Will we be better than the Pelicans?

Unibroe is pretty fantastic; I won't put it past him to carry the Pelicans.

 

Austin Rivers

He's ahead of where CJ is at

 

I don't see color. People tell me Steve Blake is white and I believe them because he's slow.

 

Austins pretty terrible. Id take CJ over him in a second but Austin is a third year player who should get around 15-20m a game vs a second year player who missed a good portion of his first year and probably wont avg over 10m this season without a major injury.

 

I try not to get caught up in your arguing and what not. But holy shit, this is asinine. Have you ever watched Austin Rivers play in the nba?

 

I'd trade CJ for Rivers

CJ's upside is limited. He's not that athletic, his ball handling is just okay and he has no real position.

Rivers' biggest con is that he's still learning the game. Only 1 year in college. He has good size for his position, has a quick first step and is a good ball handler.

Rivers will have the better career.

 

All those things apply just as much to Rivers.

 

I think CJ is going to turn some heads this season.

There's room on the CJ Train RoyToy when you change your mind.

Choo! Choo!

 

This sounds familiar... Roy and Lillard had the same comments after they were drafted. We got a problem getting players people think are peaked right out of college!

 

Didn't Rivers have one of the worst rookie years ever?

 

Yes, he did. I remember reading an analysis that showed he had one of the five worst seasons in the entire history of the NBA for all players (not just rookies) that played over 1000 minutes.

So yeah, I agree with RoyToy, Rivers has more upside than McCollum. When you suck that bad, there is nowhere to go but up. If Rivers ever even becomes slightly worse than average, that will be a HUGE improvement.

To give Rivers credit, his second season wasn't nearly as terrible as his rookie year. If he continues to improve at this rate, I see his peak as Steve Blake in his prime (PER ~ 14). That should give the young man something to aspire to.

BNM

 

Lol, since when is 6'4', 200 lb with an 8' 0.5" standing reach good size for an NBA shooting guard??? Maybe if he played back in 1954. What's up with the short arms? I'm 1/4" shorter than Rivers (6' 3.25") without shoes, but my standing reach is 8'4" and I don't have exceptionally long arms.

And concerning Rivers "superior" athleticism, you may want to check the facts.

From Draftexpress.com:

Austin Rivers, C.J. McCollum:
Height w/o Shoes: 6' 3.5", 6' 2.25"
Wingspan: 6' 7.25", 6' 6.25"
Standing Reach: 8' 0.5", 8' 0.5"
No Step Vertical: 32.5", 32.0"
No Step Vertical Reach: 10' 9", 10 8.5"
Max Vertical: 37.5", 38.5"
Max Vertical Reach: 11' 2", 11' 3"
Benchpress: 1, 13
Agility: 11.54, 11.04
Sprint: 3.32, 3.32

Looks pretty close to me, with a slight edge to C.J. Max Reach is the same, and so is leaping ability (1/2" no step advantage for Rivers, 1" max advantage for C.J.). In terms of strength, it's not close. C.J. blows him away. C.J. is also more agile (by a full half second) and their sprint times are identical. The only real "advantage" Rivers has is the top of his head is 1.25" further from the floor, and since you don't play basketball with the top of your head, that is completely negated by the fact that both players have the exact same standing reach.

Ultimately, there is more to being a basketball player than athleticism (where neither player has a significant advantage over the other). So, I guess we'll wait and see. I do find it inconsistent on your part that you consider McCollum a poor pick at 10, but think Rivers, also taken at 10, is rippling with upside. For the record, in over 2750 minutes played in the NBA, Rivers total Win Shares = -0.5, 57th in his draft class. C.J. McCollum, in only 476 minutes has produced +0.2 Win Shares, 23rd in his draft class. If you prefer to normalize for minutes played. Rivers' WS/48 is -.009, 51st in his draft class, compared to McCollum with WS/48 = +0.019, 28th in his draft class.

At this point, neither player has justified their draft position, but McCollum has come a hell of a lot closer than Rivers, and he's done it with far less playing time.

BNM

 

I've watched a ton of Rivers. He was awful.

 

Roytoy is going full Mixum, bag on all the players with no knowledge of other players!!!

No wait, Mixum did know a little bit.

 

RoyToy has always been this way. He gets boners from playing devils advocate.

 

lmfao

I see you know how to look up combine stats, but none of what you posted addresses what I said.

When you watch the two play you see the fact that Rivers has almost a lightning quick first step with the ball in his hands. CJ McCollum doesn't. Rivers will have the ability to play the point because of this, while CJ usually gets swarmed because he's not as quick and his ball handling isn't on the level of Rivers'. It's been said more than once on this forum by different posters that CJ at the 1 is a bad idea because he's not necessarily that quick and his ball handling is just ok.

I'm not even a big Rivers fan, but I'd take him over CJ. Rivers will have the better career.

 

I'd take Rivers over Lillard tbh

 

in the butt

 

hahahahahahahahhahahahahaha. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

I mean, you did an admirable job hiding it, but now this is just too much.

No, please, make a valid case for this. I'll be waiting.

Oh wait, you'll conveniently "ignore" this. Now you'll say "I'm not ignoring you, you just irritate me"

Let me think of the next thing you'll say...

lmfao. This is even worse than "Lillard for Conley"

You were doing so well hiding your trolls. But this one is a top notch effort. Well done.