Is It Crazy To Think That Austin Rivers Is A Better Player When He Only Has One Functional Eye?4/30/2016
I don't mean to tease Austin Rivers here. Okay fine, maybe I am having a LITTLE fun at his expense, but it's all out of love because I truly respect what he did last night. Not only did he sustain an NHL playoffs-esque injury in the NBA playoffs, but he came back and contributed a hell of a performance in helping a battered Clippers team compete to the bitterest of bitter ends to their season. He could have very easily packed it in, but he actually came back out on the floor looking like a goddamn cyclops possessed. That's why I have to question whether he really needs that second eye to be successful. Anyone that knows anything about Austin Rivers knows that his career to this point has primarily been plagued by an irrational amount of overconfidence. As a friend of a friend once put it, "he plays like he is the best player in an AAU tournament". Honestly never heard a more accurate interpretation of an athlete's game in my entire life. Austin Rivers biggest problem isn't that he doesn't have the talent to be productive in the NBA, it's that he doesn't have the talent to be the best player in the NBA. By all prior indications that's exactly the prototype by which he has tried to model his game and it has resulted in relative failure. That, however, wasn't the case last night. I know it's a small sample size, but one-eyed Austin Rivers can finish at the hoop. One eyed Austin Rivers takes what the defense gives him. One eyed Austin Rivers takes smart, in rhythm jump shots. One eyed Austin Rivers makes tear drops. One eyed Austin Rivers finds the open man. One eyed Austin Rivers facilitates on the offensive end without letting his effort slip on the defensive end. To put it simply, one eyed Austin Rivers is a hell of backup point guard. Two eyed Austin Rivers forces up off balance shots, takes flat footed threes, has as much touch inside as DeAndre Jordan at the foul line, and probably hasn't accumulated 8 collective assists since January. In my estimation they are just drastically different players. I am not saying that Austin Rivers has to look like he just walked off the set of 'Creed' to be at his best, but it might not be the worst idea to keep an eyepatch on the Clippers bench just in case he starts to play a bit over his pay grade. Impossible to be cocky when you only have half your vision, and taking the 'over' out of Austin's overconfidence appears to be what transformed him into a capable floor general last night.
21 Comments
10/9/2019 10:01:23 pm
Well, some of the fans assumed the same thing too. I know that Austin Rivers has always been a great player. But when a certain incident that injured his eye happened, I also noticed that he became a faster and more active basketball player. It is odd and I don't even understand what's happening regarding that. All I know is the fact that he is a good player and he has all the potential to go and make it bigger in an industry that we live in!
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4/4/2024 12:01:38 am
Such a great piece! Thank you so much for sharing all this wonderful information.
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4/4/2024 10:14:06 pm
I love this question you asked in the interview. That was so thoughtful.
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4/4/2024 10:14:58 pm
The beginning really hooked me. You know how to grab a reader’s attention.
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4/4/2024 10:20:22 pm
I’ve studied your work a lot, and I’m trying to get better at writing myself!
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4/4/2024 10:23:50 pm
You make it seem so effortless, but I know you must have worked hard on this.
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4/4/2024 10:25:34 pm
This sentence really grabbed me. I love the way you structured it.
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4/4/2024 10:27:01 pm
How did you learn to write when you were just starting out?
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4/4/2024 10:28:17 pm
Is there anything I should be doing if I want to write like you?
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