Why doesn't Rivers shoot the 3 more?

[AD23nEG10]

He's shooting a better 3 pt percentage than 2 point percentage, yet he passes up so many opportunities where guys play off him out there. If this was college he's taking that shot 9 times out of 10. I think his reputation of being "selfish" has gotten to him so much that he thinks about how unselfish he can be now and it deters him. The game he had 27 it all started from the outside shot. It gets guys up on him and then he can go by them. If he drives first and misses a few, gets blocked a few, it deters his whole game and his 3-balls are way off. Shoot it early in the game Austin! Not just the corner shots late in the clock

Anyone else make this observation or am I wrong?

[papacalypso]

I agree. He seems to be pressing so much to make an unselfish play that he messes up alot. He is having a rough transition but I think in time he will be great he just has too much talent plus he is very hard on himself. I love his attitude. Long term he will be a 2 guard of another westbrook point guard.

[GeneralGreivis]

if he shot the three more there would be less of a chance for him to go to the free throw line so that is a plus

[AirForce1]

But imagine if if he was getting fouled while shooting a three. Not sure I can handle three free throws in a row by him, all I know is he can't =)

[GeauxSaints53]

He needs to start using the 3 because when he gets into 1-on-1, everyone in the Arena knows he's gonna try to drive. Way too easy to defend, hence all the turnovers.

[RaisingTheBar]

Thing I notice about rivers and the 3 is that he gets opportunities, he just doesn't take them. A lot of times he will be set up by a good pass and he will either pump fake, which gives a closing defender more time to recover, and then take the contested 3 or he passes it out. If rivers is open on the 3pt line and he gets the ball he should shoot it. He is to worried about making a mistake, need to get his confidence up.

[BallSoHard]

He needs to start using the 3 because when he gets into 1-on-1, everyone in the Arena knows he's gonna try to drive. Way too easy to defend, hence all the turnovers.

I've noticed he doesn't try to drive directly to the basket lately. He moves laterally a lot when he has the ball in his hands. Drives me nuts.

[kinglio21093]

In my opinion his confidence is shot. Before he got drafted he was oozing with swagger. Now that he's playing with the big dogs, his game isn't improving and it's really done a lot of negativity to his confidence. So even if he sees a relatively open 3, he's not gonna take it because he would feel like he's hurting the team.

I hate trying to read minds like that, but that's what I'm trying to grasp at.

[GeauxSaints53]

In my opinion his confidence is shot. Before he got drafted he was oozing with swagger. Now that he's playing with the big dogs, his game isn't improving and it's really done a lot of negativity to his confidence. So even if he sees a relatively open 3, he's not gonna take it because he would feel like he's hurting the team.

I hate trying to read minds like that, but that's what I'm trying to grasp at.

After that horrible pass to all but seal our loss against the Raptors (I think), his body language was discouraging. Head hanging/pouting. That swagger is definitely in exile right now.

[GeauxSaints53]

In my opinion his confidence is shot. Before he got drafted he was oozing with swagger. Now that he's playing with the big dogs, his game isn't improving and it's really done a lot of negativity to his confidence. So even if he sees a relatively open 3, he's not gonna take it because he would feel like he's hurting the team.

I hate trying to read minds like that, but that's what I'm trying to grasp at.

After that horrible pass to all but seal our loss against the Raptors (I think), his body language was discouraging. Head hanging/pouting, shaking his head. And you see it in other instances too. His swagger is definitely in exile right now.

[ml wave]

He's shooting a better 3 pt percentage than 2 point percentage, yet he passes up so many opportunities where guys play off him out there. If this was college he's taking that shot 9 times out of 10. I think his reputation of being "selfish" has gotten to him so much that he thinks about how unselfish he can be now and it deters him. The game he had 27 it all started from the outside shot. It gets guys up on him and then he can go by them. If he drives first and misses a few, gets blocked a few, it deters his whole game and his 3-balls are way off. Shoot it early in the game Austin! Not just the corner shots late in the clock

Anyone else make this observation or am I wrong?

If he was shooting more 3s, he'd be shooting them at a lower percentage. Now he's shooting basically only when he has to, i.e. wide open.

[MichaelMcNamara]

I never thought Rivers was the chucker some analysts said he was coming into the draft. He was the only guy on a bad Duke team that could get his own shot and he had to play that way for Duke to win.

