Austin Rivers signs with the wolves

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

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...

Who would he displace from the rotation? Jaylen Nowell? Jordan McLaughlin? I don't think Austin Rivers is earning regular playing time over those guys. I think he'll get irregular minutes and mostly serve as a depth piece.

[kekgeek]

The reason I like the signing is because our current guard rotation Dlo, Jmac, ant, Nowell. Outside of Ant none are considered defenders. Rivers brings some of that, while a guy like Schroeder would not have. Rivers is also great injury insurance, can play multiple guard spots and is solid at multiple things.

[AbeVigodaLive]

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...

Who would he displace from the rotation? Jaylen Nowell? Jordan McLaughlin? I don't think Austin Rivers is earning regular playing time over those guys. I think he'll get irregular minutes and mostly serve as a depth piece.

Injuries happen. Maybe that's the secret to Rivers getting 20 - 28 mpg every single season despite being a below average player.

[Monster]

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...

Who would he displace from the rotation? Jaylen Nowell? Jordan McLaughlin? I don't think Austin Rivers is earning regular playing time over those guys. I think he'll get irregular minutes and mostly serve as a depth piece.

Injuries happen. Maybe that's the secret to Rivers getting 20 - 28 mpg every single season despite being a below average player.

So is that the Austin Rivers curse I have heard about? Are we sure he doesn't have a lead pipe in that big duffle bag?

[thedoper]

I am pretty sure Austin Rivers thinks he will be getting 20mins on this team. I hope he's wrong. I do like that we are getting a player who can still play at a vet min. Very unwolvesy

[SameOldNudityDrew]

He played some good defense for Denver the last couple years, and he seems to recognize his playing career is basically over, so whenever he gets on the court, he seems to be trying to play the right way. He used to be a bit of chucker, but lately it looks like he's being a bit smarter about passing to the open guy, which is good because he's lost a step athletically. He shoots about league average from 3, which we need, and he can actually get really hot once in a blue-moon. He can also put the ball on the deck a bit. Mostly, he's a guy I think we can trust to defend 1-3 (though he might have trouble with longer 3s), and although I have no idea what his personality is like, you get the sense that guys his age who have tasted what it's like to basically be out of the league tend to mature a bit.

Here's a good review of his season last year on a Nuggets blog.

https://www.denverstiffs.com/2022/5/5/23058058/denver-nuggets-season-in-review-austin-rivers

A quick Twitter feature of his D against GS in round one this past spring.

https://twitter.com/chrisadempsey/status/1518582508702474240

[Monster]

He played some good defense for Denver the last couple years, and he seems to recognize his playing career is basically over, so whenever he gets on the court, he seems to be trying to play the right way. He used to be a bit of chucker, but lately it looks like he's being a bit smarter about passing to the open guy, which is good because he's lost a step athletically. He shoots about league average from 3, which we need, and he can actually get really hot once in a blue-moon. He can also put the ball on the deck a bit. Mostly, he's a guy I think we can trust to defend 1-3 (though he might have trouble with longer 3s), and although I have no idea what his personality is like, you get the sense that guys his age who have tasted what it's like to basically be out of the league tend to mature a bit.

Here's a good review of his season last year on a Nuggets blog.

https://www.denverstiffs.com/2022/5/5/23058058/denver-nuggets-season-in-review-austin-rivers

A quick Twitter feature of his D against GS in round one this past spring.

https://twitter.com/chrisadempsey/status/1518582508702474240

A couple things surprised me when I started looking into Rivers after the signing. 1 how few shots per 36 he took the last could years. I'll also mention he basically takes no shots outside the paint except for the majority of his shots which are 3's.

There has been plenty of praise about his defense especially last year for Denver.

Depth is a good thing. I know many here are worried about perimeter defense and players not continuing to play like they did with Beverly around. I think Rivers is another guy that Finch can use as a motivator to do what they are supposed to do. If you don't play well he can bring in various players like Rivers and Forbes. This also means Moore doesn't have to be able to play right away. One of the things teams that have success in the playoffs has is options. Rivers is another option that can be deployed in the playoffs if something isn't working.

Im not trying to say WOW LOOK WE GOT RIVERS!!! But it seems solid for a guy that may not play much if players perform reasonably well and stay healthy. If he is even an average defender kinda like Prince is that's a nice get. The Wolves continue to have solid depth and that's after trading away a couple guys. I guess a depth center is next.

[Lipoli390]

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...

Who would he displace from the rotation? Jaylen Nowell? Jordan McLaughlin? I don't think Austin Rivers is earning regular playing time over those guys. I think he'll get irregular minutes and mostly serve as a depth piece.

My main concern is an injury to DLO. Obviously a major injury to Edwards would be devastating and there isn't anyone available who could remotely fill his shoes to keep us afloat for an length of time. But DLO will also be important to this team's success and he has a fairly spotting durability track record. I'd feel much better about Schroder than Austin Rivers as a DLO replacement who could keep the team on track for an extended period of time. That, to me, was what signing another PG to one of our three remaining roster spots wall about - injury insurance for DLO. Austin Rivers doesn't cut it for me. If not Schroder, I would have preferred signing McClung as a longer-term upside play who might actually be a better short-term stand-in for DLO if he continues to shoot from behind the arc the way he did last season in the G-League.

Again, I can't say this was a bad move. But I just find it an underwhelming move.

[Sundog]

It seems like the primary ball handlers on the roster besides Dlo will be ant, j-mac, nowell, forbes, and now rivers. Not sure a guy like Schroeder would have wanted to come here with such limited opportunity. But who knows what was explored.

I'm confused about the number of remaining roster spots. I think I'm assuming Knight will be signed as the 4th big, and probably not on another two-way -- right? If so, does that mean the only spots left are the two two-ways? Or is there a roster spot for Minott?

This team is again remarkably deep, now with more veterans that have playoff experience. The team also seems well-situated to absorb the minor injuries to key players that usually happen in the course of the season. Is that the board's sense as well?

[Monster]

It seems like the primary ball handlers on the roster besides Dlo will be ant, j-mac, nowell, forbes, and now rivers. Not sure a guy like Schroeder would have wanted to come here with such limited opportunity. But who knows what was explored.

I'm confused about the number of remaining roster spots. I think I'm assuming Knight will be signed as the 4th big, and probably not on another two-way -- right? If so, does that mean the only spots left are the two two-ways? Or is there a roster spot for Minott?

This team is again remarkably deep, now with more veterans that have playoff experience. The team also seems well-situated to absorb the minor injuries to key players that usually happen in the course of the season. Is that the board's sense as well?

Knight can be kept on a 2-way deal unless another team offers him a regular contract or the Wolves do. I expect the Wolves to keep him on the 2-way contract if they can. I can't say whether Minott will be signed to a regular contract or a 2-way.