Phenom's_Revenge wrote:Austin Rivers was the player picked with the Marko Jaric pick. We've come full circle. Let's be sure to get Marko an honorary ring when the Wolves win it.
Lol. Another bad memory. Thanks, Phenom!
As for the player, he can handle sufficiently, shoot decently, put some pressure on the defense, and works hard on defense. He is a solid fit that takes pressure off Wendell.
lipoli390 wrote:I would have preferred Schroder - better playmaker, gets to the line more and hits far greater percentage of free throws when he gets there, better FG percentage, and a year younger. But who knows - maybe they tried and he didn't want to come here. Otherwise, I would have preferred taking a shot with McClung as a young talent who could develop into a starter. If this player is going to be an 11th or 12th man, I'd rather have someone with growth potential like McClung over Rivers.
Nevertheless, I can't say this is a bad signing. I think it's a bland move like drafting Moore and Kessler. I don't see much imagination or innovation in the moves Connelly makes. The Gobert deal was huge, but it wasn't exactly creative or savvy. It was just giving up a lot of assets to get one really good player. It was a rational move and not necessarily a bad one either. But with the possible exception of drafting Minott, Connelly hasn't made any moves that I find innovative, creative or savvy.
Connelly is putting together a title contender. Rivers gives them another protection if there is an injury and also if Nowell isn't actually up to the player we think he might be. It's nice to have some vets. Something to consider Rivers has played in 60 playoff games including starting 9 for Denver 2 years ago. Is he thrilling? No but he is a solid and a reasonably versatile player. Not bad for the vet min.
I still think Schroder gets more than the vet min or if he does take that little it's as an actual backup. Here he may have to sit the bench until someone gets hurt.
lipoli390 wrote:I would have preferred Schroder - better playmaker, gets to the line more and hits far greater percentage of free throws when he gets there, better FG percentage, and a year younger. But who knows - maybe they tried and he didn't want to come here. Otherwise, I would have preferred taking a shot with McClung as a young talent who could develop into a starter. If this player is going to be an 11th or 12th man, I'd rather have someone with growth potential like McClung over Rivers.
Nevertheless, I can't say this is a bad signing. I think it's a bland move like drafting Moore and Kessler. I don't see much imagination or innovation in the moves Connelly makes. The Gobert deal was huge, but it wasn't exactly creative or savvy. It was just giving up a lot of assets to get one really good player. It was a rational move and not necessarily a bad one either. But with the possible exception of drafting Minott, Connelly hasn't made any moves that I find innovative, creative or savvy.
Totally agree with all of this. If Schroeder was an option and we signed rivers, that's pretty weak. I'll say it again, this comes across to me as lazy. A nicer person will say it lacks imagination and creativity, I'll say it's lazy. I'm burned out on caring, but this is another underwhelming move.
lipoli390 wrote:I would have preferred Schroder - better playmaker, gets to the line more and hits far greater percentage of free throws when he gets there, better FG percentage, and a year younger. But who knows - maybe they tried and he didn't want to come here. Otherwise, I would have preferred taking a shot with McClung as a young talent who could develop into a starter. If this player is going to be an 11th or 12th man, I'd rather have someone with growth potential like McClung over Rivers.
Nevertheless, I can't say this is a bad signing. I think it's a bland move like drafting Moore and Kessler. I don't see much imagination or innovation in the moves Connelly makes. The Gobert deal was huge, but it wasn't exactly creative or savvy. It was just giving up a lot of assets to get one really good player. It was a rational move and not necessarily a bad one either. But with the possible exception of drafting Minott, Connelly hasn't made any moves that I find innovative, creative or savvy.
Totally agree with all of this. If Schroeder was an option and we signed rivers, that's pretty weak. I'll say it again, this comes across to me as lazy. A nicer person will say it lacks imagination and creativity, I'll say it's lazy. I'm burned out on caring, but this is another underwhelming move.
Austin Rivers is an end-of-the-bench signing that has an abundance of playoff experience -- at least in relation to this roster -- and has been a steady rotation player on a number of playoff teams. It's also an insurance policy should any of the guards slotted ahead of him on the depth chart get injured or prove to be less effective than imagined.
Once again, I would have gone in a different direction, but this is one of those "ah, I get it" moves. It's not sexy, but it's plenty solid. The only thing lazy here is your tired, antagonistic point of view on matters that are quite reasonable in reality.
Interesting interview of Austin during the playoffs a year ago. Before Denver signed him that year he had been in limbo for a month or so with no team interested in him. Austin said it was because of attitude or character issues. He didn't elaborate, but he basically admits he made some mistakes of some kind. It's a really interesting interview. He's a very smart, articulate guy who had a really period when he was really down and did a lot of self-reflection. You can tell he really appreciated Tim Connelly and Malone for taking a chance on him when no other team would that year. I now wonder why Denver let him go. But I can certainly understand why he would sign here after hearing him talk about how much he appreciated Tim Connelly.
Connelly, like Thibs, has some fav players that he wants on his teams -- he's signed both Rivers and Forbes twice (and traded Beasley and Vando twice, lol).
The other thing that strikes me is that Connelly has confounded us pretty much every step of the off-season. He didn't draft how we expected him to draft, the Gobert thing hit us like a runaway train out of nowhere, Bryn Forbes and Austin Rivers are not names we've kicked around as possible additions (that I can recall).
That's not good or bad, it's just interesting. I imagine we'll get used to the Connelly approach over time. Maybe it's just that the Wolves have never had an experienced GM... like, ever...
Edited to add one more thought: Connelly has shown an ability to add solid players on good contracts to fill in around the edges... the Will Barton signing in Denver, for example, was pretty critical to keep that ship afloat when Murray went down. Those kinds of roster moves will be important in the future due to the loss of draft capital from the Gobert trade.
kekgeek1 wrote:Officially signs for the minimum. Are the wolves a title destination now?
Kek, exactly what I have been thinking. While I don't love this move, I do like it. Rivers is well-respected around the league and is the kind of free agent that we would not have attracted for the minimum before the Rudy deal. But now we are a destination! My hope is that after we win 58 games this year, TC will have a flock of free agent vets that will see a ring opportunity here in Minnesota. The future is bright to say the least!
Interesting interview of Austin during the playoffs a year ago. Before Denver signed him that year he had been in limbo for a month or so with no team interested in him. Austin said it was because of attitude or character issues. He didn't elaborate, but he basically admits he made some mistakes of some kind. It's a really interesting interview. He's a very smart, articulate guy who had a really period when he was really down and did a lot of self-reflection. You can tell he really appreciated Tim Connelly and Malone for taking a chance on him when no other team would that year. I now wonder why Denver let him go. But I can certainly understand why he would sign here after hearing him talk about how much he appreciated Tim Connelly.
I think the moves that Calvin Booth have made since TC left show he wants to put his own stamp on the team. I think that probably sums up why he wouldn't be high on the Nuggets list. As we have learned in his short time, Connelly places high value on good character in his players and staff. I think that Tim went back to Rivers says everything we need to know about how he will be as a member of the team.
Austin Rivers is a below average player who will have occasional nights where he blows up.
If he's the team's 10-12 man... cool. But he keeps doing enough/something(?) to warrant 20+ mpg every stop in his NBA career. And eventually that leads to virtually every fan in that fanbase rolling their eyes and imploring their team to find somebody better.
If the Wolves have Rivers on the court for 20+ mpg every night... something has gone wrong. More importantly, it severely limits the team's potential.
The thing is that it would be an anomaly in Rivers' career arc. I expect him to get more run that we might think he will...
