Austin Rivers hitting his stride

[N.O.Bronco]

I read a lot of quotes and scouting reports on AD before he came into the league, and I'm pretty sure scouts were calling him a 'can't miss' player because of his defense, if you're honest to yourself I think you would remember that AD's offensive game was a question mark in college. Does Monty and the coaching staff not get any credit for his offensive development? Our coaches were credited for Tyreke improved jumper, do we not credit them for AD's shot as well? I see your point but I'm not sure how you can definitively say that AD would have had the same success wherever he was drafted.

I never understood where people got that from. It was pretty well established that AD had a lot more offensive moves then he used at Kentucky. There was the story about AD wanting to shoot threes and Coach Calipari jokingly telling him to hit 10 or 15 in a row and he'd consider it and AD came into practice and hit all of em. Remember Caliper thought Davis would be a 3 in this league. Thought he had the skills to play it at a high level.

[joetzeng]

I never understood where people got that from. It was pretty well established that AD had a lot more offensive moves then he used at Kentucky. There was the story about AD wanting to shoot threes and Coach Calipari jokingly telling him to hit 10 or 15 in a row and he'd consider it and AD came into practice and hit all of em. Remember Caliper thought Davis would be a 3 in this league. Thought he had the skills to play it at a high level.

"Offensive canvas is raw, with obvious enormous room for improvement ... Doesn’t yet have a feel for his jump shot, often rushing the attempt and shooting a flat shot ... There are times where he displays extreme comfort handling the ball, but face-up/dribble-drive maneuvers are few and far between ... While he’s a tremendous secondary and tertiary leaper, he too often leaves his feet on pump fakes ... It’s hard to fault him for being shot block happy, but the lack of discipline is not to his benefit ... His athleticism and length won’t cover up all shortcomings against super competition ... Projecting Davis going forward, there’s not much to dislike ... Physical maturity is the only visible hurdle standing in his path to beast mode. "

That's the scouting report of AD from nbadraft.net, who projected him as the number one pick at the time. I think it's more accurate to watch the film from his only college year than reading into a story that wasn't that serious.

[N.O.Bronco]

"Offensive canvas is raw, with obvious enormous room for improvement ... Doesn’t yet have a feel for his jump shot, often rushing the attempt and shooting a flat shot ... There are times where he displays extreme comfort handling the ball, but face-up/dribble-drive maneuvers are few and far between ... While he’s a tremendous secondary and tertiary leaper, he too often leaves his feet on pump fakes ... It’s hard to fault him for being shot block happy, but the lack of discipline is not to his benefit ... His athleticism and length won’t cover up all shortcomings against super competition ... Projecting Davis going forward, there’s not much to dislike ... Physical maturity is the only visible hurdle standing in his path to beast mode. "

That's the scouting report of AD from nbadraft.net, who projected him as the number one pick at the time. I think it's more accurate to watch the film from his only college year than reading into a story that wasn't that serious.

"Anthony is a tremendous shot blocker with great size and length. He can make 3-pointers, dribble the ball and he can get up and down the court faster than some of our guards because of his long, looping strides."

—Kentucky head coach John Calipari

[N.O.Bronco]

"Offensive canvas is raw, with obvious enormous room for improvement ... Doesn’t yet have a feel for his jump shot, often rushing the attempt and shooting a flat shot ... There are times where he displays extreme comfort handling the ball, but face-up/dribble-drive maneuvers are few and far between ... While he’s a tremendous secondary and tertiary leaper, he too often leaves his feet on pump fakes ... It’s hard to fault him for being shot block happy, but the lack of discipline is not to his benefit ... His athleticism and length won’t cover up all shortcomings against super competition ... Projecting Davis going forward, there’s not much to dislike ... Physical maturity is the only visible hurdle standing in his path to beast mode. "

That's the scouting report of AD from nbadraft.net, who projected him as the number one pick at the time. I think it's more accurate to watch the film from his only college year than reading into a story that wasn't that serious.

"Anthony is a tremendous shot blocker with great size and length. He can make 3-pointers, dribble the ball and he can get up and down the court faster than some of our guards because of his long, looping strides."

—Kentucky head coach John Calipari

Im just saying, the notion that Davis had offensive skills that weren't exactly being utilized at Kentucky was a fairly well known story circulating at the time. The guy was a guard, those skills don't exactly disappear because of a growth spurt. They just layed idle for a bit while he got used to his new body and played a different role at Kentucky.

Monty actually intentionally held him back his first year. He even said it multiple times. He believed that it wasn't smart to force a young player into the sort of role that many franchises would, that is a credit to Monty's coaching and insight.

[joetzeng]

Davis attempted 0.6 3's a game and shot 15%(3 for 20) for the season. I'd read into a scouting report more than a coach who praises his players.

[joetzeng]

I agree and didn't say his skills disappeared, but by watching him in college could you have said definitively that he'd average 20+ in his sophomore year or was he more of a question mark offensively based on what we saw?

[N.O.Bronco]

Davis attempted 0.6 3's a game and shot 15%(3 for 20) for the season. I'd read into a scouting report more than a coach who praises his players.

Take whatever facts you want that support the conclusions you want to believe. But the story about the 15 threes is true. The quotes from Calipari are real quotes from a guy that has been fairly honest in his assessments. The consensus of Davis coming into the league was that his floor was Camby and his ceiling was Bill Russell, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

[N.O.Bronco]

I agree and didn't say his skills disappeared, but by watching him in college could you have said definitively that he'd average 20+ in his sophomore year or was he more of a question mark offensively based on what we saw?

To me, no. Not at all. I saw a guy that if you payed close enough attention was going to blow up when he got comfortable with his body. He was a guard and always had a great shot form. In his growth spurt his hands never grew the way the rest of his body did so he wasn't going to suffer the "tennis ball into a hoop" syndrome most bigs face. There were the reports, testimonies from teammates and my own observations that told me this guy has it offensively.

I'll even do you one better. Keep my quote handy because the rumors right now are that Davis has a decent post game(Ryno has been quoted as saying he was impressed by his development) he has also been working on and can hit the NBA three. I'll be glad to stand by that assertion three years from now.

[joetzeng]

I didn't say the story was not true, but if I were to tell you that Austin Rivers once hit 40 free throws in a row during practice, would you laugh about it or actually take it seriously? Hitting 15 3's in a row in practice isn't crazy.

[joetzeng]

I'm actually not sure what you are arguing about with me here. I brought up statistics, scouting reports, and eye tests from his college days and all I said was how can we say definitively that he was already great offensively before he joined us, and you're throwing me a rumor that Davis is working on his NBA three and post game? Could've throw me about the fact how much Monty's been working with him since he joined the Pels. Good night buddy.