Bradley vs Rivers

[Goldstar88]

Avery Bradley was able to figure out how to play in the NBA in his 4th season in the NBA and it will be interesting to see if Austin Rivers is able to do the same. Below are both players statistics during their 3rd season in the league.

Bradley: MPG: 28.7  PPG:9.2  APG:2.1  RPG:2.2 STL:1.3 FG%:40.2 3p%:31.7 FT%: 75.5

Rivers:   MPG:22.1  PPG:6.8  APG: 2.5  RPG:1.9  STL:.5  FG%:38.7  3p%:28   FT%: 74.6

Both players statistics are similar, despite Bradley playing 25% more MPG. Bradley is a great defender. A smaller version of Tony Allen at 6'2'' 180lbs with a slightly better shot/offensive ability. Can guard point guards, but can be bullied by larger shooting guards. At this point it seems like Bradley has reached his ceiling, a good role player. Statistically, he has regressed in almost every category since last season.

Austin Rivers is 22 years old and has more prototypical shooting guard size at 6'4'' 200lbs. It is unlikely that he will be as good defensively as Bradley, however, I believe he is has more natural offensive ability/talent and will exceed Bradley in almost all major statistical categories (PTS, RPG, APG). Rivers is playing behind very good players in New Orleans (Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans) and getting little playing time.  Why not keep Rivers in Boston and see how he competes against Bradley, Smart, and Pressey in practice instead of shipping him out to the Clips for a 2nd rounder. Staying in Boston and playing with other  players who are trying to figure out how to play in the NBA might be the perfect situation for him to grow and develop into a good(maybe better) player like Avery has done.

[littleteapot]

Most important stat in the NBA: minutes. Who's winning that category?

Avery Bradley may not be an all-star but I think he'd compete with the likes of Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon for more than 20 minutes. He has better players at SG to compete with for minutes here than Rivers did in the Pelicans.

[Goldstar88]

Most important stat in the NBA: minutes. Who's winning that category?

Avery Bradley may not be an all-star but I think he'd compete with the likes of Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon for more than 20 minutes. He has better players at SG to compete with for minutes here than Rivers did in the Pelicans.

You seriously think that overall, Avery Bradley is better than Tyreke Evans or Eric Gordon?

[manl_lui]

My support for Avery Bradley has been a roller coaster ride since last season. I went from heavily supporting him in the 2012 season when he overtook Ray Allen's starting role to meh last year to hating him a bit this year.

Defense is amazing but I felt (I could be wrong or seeing it differently from other people) that Bradley is too trigger happy. He just loves launching those jump shots. In the last 2-3 games, I see that pick and pop shot he always take and gets blocked. Every time he shoots a very contested jump shot with like 10 seconds to go makes me cringe.

With that said, I would still take him over Rivers :-p. When Bradley wants to play defense, it's elite. Offensively I have no opinion between the two

[littleteapot]

You seriously think that overall, Avery Bradley is better than Tyreke Evans or Eric Gordon?

Yes, he isn't a complete black hole that destroys your team's ability to do anything.

[Fafnir]

For all the hate Bradley gets for shooting too much, his usage and shots per minute are pretty tame. It'd be nice to have him drive and get more shots at the rim, but overall he's not a chucker like what's often implied.

[PickNRoll]

You seriously think that overall, Avery Bradley is better than Tyreke Evans or Eric Gordon?

Yes, he isn't a complete black hole that destroys your team's ability to do anything.

I'll take Bradley for 8M over Gordon as a max player.  Tyreke makes over 11M this year too, but is a better player than Bradley.

[Fred Roberts]

If we kept Austin Rivers, I can say that I'd be more likely to pay attention to the flotsam Celtics for a while.

He's at least going to pique my interest. Former lottery picks always do, for better or worse.

How Austin Rivers is currently worse than a second round pick is beyond me. Did all that potential vanish overnight. No. Did he suffer a major injury? No. Is he young, likely confused and suffering a crisis of confidence? Likely.

I'm always up for a project. Phil Pressey over Austin Rivers disgusts me.

[the_Bird]

If we kept Austin Rivers, I can say that I'd be more likely to pay attention to the flotsam Celtics for a while.

He's at least going to pique my interest. Former lottery picks always do, for better or worse.

How Austin Rivers is currently worse than a second round pick is beyond me. Did all that potential vanish overnight. No. Did he suffer a major injury? No. Is he young, likely confused and suffering a crisis of confidence? Likely.

I'm always up for a project. Phil Pressey over Austin Rivers disgusts me.

Yeah, I don't quite get the rationale for not taking a chance to see what we've got with Rivers.  Get him in for a month, see how he looks in practice, see if he's a project worth working on.  If not - I'm sure a deal could have been made at the deadline to send him to Dad. 

I know that Rivers has completely sucked in his career so far - but he was getting at least a little better last year and the kid's what, 22?  Isn't the whole point of a Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.ty season like this to try and find young guys that might have some talent, and see if there's anything there to develop? 

[PickNRoll]

We simply measure wrong.  Is that great college player big/fast/strong/smart enough to play in the NBA?  Some say yes, some say no.  Put him in the NBA and see.  We've done that with Rivers, and it looks like the answer is no.

[Fred Roberts]

So, it's safe to say that going to the NBA early was a brilliant move by Rivers.

Fleece an NBA team to draft you on potential and get paid for it, rather than have them pick you apart later in college and ruin your draft chances.

You can always go back and finish up at Duke with $5M in your bank account.

[littleteapot]

So, it's safe to say that going to the NBA early was a brilliant move by Rivers.

Fleece an NBA team to draft you on potential and get paid for it, rather than have them pick you apart later in college and ruin your draft chances.

You can always go back and finish up at Duke with $5M in your bank account.

Well we don't know if Duke would have given him a better environment than New Orleans to improve his game.

[snowball]

trade Rivers to Clippers, just get the Dad wants Son premium for it.

[colincb]

trade Rivers to Clippers, just get the Dad wants Son premium for it.

If this trade for Rivers wasn't agreed to as part of the Green trade, I'd be amazed.  Reading between the lines, Doc asked for Danny to help him out for a late 2nd and some cap relief.

[SHAQATTACK]

There is no VS....LOL.......there is no comparison at this point ...holy cow.

AB is a highly paid professional ,  with a new contract that A respected GM thinks he is worth .  Someone with recognized skill by his peers .  Fought and worked his tail off to get his.

Compare that to ......Rivers ......who people are gifting  around like Xmas fruit cake .....something that practically nobody loves but momma Rivers......Doc will be in the dog house if he doesn't hire his little boy.