Despite knocks on his game, Austin Rivers has been the shooter the Los Angeles Clippers needed this season.
If you’ve watched any Los Angeles Clippers’ games, you probably have an opinion on Austin Rivers. I would guess though that not many of you would say “Austin is a knock down shooter”. A few days ago, u/urfaselol posted an interesting fact to Reddit.
Here’s the direct quote from his post:
"(With) only 24 games left, Austin Rivers is still taking half of his 3’s off the Dribble (3.4 Per) and making 41% (!!) of them. For reference, Steph Curry is shooting 41% on off the dribble 3’s this season."
With Stephen Curry being the greatest shooter of all-time (it’s a fact at this point), it’s pretty impressive to see Austin putting up similar numbers. This made me only want to dive a little deeper.
Break down
This is Austin Rivers’ best season shooting from deep. As of this writing, Austin is shooting a career high 6.2 three point attempts (3PA) per game. Even though he’s shooting 2.2 more threes per game than his previous high, he’s making a career high 39.3% from deep.
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Let’s break it down even further by number of dribbles for each 3PA.
- 0 dribbles: 2.8 attempts at 37.1%
- 1 dribble: 0.9 attempts at 42.4%
- 2 dribbles: 0.5 attempts at 41.2%
- 3-6 dribbles: 1.2 attempts at 37.8%
- 7+ dribbles: 0.9 attempts at 44.1%
Not too shabby, huh? He’s shooting more shots as a catch and shoot player than he is off the dribble, but it’s easy to see that he’s an above average shooter across the board. (For reference, the league average for 3 point field goal percentage this season is 36.1%)
In the category of 3-6 dribbles, he’s shooting a better percentage than the likes of James Harden, Devin Booker and C.J. McCollum. He’s also doing so with a higher frequency than the latter two.
With 7+ dribbles, he’s making a higher percentage than Harden, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal and several other big name “shooters”.
Complete game
We’ve already broken down on several occasions how we feel about Austin. The kid can score. His defense is under appreciated. For every Bill Simmons out there, there are five people claiming he’s only in the league because of his dad.
Austin’s offensive game has steadily improved each season, going back to his days working with Sam Cassell in the offseason. His ability to drive to the basket is a far cry from the “Here comes Austin Rivers!” meme and he’s shown a deadly crossover several times this season.
Next: Mid-Season Grades: Austin Rivers
It’s been said several times before, but needs to be said again: Austin is only 25 years old. He has yet to enter the prime of his career and although he may not be a star level player, he is developing into a very solid NBA player.