Five Worst Moves Made by Doc Rivers the GM
Jan 2, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (left) celebrates with guard Austin Rivers (25) after a basket during the second half of a game against the Houston Rockets at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Rockets 111-83. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
4 – Trading for Austin Rivers when Nate Robinson was available
The Clippers could do much worse than acquiring Austin Rivers (you’ll see ahead) — the now-waived Jordan Farmar has been an awful fit, Chris Douglas-Roberts, injury and all, underachieved while failing break into the rotation following his return and Reggie Bullock isn’t hard to replace, though at this point, it is fair to question the Clippers ability to replace him.
But you don’t give up potential assets for Austin Rivers when a better player who reportedly wouldn’t mind playing in Los Angeles is available on the market in Nate Robinson.
What a seasoned general manager does when they find out the Celtics are buying out Nate Robinson? They end all talks for Austin Rivers. Because Rivers is Doc’s son, that may have been hard for the coach/team president to do, especially with Rivers’ career trajectory being somewhere between D-League and overseas ball if he had gotten waived by the Celtics.
Even with Robinson playing some of the worst basketball of his career in his post-ACL season, he’s a better option than Rivers, though his game is closer to Farmar’s than it is Darren Collison. He’s a veteran and you pretty much know what you’re going to get with him on the floor. With Rivers, there’s hope that he pulls it together under Chris Paul after barely being a NBA player for the first 2 and a 1/2 years of his career.
Not to mention, with Robinson in the picture, the Clippers could’ve potentially packaged Reggie Bullock, Chris Douglas-Roberts and the 2nd-round pick included in the Rivers trade with Jordan Farmar on the trade market to clear space going further, possibly finding a viable 3-and-D option that can bolster the bench until a permanent solution at the 3-spot is found.
It should also be mentioned that signing Robinson in free agent would’ve been cheaper than Rivers’ $2.4 million salary.
Nepotism, I guess.