Austin Rivers: 3 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists, 2 turnovers

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Stop with these threads after every game

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My first one regarding his play and what is wrong with it?

I agree, D League seems like the only answer right now although I was looking forward to him playing against the C's this month

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I dont think playing him for 3 minutes classifies as "Putting him out to the dogs"

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Committing 2 turnovers in that short span and not registering another stat proves otherwise.

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If Monty thinks he's better off learning on the bench then he is in the D-league, then that's what is probably best.

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He needs minutes with limited pressure.

Dude's only 19

Just give Monty a chance to develop him

I mean, who else could we have taken at the 10th pick?

etc etc etc

No but Monty may prefer having him watch 95% of the game on the bench and learn that way instead of playing for another team where Monty may not feel comfortable with the coaches or something like that. That may not be the case, but I feel like if Monty felt comfortable sending him down to the D-league, he'd have done it by now.

Another theory is maybe he's waiting for Gordon to get a little more healthy.

You'd make a great GM.

So he's not a liability on the court?

That's not how the D-League works. It helps guys like Darius Miller that only need minutes they won't get on the NBA team to hone their games which are pretty much set. But you NEVER send someone raw down there. They'll only learn habits to beat players on that lesser level, come back to the NBA and struggle all over again.

Rivers has a good deal to learn about how to be an NBA player, on and off the court.

I think Monty wants Austin near him so he can get all the other kinds of coaching that line outside the X's and O's.

This is just inferences from articles, etc., but I think it explains what we are seeing. Miller is a grown man who by all accounts has his head on straight (he's already invested in a seemingly solid business, for instance) and likely needs less of the `life' kind of stuff.

In terms of playing time, clearly the return of Eric Gordon has taking away some of his minutes, and that's good for everyone. He's got a ton to process. Spot minutes, under 10 a game, should do him fine. If he's not physically large enough to finish a year from now and the game hasn't slowed for him by that point, I think they'll strongly consider not picking up that option for the 4th year (they have to decide on year 3 this October).