[Lotto StudParticipant]

I am not making this thread, because I dislike Rivers or anything of that nature, don’t get me wrong at all he still is a phenomenal player. From what I have seen of him, I have pin pointed a few of his weaknesses as a SG.

• Does not like to use his left hand or drive left
• Does not shoot the ball without taking a dribble. Always dribbles once or twice before shooting.
• Does not runs screens as a SG nor shoot off screens, everything is again off the dribble.
• Too ball dominant as a SG, must learn to play off the ball.

If you do not agree with me can you please let me know what weaknesses you see in his game?

[MilwaukeeBucks5Participant]

I agree with you but basically your last three points are the same thing, but it is true.  However while your analysis is true this just proves how complete of a player he already is only having imo 2-3 weaknesses.  To go off of your not shooting off screens weakness, the games i watched he would shoot a couple times off screens but he would settle for DEEP 3s instead of rubbing of the screen for a closer shot. 

[RJay757Participant]

You’re pretty spot on with your analysis. The good thing for Austin is that he doesn’t have to be in any rush to make the jump to the league (due to him coming from a wealthy family)   so he will have time to fix those fundamental flaws at Duke.

[MilwaukeeBucks5Participant]

Yeah that is a benefit for Austin at Duke but if he has a stellar season which I am expecting and is gauranteed top 3 it would be hard for him not to go.  However with Perry Jones and Harrison Barnes(Fingers Crossed) doing it this year, who knows? 

[Da1potParticipant]

 Besides his skill flaws like the ones above, he appears to be very physically weak and he often shies away from contact in the games i have watched him play in. He is a pretty good finisher though at the High School level when it comes to taking contact or changing his bidy in mid-air. He obviously is a very good jump shooter but he settles for it far to often when he can easily beat players off the dribble with his speed and ball-handling ability. People say he is selfish, but they need to realize his role is to just take any shot he wants and to not get into foul trouble- because otherwise Winter Park has virtually no chance of winning. Brandon Knight was the same way in high school, because he had to score 35+ a night for his team to win pretty much. 

[lalailaParticipant]

watching all-star games i think he showed that it’s not only because he needs to shoot, imo he is a bit selfish for sure.  

[SteroidParticipant]

I wouldn’t say those are flaws just yet because he hasn’t really played with high level talent. He’s probably been the best player at every level until college, so of course he’s not going to be doing work off the ball. A high school coach is going to put the ball in his hands, and give him the keys to the car. Now he’s going to be playing with players that are much higher level, so he won’t have to worry about carring his team. He will be put in a better position to work without the ball and do the things you said he doesn’t do. Whether or not he can do those things are still to be seen, but like I said, I wouldn’t call them flaws just yet.

[cward23Participant]

Yeah in the allstar games he has showed those weakness. In the Camp’s and regular season he has shown he can do those things pretty well though

It seems alot of the players play different in practice before these AllStar games because in practice NBA teams have said the top two NBA prospects have been Davis and Rivers in each of the three All Star game practices( more defense is played and its more organized) they all have weaknesses though that can be fixed

Gilchrist-jumper
Wroten-settle down on the flash
Rivers-play hard on defense all the time( Duke will fix that)
Davis-get stronger and get some post moves
McaDoo- get more post moves

All of these probles can be fixed

[yaboymalParticipant]

 1st off I know you don’t have anything against him but to show weaknesses of a high school player is a little bit to much you guys are already acting like he is a pro. 2nd of all of his so called "weaknesses" are just things he has to adjust to. Also do you seriously think he is going to do all the things he did in high school at duke, hell no coach K wont have any of that. He is going to teach him how to be alot more efficient with his play..running off screens, spotting up for the open 3 get easy baskets instead of having to create everything on his own wich is only a advantage at the next level alot of kids dont have the skill set coming into college

[bstokes25Participant]

 u guys know in college he not going to play the same way he did in high school by taking 30 shots for his team. so you can say what his real flaws are until he goes in plays in college

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Can’t take no $hits.

[Ricky BobbyParticipant]

Last night all over twitter people were saying "Rivers sucks" and "Rivers is overrated" All Star games aren’t a good way to judge who’s the best player in the country in my opinion. Josh McRoberts scored around 30 points and was MVP of the McDonalds game and look how terrible he was in college and in the pros now. He was ranked the #1 player in the country by everybody and he was the most overrated #1 player to ever come to Duke. And I don’t blame Rivers for playing selfish and taking long 3s because Coach K wont let him do that next year. Let the kid have some fun. He was the best player in the Nike Hoop Summit game. Which actually mattered unlike these two "fun" games. Id still put him as the best player in the class behind Anthony Davis. And can Davis please trim that unibrow

[cward23Participant]

None of these guys are gonna take the same amount of shots they did in H.S

Davis isnt gonna be playing against 6’2 centers and being the tallest guy ont he court

Wroton won’t always be the fastest same with teague

The thing about Rivers is he is so good as a offensive player that he is gonna still be the number one option on offense as soon as he steps on Campus. His offensive game is more complete than any player in his class or in many of the classes before him

[Lotto StudParticipant]

Does it appear that he has worked on the following?

• Does not like to use his left hand or drive left
• Does not shoot the ball without taking a dribble. Always dribbles once or twice before shooting.
• Does not runs screens as a SG nor shoot off screens, everything is again off the dribble.

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