[montauriush4Participant]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/results/players/news?id=19653&_slug_=austin-rivers&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fdraft%2fresults%2fplayers%2fnews%3fid%3d19653%26_slug_%3daustin-rivers

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Mar 23 Update: On Friday, news began to leak that Duke Blue Devils guard Austin Rivers was declaring for the draft and signing with an agent. For the most part, the response has been a collective groan.

Rivers has had as much collective scrutiny this year as anyone in the draft. The spotlight has been harsh.

Rivers came into his freshman season at Duke with as much hype as any diaper dandy. The son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, Austin had a reputation as a lethal scorer who could play both positions in the backcourt. While NBA scouts always had reservations thanks to a lack of size for his position and a lack of elite athletic ability — most thought he’d be a one-and-done type of player. We had him ranked No. 8 on our Big Board in July.

Once he started playing, the good and the bad were apparent for everyone to see. For the most part, scouts focused on the bad.

Rivers did live up to some of the hype. He was one of the best freshman scorers in the country (averaging 15.5 ppg) — albeit at a somewhat less than efficient pace (43 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3). Rivers can clearly get the ball in the basket off the bounce and as a jump shooter.

But he also struggled to get teammates involved, play defense or get Duke past the first round of the NCAA tournament. His college PER of 16.85 was weak.

At times his attitude seemed sour and he often had a swag that seemed outsized for his performance, and I think that’s what ultimately has turned some off to him.

Rivers has clearly modeled his game, demeanor, everything after Kobe Bryant. He has a ton of NBA moves in his arsenal and has the swagger. The problem is that Rivers is no Kobe.

Kobe was an all-world explosive athlete. That allows him to do things that Rivers tries to do, but isn’t nearly as successful at. Scouts expect that Rivers’ lack of explosive athletic ability will become even more apparent at the next level.

For Rivers to have a really successful NBA career, he’s going to have to drop the Kobe act and become a better shooter and really work on that floater.

If he does that he’ll be really effective. But I’m not sure he knows what he is and that has been, time and time again, a problem for players as they make the leap to the next level.

It’s why another year at Duke could really help him hone his game. But that’s not going to happen. Rivers is coming to the NBA and someone is going to take him higher than most people think.

We currently have him as the 15th rated prospect on our Big Board and going No. 21 in our latest mock. However, as I reported on Wednesday, a number of NBA GMs think that we have him too low.

I think you can expect he’ll go somewhere between 10-20 on draft night. Expect teams like the Cavs, Jazz, Blazers, Nets and Rockets to give him a long look.

But the most interesting scenario might be in Boston if Rivers is still on the board. Currently the Celtics are slated to pick 17th. The team will be in rebuilding mode this summer and they’ll want to build around someone with star potential. Would Austin’s dad want to coach Rivers? Would Celtics’ GM Danny Ainge allow it? Such a move would put a lot of pressure on both Doc and Austin and one source close to the process said that they’re hoping Austin’s off the board before Doc and Ainge have to make that call.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Pretty sad that anything below elite athleticism is considered a negative…

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Projection: Late Lottery Pick

Positives:

• Extremely confident
• Good shooter with deep range
• Sick crossover move, very quick
• Nice floater
• Skilled ball handler
• Has a killer instinct on the floor

Negatives:

 

• Good, but not elite, athlete
• Not an explosive leaper
• Needs to add a left hand
• Gambling defender
• Questionable shot selection
• Can be selfish

[jaysmith1987Participant]

You can never predict how these players will turn out he could come out hot his rookie year then fall of ala reke or oj or he could steadily develop. As fans we got spoiled with the Drose Durant Griffin guys that were instant impact players after two years or less in college. But these playeta are so young they have vast room to imorove and when they getore seasoned can take over who thought kevin love would be what he was after his rookie season.

[bloodshyParticipant]

I don’t expect him to be an all-star, but he has the makings of a solid 2 in the NBA.  His shooting % was primarly bad due to poor decision making.  He has a smooth stroke.  And his skill set really is built for the NBA.

He’s only my 4th choice at sg, but this is a very strong sg draft.  Last year I probably would have taken him above Klay or Burks, who have both looked good in their rookie season.

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