turned to be at worst -- decent NBA players. You almost have disqualify Jason Williams and Bobby Hurley, because of freakish accidents that you could argue really put a clam down on their careers. LOL @ . I would not be shocked if Austin Rivers ends up being the black Danny Ferry.
It was interesting that Rivers mentioned Parsons twice. The Rockets get zero national play and Parsons is good but not in the ROY conversation. You have to be really paying attention to take notice of his game.
Could be the Blazers. If you look at Neil Olshey's draft record you'll see he loves himself some top-ranked high school recruits.
yeah true. not to mention they have 2 first rounders. if they stay put he could very well be one of their targets.
Not sure Rivers has a iron-clad promise like Waiters yet. He hasn't shut down all workouts like Waiters did.
Just saying Ron Harper was very athletic and was a good scorer. Given Stern's "Superstar" treatment averaging 10 attempts per game from the line Harper could have been a "Superstar". He already averaged over 20 per game without the "Stern" treatment. When you are not allowed to touch a player without a foul being called, it makes it even more difficult to guard them and they get even more of a scoring bump because of opponent foul trouble. If you took away the Stern treatment from Jordan, he is down around 20 per game his first five years in the league and he starts to look a lot more like Ron Harper than he does Michael Jordan. Ron Harper was a very good player. Most people felt in our day, he was Jordan without the calls. David Stern makes the stars in this league. He decided when he took over the league needed to be driven by stars and that Bird and Magic were those stars. Shaq would have barely been able to play a minute in the league had he not been "allowed" to trample everyone in his path to get to the basket with offensive fouls. If you stop sniffing Jordan's jock, you might understand this. The point of this thread is the real lottery winner is the team that picks the players David Stern decides is going to be the next Banner Carriers for the NBA. Who has a name, charisma, and the marketability to carry the NBA banner forward. Harper was good but not marketable or charismatic which is why he wasn't a superstar. The real question of this thread is; Is Austin Rivers a marketable star and will Stern chose to give him the "Superstar" treatment? If he does and we pick him, we win. If not, you hope he grows into a serviceable rotation player.
I watched Rivers quite a bit in person last year and would be psyched if we grabbed him at 14. His game is a bit unorthodox, and he definitely has some weaknesses that he needs to work on. However, he was unguardable at times in college and has the "i'm the best player" mentality that the Rockets could use. I think his game will translate well to the NBA and that his floor will be a 6th man type scorer off the bench.
You heard it was Toronto or Phoenix. Raptors' Colangelo came out and said it wasn't them, which led people to believe it was Phoenix. Now people believe Phoenix has a 'draft promise' to Rivers. Could be anybody. Many are just guessing here and have no idea.
Name what aspect of the game where Ron Harper as a youngster was comparable to or better than Jordan as youngster (or as 3-5 year pro). You seem to think scoring. For the sake of the argument, I'll throw you that. What about skills, like passing, defense, being able to carry an inferior team, You can pretend that you know more than me about NBA history, but I'm going to throw some numbers at you. MJ only averaged over 9 FTA per game in 4 of his first five years in the league. Coincidentally as he grew into a bigger superstar, his overall free throw attempts decreased dramatically from 1986-97. What's even more astounding is how in some of these 30-50+ point games, he's able to pull off with less than 9 ftm/fta. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01/gamelog/1985/ http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01/gamelog/1987/ I know that younger MJ attacked the basket, relentless and got alot of his points in the paint. I ask the same as Shaq, name one younger center that was drafted after Shaq that had the ability to match his skill set or athleticism (any player after 1992). What player had the same ability of Shaq, after 1992 NBA Draft. You make sound like there's this grand conspiracy to make superstars ... and it's a ridiculous premise. You are basically saying players are getting shafted, because they aren't marketable enough or charismatic. Can you name some of these players who did not get a fair shake on their NBA careers? I don't have to be a fan of any player to see the flaw in your argument. Yes, I have to be a Jordan fan boy/girl to not understand your position. Please. Can you name a better wing player (or shooting guard in the league) over Kobe Bryant (besides say Kevin Durant and LeBron James) in the last 10 years?
You obviously don't understand the "Jordan Rules" so I am not going to sit here and try and explain it all to you. I will try and explain a little for someone who was never involved in the game nor understands how it worked before Stern took over. While they are named for Michael Jefferey Jordan, they were written for Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and have been applied to many others since. They can be applied to any player the league determines will help sell the league and increase ratings. Who determines this? David Stern. How does he make a star? League-wide mandate to the officials on how a certain star players are to be officiated. Donahee just scratched the surface about what officials are told to do regarding player officiating and who wins specific playoff games to extend or end series (based on ratings). He is no whack job!! Anyhow, You make a star by giving them a lot of free throws when they are younger. How do you help a player who cannot shoot, you give him free throws to boost his average. When he was younger Jordan could not shoot to save his life. He dribbled the perimeter and drove. He had to because nobody would guard him at the three point line. He always struggled against teams with good shot blocker because all he could do was drive and post up. Case in point Houston Rockets for his career. As he developed in his game and started to be able to shoot, he drove less and less, thus his free throws went down. The better he began to shoot, the further from the basket he could play and the less fouls he drew. I know you don't understand, but this is the natural progression of player development in the NBA. Find Sterns stars and they all get less and less as they get better. But, it is also the natural progression of any player to stay on the perimeter more as you get older. You notice the scoring average doesn't go down when the attempts go down. The player is actually able to score on his own without Stern's help. When they do drive, they still get the calls, they just don't need to to score. This is called Star Making!!! Been going on since before you were probably born. Look at Magic! Look at Bird. If you put your fingers in Larry Birds face without any contact, it was a foul. Ask Bobby Joe Reid about that!!! Look at Shaq!! His skill coming out of college was plow the guy guarding him so hard he falls into the back board support and then dunk it. He had nothing else. In college he was constantly in foul trouble. In the NBA, No offensive fouls for Shaq. Instant superstar. If any other player tried it......instant Foul!! Eventually, Shaq developed a little game to go with his dunking. I can go on and on. There is a good book about it you can read as we do know you can research on stats that don't mean anything. It may even be called "The Jordan Rules". I can name 2 dozen players who drove as much and as hard to the basket as Jordan and when they found contact, they did not come away with free throws. It is called STAR TREATMENT. It originates from the officials. Who controls the officials? All together now.....David Stern!! Now you write your rebuttal as I am sure you will and I will drop out and not reply because I don't have time to keep trying to make you understand something you know nothing about. Again, my only point is, if Stern wants Austin Rivers to be the next D-Wade.....he will be. He will get the free throws he needs while he is younger to boost his average and his league marketability until he develops more game. That is our objective. Get a charismatic skilled player Stern wants to market. Instant Superstar!!!