Right now, he is often the 3rd or 4th best offensive player on the court whenever he is in the game, so he does what a 3rd or 4th option should do- pass up more shots than he should take.

As for him losing his swagger, his confidence being shot, etc. - a guy like Rivers might hang his head when he struggles and lets himself and the team down, but that won't last for long. It will just keep him in the gym this entire summer.

To me, he has looked a lot like this lately (not saying he has same talent, just similar drive):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH6ERLyiVXw

I will never forget Kobe just choking in that moment, looking horrible, and beating himself up about it. I was thinking- "Man, this guy will never make it in this league." Then, he never came out of the gym that summer or any summer after that

[jgman]

streaky shooter, pace of the nba game, length and athleticism of opponents, finishing at the rim, getting his shot off, free throws, confidence (lack of as well as possibly false confidence or initial over confidence), attacking the 2nd tier of the defense, his own defense, decision making in general, passing, bball IQ, work off the ball, free throws, bad habits like stupid floaters, weak/weight, and just overall efficiency.... and free throws, FREE throws. what hasn't the dude struggled with? With all his problems I don't want him to shoot more 3's, even if he shoots them better than he does any other shot because he still doesn't shoot 3's that well in the first place, he's barely average. His oozing swagger was very misplaced if you asked me, where does this great wealth of talent come from? I haven't seen any, saying he has good handle is pretty meaningless if he can't do anything with it

Why doesn't he do "x", or he would be better if he did "y", yea he doesn't do the things that would make him more efficient I guess because of his bad decision making. As doc rivers son you would think he'd have better (i don't want to say he doesn't have good decision making abilities so I'll say he hasn't shown me any) - (you'd also think he'd have a better shooting form, from the field and the line, and he would actually pull up sometimes, but he doesn't).

Can't it work the opposite way as well? - in reference to you claiming he needs to shoot the 3 early - one of the things he does well, or doesn't do poorly at least, as a rookie, is get to the line. So if he is drawing fouls early with his quick step AND making his free throws, wouldn't players have to play off him more and he'll get more open looks from outside. One of the things you always hear from announcers is that you don't want to put shooters on the line because it helps them get in a groove, well rivers is just missing from the line, compounding his bad shooting from the field. if he actually shot where he should from the line he'd be averaging double digits and we'd have at the least 2-3 more wins and he'd have more confidence.

Just focus at fixing one thing at a time and the others will fall in as well and the one thing he is doing ok at is being taken discounted because of an easy fix, free throw shooting.

[Snarly]

He seems to easily get discouraged when his shot isn't falling and become reluctant to shoot. He passes up open shots due to this very reason.

[boot318]

if he shot the three more there would be less of a chance for him to go to the free throw line so that is a plus

He's not making them, so what is the problem?

[donato]

I will say he seems to be a better passer than I thought he would be. So, there's that!

[RekesNotWeak]

The reason he is not shooting the 3 like he should is that he has zero confidence right now. You would have to be blind and not know anything about the game of basketball. Monty sees this and has zero confidence in him now because of it. He is thinking way too much out there and not having fun yet.

He should be still at Duke, like so many other players that come out too early, but was a lock to be a lottery pick. So he is beating himself up for not contributing more to team like he thought he would. He is way over his head right now and having trouble keeping up with the men he is playing against night in and night out.

Even some of the best players get in slumps cause they are thinking too much about the shot going in and not just shooting the ball. Look at Vasquez last night, he would shoot it right away and not even setup for the shot cause his confidence was thru the roof. What do you know, but when Austin was forced to shoot cause of the shot clock, he drains the jumper (with his darn foot on the line I might add)!

I always point to how bad Kobe Bryant was his rookie year after being such a highly touted player full of confidence himself. Luckily for Kobe, he was on a playoff contending team and wasn't getting 30 minutes a game to start his rookie season. Austin should of never gotten those minutes to start his rookie career; but unfortunately Eric Gordon wasn't available and Monty wasn't going with Roger Mason or Xavier Henry lol!
I agree that he needs to take more three point shots when the opportunity presents itself. I still have faith that he will get better in the latter point of the season just like he did at Duke. Then with an offseason of NBA level work, nutrition program, and countless hours in the gym, we will see the true Austin Rivers next season!