Austin goes off for 42 at Orlando pro am

http://youtu.be/da3iSD-NISw

He looks noticeably bigger, jumpshot lookers smoother.

Flosstin Slithers

It look like Austin was playing against high schoolers

Didn't see him finish with his left hand once in that video.

that 3 point shot looking deadly.

All to the rim or 3pt shots. No midrange jumpers.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

All to the rim or 3pt shots. No midrange jumpers.

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http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/upload...es-WWE-Gif.gif

With all due respect, some of us could have dropped 42 on those dudes. Those are the same guys that he dominated in high school and AAU. This league is similar to intramural basketball. Summer league would have been better comp than this rec league

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Originally Posted by UptownFuz504

With all due respect, some of us could have dropped 42 on those dudes. Those are the same guys that he dominated in high school and AAU. This league is similar to intramural basketball. Summer league would have been better comp than this rec league

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He plays there every year for his own enjoyment and to support the area that means something to him. I don't think anyone would take this as "he has arrived".

The most telling thing for him is that the coaches felt he didn't need to play in SL.

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Originally Posted by Mythrol

He plays there every year for his own enjoyment and to support the area that means something to him. I don't think anyone would take this as "he has arrived".

The most telling thing for him is that the coaches felt he didn't need to play in SL.

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Not playing the the SL may have been because we were thinking about trading him.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

Not playing the the SL may have been because we were thinking about trading him.

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That's certainly what I thought. Plus, last two years he hurt himself somehow. Don't need any of that noise again.

This isn't good. It's not bad but it isn't good because this is how you develop bad habits when you play below average to average competetion. This is that, maybe worse, some of these players looked like former glorified frat stars just trying to get a run in.

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Originally Posted by MMEmbreno

This isn't good. It's not bad but it isn't good because this is how you develop bad habits when you play below average to average competetion. This is that, maybe worse, some of these players looked like former glorified frat stars just trying to get a run in.

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Well I would hope the rest of the offseason he is playing more comparable talent and focusing on honing his skills. I wouldn't look any more into this then I would Lebron playing pick up games at the gym or Durant tweeting about looking for local pick up games because he is bored on a weekend.

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Originally Posted by da ThRONe

Not playing the the SL may have been because we were thinking about trading him.

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That would have been the case if the coaches hadn't announced it well before any moves were made.

Also, Babbitt and Ajinca were announced as part of the SL roster and were removed because of possible trade rumors. There's no reason to think that if they had wanted rivers to play So they wouldn't have done the same.

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Originally Posted by N.O.Bronco

Well I would hope the rest of the offseason he is playing more comparable talent and focusing on honing his skills. I wouldn't look any more into this then I would Lebron playing pick up games at the gym or Durant tweeting about looking for local pick up games because he is bored on a weekend.

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Right. He's def been working hard this summer no doubt in my mind. I'm just simply saying nobody should get excited about this. If he's better than who he's playing against he's either killing them and not getting better, or slacking off because he can, not getting any better, and developing bad game habits. It's nothing to worry about just nothing to be too excited about. I love rivers though, 3rd fav pel behind AD and ryno now that Smith is gone.

The driving and cross-overs don't impress me since it looks like he was playing against the post office intramural team, and he can get by guys in the NBA just as easily. But I love the confidence he's showing in his jumper, and the day he develops a steady pull-up game... he's gonna be REAL hard to guard.

i take the 3pt open shot seriously but the drives to the rim i cancel out...i would have love to see someone atleast hit him with a foul when he went to the rim one on three....they just let go to the rim without touching him.

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Originally Posted by 6warddude

i take the 3pt open shot seriously but the drives to the rim i cancel out...i would have love to see someone atleast hit him with a foul when he went to the rim one on three....they just let go to the rim without touching him.

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Agreed. What positives can you take out of playing against high skoolers?

Let the guy have his day geez.

Looks like he played against Brother Martin's JV team!

Austin walks in like "Heyyyy!!! You guys place here too?! Weird!!"

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/31/azeve5ut.jpg

What happened to him training with Tyreke over the summer?

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Originally Posted by Perth_Hornet

Agreed. What positives can you take out of playing against high skoolers?

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Skewld deh sqoolorz.

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Originally Posted by 504ByrdGang

What happened to him training with Tyreke over the summer?

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Probably still happened... This is just one exhibition...

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Originally Posted by 504ByrdGang

What happened to him training with Tyreke over the summer?

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He's done this every year while in the league. He's still training in NO.

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Originally Posted by RUFshreve

Didn't see him finish with his left hand once in that video.

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Nope. He even made it a point to finish with his right hand on drives that he went left. He's not going to finish with his left unless he's forced to, and those guys can't couldn't force him to do anything.

This is the exact competition he needs to be playing against. Not an NBA player!

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Originally Posted by HoustonPelicans

http://youtu.be/da3iSD-NISw

He looks noticeably bigger, jumpshot lookers smoother.

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Originally Posted by nola007

This is the exact competition he needs to be playing against. Not an NBA player!

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Did you say that about LeBron when he was playing and getting dunked on by high schoolers? A lot of NBA players take a week or 2 to do stuff like this during the off-season. Chill.

I look at this the same as I would look at a pre draft workout video. Every player plays against inferior talent to work on their moves, it's practicing against moving cones.

