re: Austin Rivers wants to play PG next year

Very hard to say right now. I want to see his progression from year one to year two to get a good idea of his capacity to develop and grow.

I know he says all the right things and he knows how to be a pro. And I hear he's a gym rat. But we really need to see progression in his FT%, his finishing ability, and his playmaking ability.

His shooting form, lack of strength, and inexperience at the PG position is holding him back right now.

The staff has a lot of confidence in him and his ability to develop. I'm hoping he develops real fast as I don't believe the team will be looking to address the PG position via the draft.

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Fearthehat0307

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don't roll your eyes, if rivers is playing significant minutes soon, its cause we suck and got nobody better, and not that he's a great player.

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If he doesn't learn to hit his free throws and/or finish at the rim, he'll be on the Xavier Henry career path, but if he does fix that he can become a pretty solid offensive player and we saw the beginnings of him becoming a solid defensive player. Being good on both sides of the ball is not common in the NBA. He may never be a star but I can see him being a solid starter on a good team.

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I agree. I happen to think he has very strong upside.

Honestly, Austin was the last player that was worth a damn in the draft last year so we got the best we could get at the 10 spot. Austin was a little overrated but that's because he had free reign at Duke to do a couple of things which, to his credit, he performed like he was capable of doing on a pro level. I think Austin thought the transition would be a little easier than expected and lost confidence when it wasn't, coupled with the injuries he sustained.
Going forward, on a contending team Austin comes off the bench at both guard spots and starts when a starter goes down with injury which is whats needed on championship teams.
He will develop more with the years but he may not be of starter quality which is commensurate with his draft spot usually. Solid role player who will perform better at home.