i feel like every time i watch him play he plays fairly well and i was going to defend him. but his PER and VORP basically indicate he's a replacement-level player. win shares is nicer to him but certainly doesn't blow you out of the water.
Take a look at all of his advanced stats, its all negative: http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/riverau01.html His 3 pt % and FG% are career highs this year, but his 3p is just 33% and his FG is just 43%. And this is on a team with Cp3 and Griffin as primary threats so basically he doesn't play defense and his shooting is bad why do we even want him? The only reason anybody is paying attention to him is because his last name is Rivers, if his dad wasn't a coach in the NBA forget a minimum contract with this kind of stats he might have to play overseas. I wouldn't even want him as a backup guard because we already have a good shooter under contract who has been underutilized, just give him the PT instead of signing another scrub.
He's better than people give him credit for, he seemed to hit a little stride in the 2nd half of last season. But there's a ton of guys I'd want to sign before him for sure.
My point exactly! He's far from my first choice. But we need someone off the bench who can initiate the offense. Saying he strait up can't do that is just flat out wrong!
He is worse than replacement. In other words, you can find almost any knucklehead guard in the league and do better. His BBIQ is poor, he's not a good passer or shooter, and he's a terrible defender. Tell me, how is anyone flat out wrong in saying that he can work in any offense?
When he's been successful, its been in the open floor and P&R situations. You don't have to be a 40% 3PT shooter to be a threat, he can hit an open shot. People just hate him because it seemed like his dad saved him from being out of the league. But thats not the case, the kid is an NBA caliber combo guard. Is he a starter? No. Is he even a 6th man? I don't think so. But he's good enough for a roster spot, acting like he's not is stupid!
Imagine being a Clippers fan right now. Just lost Chris Paul because of Austin ****ing Rivers. It would like us losing Harden for Bobby Brown lol... Clips gonna Clip
What did this kid do at Duke that made him so highly touted going into the draft? Because he was Doc's kid?
The whole story was that the Clippers denied a trade for Melo because of Rivers last season...yeah, that would be the straw for me too.