LA Clippers player grades for first 30 games of 2016-17 NBA season
By Tom West
Austin Rivers: B
After tying his career-high with seven made threes against the Orlando Magic on December 14th, Austin Rivers crept up to a new career-high of 40.4 percent from three-point range. Which, in a season where Rivers has put together a handful of big performances off the bench, is encouraging for the LA Clippers and their fans to see.
For me, it was the biggest area Rivers needed to improve in. As important as it was for him to start honing his skills as a passer and ability to keep the ball moving well among the bench, his limited role with the ball in his hands makes the need to shoot effectively from three essential (at least better than the 33.5 percent he managed last year).
In fact, if we date back a little way to December of 2015, Rivers has attempted 215 threes and made them at an impressive 39 percent of them. That’s certainly a good enough sample size to see how he’s come along.
There’s more than that, though. His defense has improved over the last couple of seasons and he continues to be a solid presence at the wing, contesting shooters well outside and shifting his feet and arms effectively to cover drives to the basket. And outside of the three-point shooting uptick, Rivers impresses whenever he’s aggressive and drives to the basket. He occasionally suffers from wild shot selection, but he can burst past players off the dribble and can create penetration to support the bench.
Overall, with some nice development and two-way impact, a B is appropriate.