Real Cool Austin Rivers Highlight Reel

Kid's got game. I'm really excited about him moving forward.



And here's another good one:

Thanks for posting this, AR is my favorite Pelican. It's going to be great when he proves all his haters wrong:cool:

I can't wait till he gets his shot and left hand down. Tony Parker 2.0

I hope he can improve each season as Parker. He's not as quick but he's bigger and stronger. Shooting will be the key

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Originally Posted by Pelicans_fan_504

Thanks for posting this, AR is my favorite Pelican. It's going to be great when he proves all his haters wrong:cool:

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This! I can relate to him alot lol

I can't believe all the haters that don't see his potential. The dude can get to the rim AT WILL. He definitely has some things to work on but he could easily end up as our No. 2 behind Davis in 3-4 years. He has that much upside.

People are already ready to push him to the side or say he's nothing more than a bench player based off one season. I'm sorry I think that's selling him extremely short.

People truly need to learn the difference between "haters" and "doubters" two completely different things.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

People truly need to learn the difference between "haters" and "doubters" two completely different things.

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Seriously. I HATE the culture that sees the two things as one in the same. It's ridiculous.

I want Rivers to succeed. He's a Pelican. And I understand that he came out too early, too raw, and was pushed to start way too early with the Gordon injury. He defiantly improved later in the year.

It's gonna be very interesting to see his year 2 improvement no doubt.

I'll tell you one thing though, if anything in that video is legit it's at 3:00 when Rivers doesn't let the Chicago defense set, just LOSES his man with a wicked crossover then takes Noah, one of the best defenders in the league, right to the rack. Lots to build on.

I bought his Mardi Gras jersey a few months back. I think the kid has potential. He just needs to work on his shooting/free throws and develop his left hand. The muscle will come with time as it will with Davis. Excited to see this team grow. It keeps my butt in the seat.

He shot 49.5% including 42.9% from 3 (although it was only 14 shots) over his last 16 games. He was definitely getting better before injuring his wrist. Unfortunately for him though, he was beyond terrible leading up to that point. Once he adjusted to the speed of the game and was able to get into the lane without getting his shot blocked basically on every play, he finally started to get his confidence back.

He does need to work on his free throws though. 55% won't cut it.

He also needs to develop a mid range. He was using the damn floater from longer distances which looked real awkward. I don't get how he was that bad of a shooter coming into the league with his work ethic.

Rivers is the reason we don't pick Burke. I thought Rivers was doing well for what he was thrown into. I can't wait to see him next year and I think him and Davis together will be awesome on the pick and roll. Our version of Malone/Stockton.

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Originally Posted by tdcreator

Rivers is the reason we don't pick Burke. I thought Rivers was doing well for what he was thrown into. I can't wait to see him next year and I think him and Davis together will be awesome on the pick and roll. Our version of Malone/Stockton.

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Rivers and Burke are different players. Rivers will never be a true standardized point guard like a Stockton or Paul. They're natural passers with natural court vision. And I'm fine with that because Rivers was brought in as another option to creating shots. Probably better suited for a combo guard role, but he could surprise us all and be the scoring PG type.

30 minutes a game. And capable of being one of top 3 scorers on team any given night. Off the bench.

That's what I'd like to see from Austin next year.

Basically the same roll Jarrett Jack played with Warriors.

He is one of the reasons I don't think Dell is really looking at someone like Burke. For better or for worse, I don't think the Rivers-PG-of-the-future experiment is over yet.

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Originally Posted by Bigeauz

He is one of the reasons I don't think Dell is really looking at someone like Burke. For better or for worse, I don't think the Rivers-PG-of-the-future experiment is over yet.

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It doesn't need to be. If Burke is BPA when we draft it doesn't mean that Rivers can't still be tested at the point. Assets in basketball are never useless. If both are successful that's a good thing. Look what the Clippers have going with Paul and Bledsoe.

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

He also needs to develop a mid range. He was using the damn floater from longer distances which looked real awkward. I don't get how he was that bad of a shooter coming into the league with his work ethic.

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Mechanics and bad coaching. Doc was never in his life as a coach because he wanted a father-son relationship. Sure, they talked about basketball all the time, but Doc never drilled Austin in the backyard. That's why he has some fundamental issues, particularly with shooting.

At the beginning of the season, Austin shot his floater off of 2 feet, and he twisted his torso a lot. Now, he shoots it off of 1 foot, and he is much more squared to the basket. Players don't change their shooting mechanics mid-season, but Rivers did, which is a testament to his coach-ability.

Moreover, if you look at 1:14 of the 1st video, you can see how poor his mechanics are. Elbow all the way out, horrible base, bad landing with the leg kicking out (and staying out). Then, you look at 2:27 on the same video, and his mechanics are drastically improved. Again, that's a mid-season change to his shooting mechanics, and that's just incredible to me. If anyone has ever tried to change their shot, it's quite a challenge because you have been doing one thing your whole life, and all of a sudden, you're trying to do another thing. Muscle memory doesn't allow you to do it. It takes time and repetition. That's just a testament to Austin's work ethic, that he put in the necessary reps mid-season to make the change.

And if you look at how quickly he picked up the team defense, the growth he showed throughout the year. He is such a mold-able kid, and I think that's going to turn him into a legit player in this league. A lot of people are expecting a 6th man, but I expect much more from him.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

I can't believe all the haters that don't see his potential. The dude can get to the rim AT WILL. He definitely has some things to work on but he could easily end up as our No. 2 behind Davis in 3-4 years. He has that much upside.

People are already ready to push him to the side or say he's nothing more than a bench player based off one season. I'm sorry I think that's selling him extremely short.

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agree, he came into the nba as a true freshmen, people like harrison barnes or paul george didnt come out until sophmores, it takes time. he is gonna be awesome

Thanks for sharing. I like Austin too. His dad was a pretty good player too.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

People truly need to learn the difference between "haters" and "doubters" two completely different things.

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We are not talking about his doubters, there are people that hate Rivers because they think he is in the league because Doc is his dad. If you were in a topic about the Hornets on any NBA board it turned into a AR sucks thread or how he is the worst player in the NBA, that is hate.

I was gonna say the same thing Nolaslim. You can tell a noticeable difference in his shot mechanics from the video and that is very promising.

im pulling for dipo, but rivers and burke could definitely co-exist

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Originally Posted by ScoutWithoutClout

im pulling for dipo, but rivers and burke could definitely co-exist

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Could they really? Rivers has already come out and said he's going to play the point. It's the position he wants to be at. Burke can't play SG. If you wanted to get a guy with high upside that could play next to Rivers you'd want CJ McC. They'd be dangerous together and if Rivers defense keeps going like it was you could ask I'm to guy the better perimeter player.

This is all if we don't keep Gordon Ofcourse.

anyone who thinks we should pass on Burke because we have Austin Rivers is crazy, just saying