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Austin Rivers ready to Break Out
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:27 am
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:27 am
quote:
Austin Rivers, New Orleans Pelicans: One game does not a season make, but looking at how Rivers played in his first preseason game this weekend, 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting and 7–of-13 from the foul line, it’s hard not to notice how much more confident and aggressive Rivers is when in the game. HOOPSWORLD spent a lot of time around Rivers this summer and the one constant in his conversations is that he is completely healthy for the first time in a while and that he really feels good physically, much more so than he was this time last year. Rivers’ rookie season in New Orleans was a disaster of epic proportions, which may have been the best thing for the always cocky Rivers. Enduring some humbling pushed Rivers to work hard this summer and it has been paying off. Rivers unfortunately is stuck in a log jam of guards in New Orleans, but he has pledged that he’ll be in the discussion for the NBA’s Most Improved award and he expects to be in the discussion for Sixth Man of The Year too. The Pelicans say they are committed to Rivers, if he gets the minutes he could change how people view him, which shouldn’t be hard consider the basement he found himself in at seasons end.
LINK
Unfortunately the article also mentions Xavier Henry as a potential breakout candidate, but it's good to see the narrative on Rivers changing.
5
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:34 am to TigerinATL
quote:
he’ll be in the discussion for the NBA’s Most Improved award and he expects to be in the discussion for Sixth Man of The Year too
quote:
Unfortunately the article also mentions Xavier Henry as a potential breakout candidate
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:40 am to TigerinATL
7 for 13 from the foul line is bad.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:45 am to thincaribou
quote:
7 for 13 from the foul line is bad.
Yes, but that stat would have read 2 for 7 this time last year.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 9:59 am to JohnnyKilroy
7-18 shooting and 7-13 at the line. Sounds a lot like Rivers of last year.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 10:01 am to TigerinATL
Another pro Rivers piece. This from Ziller:
LINK
quote:
RIVERS STILL FLOW
The eight Basketball God Commandment is "Thou shalt not believe anything that happens in Summer League or the preseason," but we are now officially monitoring Austin Rivers. The highlights and numbers indicate he was awesome in the Pelicans' opener against Houston and Pelicans coach Monty Williams is saying things.
"I just think he is right where he should be," Pelicans coachMonty Williams said. "We've heard about Austin since he was in the seventh or eight grade and everybody wants him to be LeBron (James), but he is right where he should be."
Most NBA rookies are bad. That's pretty much inescapable truth; even the very best rookies only rarely make an All-Star team that first year. (The only two to do it since the turn of the millennium are Yao Ming and Blake Griffin.) Austin Rivers was not just a rookie last season, but he was a young (19) rookie on a bad team. Of course he looked horrid. Because he came in with pretty high expectations as a No. 10 pick, son of a very good coach and Duke product, the disaster he was on the court was even more of a disappointment.
NBA lore is filled with guys who were very rough as rookies, but came into their own soon after. The guy in front of Rivers in the Pelicans' rotation, Jrue Holiday, is a pretty good example: he didn't make either All-Rookie team in 2010, finishing behind Omri Casspi,Darren Collison, DeJuan Blair, Jonny Flynn (!), Jonas Jerebko and others on that ballot. Yet he made the All-Star Game in his fourth season, something only one of the 10 players (James Harden) on those All-Rookie teams can claim.
Rivers has time.
LINK
Posted on 10/7/13 at 10:14 am to JohnnyKilroy
yep. Drawing fouls=good. Last year he would just drive, throw up an ugly layup and land hard on the ground.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 10:59 am to saintsfan92612
Sounds very promising. He looked awesome in the preseason but I am still worried about his FT %.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 11:23 am to CQQ
ill reserve my opinions until mid season because 7/18 is still pretty bad. I think he'll turn into jennings.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 11:43 am to htran90
38% is not THAT bad.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 12:13 pm to Fun Bunch
How can someone paid millions of dollars to play basketball as his primary job... a shooter, at that... be so bad at shooting free-throws?
I'm all for Rivers becoming a very good player. I was ecstatic when we got him, because I believed he was the best "sure thing" after the top 5 in that draft (because of his family bloodlines).
but with that being said, how can you be that bad of a free-throw shooter??
There's free-throw shooting coaches out there to help. There's books to read, videos to watch.
if the stroke ain't working, fix it.
I'm all for Rivers becoming a very good player. I was ecstatic when we got him, because I believed he was the best "sure thing" after the top 5 in that draft (because of his family bloodlines).
but with that being said, how can you be that bad of a free-throw shooter??
There's free-throw shooting coaches out there to help. There's books to read, videos to watch.
if the stroke ain't working, fix it.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 12:15 pm to Iamnick
quote:
How can someone paid millions of dollars to play basketball as his primary job... a shooter, at that... be so bad at shooting free-throws?
How can the son of a coach with a notoriously good work ethic, and a high level of confidence be so bad at Free Throws?
Posted on 10/7/13 at 12:19 pm to TigerinATL
That too.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 12:22 pm to Iamnick
I work with a lot of young kids as a shooting coach.
Jump shots and free throws are two totally different animals.
A lot of kids shoot them the same way, which is a problem. Jump shots come from the legs. For free-throws, you gotta adjust to the lack of legs and use a little more arm strength.
Concentration is also a big problem.
Free-throw issues are a very fixable problem (unless your hands are so big its like you're throwing a tennis ball at the goal... like Shaq).
There's no reason shooting guards and point guards should be anywhere south of 80% FT.
Jump shots and free throws are two totally different animals.
A lot of kids shoot them the same way, which is a problem. Jump shots come from the legs. For free-throws, you gotta adjust to the lack of legs and use a little more arm strength.
Concentration is also a big problem.
Free-throw issues are a very fixable problem (unless your hands are so big its like you're throwing a tennis ball at the goal... like Shaq).
There's no reason shooting guards and point guards should be anywhere south of 80% FT.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 1:19 pm to Iamnick
Rivers was doing well from the line until his last trip where he missed both. And he shot 72% at the stripe in Summer League this year compared to shooting 61%, though that was in just two games.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 1:28 pm to TigerinATL
quote:He has terrible mechanics on his shooting as a whole (including jump shots as well).
How can the son of a coach with a notoriously good work ethic, and a high level of confidence be so bad at Free Throws?
Posted on 10/7/13 at 1:31 pm to Iamnick
quote:
For free-throws, you gotta adjust to the lack of legs and use a little more arm strength
I disagree. You still use your legs- the best FT shooters end up on their tip toes-, but more important is to keep the same motion with your hands/release every time you shoot. You start pushing the ball and bad things happen. Ray Allen is the model- his arm motion never, ever changes.
This is the biggest problem Rivers has- he is inconsistent with his release.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 1:35 pm to htran90
quote:
jennings
Jennings doesn't enjoy playing defense.
Posted on 10/7/13 at 4:20 pm to ShamelessPel
quote:
You still use your legs-
yeah, but what I meant was you're not jumping. You're bending the knees and springing them up.
Posted on 10/9/13 at 8:09 am to TigerinATL
quote:
7–of-13 from the foul line
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