Rivers hit that game winner and then he got a ton of unwarranted hype at the right time before the draft
Well, at least Jimmer could shoot and he stayed all 4 years in college. The thing with Austin Rivers is that he has a lot of hype around him and even though he has tons of things to work on and had one of the best coach in the world to help him prepared for the NBA and improve other aspects of his game, left DUKE after one year and enter the draft. Lebron James was hyped because he has the size, the quickness, athleticism, god-given talent, skills, and strength. But with Austin, he doesn't have the quickness or the athleticism to rely on, and he has yet to establish a position. One of the main reasons why he should stayed back for another year or two is because he needs to establish a position and work on it. After being drafted, he doesn't really have a true position and more of a tweener. Is he a PG or an undersized SG? Well, if he wants to be a PG, he should have stayed at Duke a few more years to learn how to operate the offense and be a good floor general. At Duke, he averages more turnovers than assists, and doesn't know how to play within the offense. So at the NBA, it will be difficult for Austin to run an NBA team and be a floor general when he can't do that in college. If he wants to stick to being a scorer, a SG which is more likely for him to become. But Austin would be an undersized SG and what hurts him is that he does not have the strength or athleticism that most undersized SG possesses. As good of an 1 on 1 scorer that Austin is, the NBA is a totally different league. Austin Rivers have trouble going left and finishing around the rim. His FTs isn't that great, especially for a guard that's a scorer. His 3PT is average in college but it will need to improve much more in the pros because its longer with taller and more athletic defenders chasing after him. Most of those things can be improved and worked on with an extra year or two at Duke. In the NBA, many coaches and players does not have the patience to teach a young player on their fundamentals. Overall, Rivers should have stayed an extra year or two at Duke to refined his game. If he had stay back in school for a year or two, his draft stock would probably not drop but may even be higher depending on how he improved. The reason for him to stay a few extra years is for him to improve his game and prepared it for the Pros. He doesn't need the financial aspect of the NBA right now because his family is wealthy so it wouldn't hurt him to stay an extra year to improve on the things that its more difficult to improve in the NBA.
So are the Hornets doing what many posters want the Rockets to do -- give minutes to a raw rookie before he earns them so he can learn on the job?
I don't really blame the Hornets coaching here, since they are just bad at the position with Eric Gordon out. Now if Gordon come back and Rivers still get like 25mpg, then it would be a sign that they don't even care about on-court play.
His shooting form and touch are excellent, but his speed and quickness are no longer a big advantage in the NBA (I know this without watching him play). His size is no longer average, he is undersized. It would have been a difficult transition for him regardless of whether or not he stayed another three years. As long as he is trying to improve and working on his game every day I don't think he needed the three more years in college. The money factors in and he did the right thing considering the possibility of getting injured, doing worse next year, and getting more contracts in the NBA. He could have stayed another year and had a good chance at getting picked at 5th, but I don't think he's as worried about making it in the NBA as a lot of these other kids who do it for the money. He should pick it up. I remember when players were given more than one season to prove their worth in the NBA. Is it his fault he is on a bad team that cares more about speeding up his development (and getting better picks) than winning in a season they can't win in?