Are you comparing Lebron to Austin Rivers? Were talking about Austin Rivers man, really?

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Originally Posted by RaisingTheBar

Did you say that about LeBron when he was playing and getting dunked on by high schoolers? A lot of NBA players take a week or 2 to do stuff like this during the off-season. Chill.

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Originally Posted by nola007

Are you comparing Lebron to Austin Rivers? Were talking about Austin Rivers man, really?

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Nice deflection but that's not comparing Lebron to Rivers. I asked if you said the same thing about the competition he played against when he was in a similar situation year ago. I'm assuming your answer is no. So knowing that many NBA guys do exactly this during the off-season, do you think all of those guys aren't NBA players?

Austin Rivers is an nba player. That says it all, there alot of bad nba players on the back end of rosters.
I'm sorry, wait i wasn't thinking straight. Austin Rivers is awesome, he has proved that from day one. He shoots incredibly high fg%, he finished great, he is great with his left hand, he shoots free throws great, he's a spot on three point shooter. I mean, he does everything off the charts. Austin Rivers is amazing, just great.!

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Originally Posted by RaisingTheBar

Nice deflection but that's not comparing Lebron to Rivers. I asked if you said the same thing about the competition he played against when he was in a similar situation year ago. I'm assuming your answer is no. So knowing that many NBA guys do exactly this during the off-season, do you think all of those guys aren't NBA players?

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Originally Posted by nola007

Austin Rivers is an nba player. That says it all, there alot of bad nba players on the back end of rosters.
I'm sorry, wait i wasn't thinking straight. Austin Rivers is awesome, he has proved that from day one. He shoots incredibly high fg%, he finished great, he is great with his left hand, he shoots free throws great, he's a spot on three point shooter. I mean, he does everything off the charts. Austin Rivers is amazing, just great.!

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I don't even think the Rivers supporters would say any of that. I'm not a huge Rivers supporter or a hater, I just call it like I see it. He is and should be an NBA player, he has the potential to be a good backup PG in this league and possible starter years down the road. His defense is good and ahead of his years in that department, this is honestly what he has surprised me the most with. He has good size for the position and his handles are the 2nd best on the team. He needs to improve his mid range and rim % shots and also his free throws; but I think it would be unfortunate to turn a blind eye to his potential.

After Bo Outlaw...I take EVERY non NBA game performance with a grain of salt.

Analysis of Rivers while at Duke, has anything changed??

Austin Rivers, ESPN’s no. 3-rated recruit, came to Duke as one of the most hyped freshmen in the school’s storied history. Given his immense profile and his pedigree, Rivers was expected to immediately contribute and fill the holes left by the departures of Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving. And if you just look at his scoring line, you’d say that Rivers has adjusted nicely, averaging 13.3 points per game. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story — the truth is, Rivers has struggled, especially when it comes to taking the ball to the rack.

According to Synergy Sports Technology. He has compiled a points per possession (PPP) rate of 0.879, good for 1,109th in college basketball. PPP is an effective way to judge efficiency because it takes every possession that ends with a shot, assist, or turnover and uses that to evaluate a player’s performance. With stats like field goal percentage, you are only looking at shots attempted and aren’t considering assists or turnovers. A player could have a fantastic field goal percentage, but if he’s turning it over 75 percent of the time, that’s not efficient. Stats like turnover percentage, obviously, do not factor in scoring ability. A player could do a great job of taking care of the basketball, but not shoot it well.

Strangely enough, Rivers’ efficiency suffers when he takes the ball to the rim. The majority of these possessions have come out of isolation and pick-and-roll situations. Given his talents, which include a great first step, strong ball-handling skills, and elite jumping ability, you would think Rivers would be a very strong isolation player. But in those situations, which have made up 29.3 percent of Rivers’ offensive possessions, Rivers is posting a PPP of 0.588, putting him in the bottom 25 percent among all college players. The tape doesn’t lie, either — Rivers is great at creating and getting into space, but he struggles to finish, opting too many times to force up difficult shots in the lane.

In pick-and-roll situations, which make up 44.8 percent of Rivers’ possessions, Rivers is actually playing pretty well, hitting on 68.8 percent of his shots and getting to the line 15.4 percent of the time. Numbers like this usually put you at the top of any efficiency list. Rivers, somehow, only cracks the 82nd percentile. The reason? Turnovers. Rivers is turning the basketball over 23.1 percent of the time when coming off of a ball screen, a rate that has not only hurt his efficiency, but has disrupted Duke’s offensive rhythm.

For the most part, these problems have been a result of bad decisions. It’s early in his career, but Rivers has not yet shown the ability to hit the open man, and oftentimes finds himself in low-percentage one-on-one situations with a bigger defender.

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Originally Posted by RaisingTheBar

I don't even think the Rivers supporters would say any of that. I'm not a huge Rivers supporter or a hater, I just call it like I see it. He is and should be an NBA player, he has the potential to be a good backup PG in this league and possible starter years down the road. His defense is good and ahead of his years in that department, this is honestly what he has surprised me the most with. He has good size for the position and his handles are the 2nd best on the team. He needs to improve his mid range and rim % shots and also his free throws; but I think it would be unfortunate to turn a blind eye to his potential.

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