What’s the deal with Austin Rivers?

There was a time when Austin Rivers was one of the most highly touted prospects around. Coming out of Winter Park High School, Rivers was a top three prospect across the board and was even ranked number one by a small handful of sites. Colleges everywhere wanted him and he was for sure going to be the next big thing coming into the NBA, once he finished his one year at Duke.

Obviously, that projected path has taken some turns. The hype around Rivers created a can’t-win situation for him. Between falling from can’t miss prospect, to borderline lottery pick out of Duke, to one of the worst rookie seasons ever, there’s been massive criticism directed at him at every turn, probably far more than unknown prospects would have received. He’s never going to be a superstar or even a borderline star for that matter. He’s just Austin Rivers. That should be fine, but it’s almost impossible to have a discussion about him without devolving into “Well he’s only an NBA player because of his Dad.” Which is not true, of course.

Somewhere between the hype machine of the “number one high school player in the nation,” and “nepotism is the only thing keeping him in the NBA,” is the real Austin Rivers. He’s definitely an NBA player, but is he actually useful to the team he plays on? Is he a good player? Bad player? Mediocre? Whatever the heck Jeff Green is? Like many things with Rivers that’s not an easy answer. He’s currently playing backup point guard to one of the best point guards to ever play the game which is naturally going to make his on-off numbers not favorable.

The Los Angeles Clippers most-played starting lineup has a net rating of 16.2. They only give up 95.3 points per 100 possessions and score at a blistering 111.5 per 100. That’s the standard that every bench player on Los Angeles has to keep up to. With Rivers on the floor the Clippers have a net rating of -1.3. Not a ghastly number, but anything in the negatives is bad for a team that’s as dominant as Los Angeles is when their starters are in.

There is a little bit of context to Rivers numbers, and it’s that the majority of his minutes come with the bench unit. The Clippers’ second-most used lineup features Rivers, Raymond Felton, Jamal Crawford, Wesley Johnson, and Mareese Speights. There’s not a single player there that can carry that unit offensively, and a lot of that role falls onto Rivers where it’s becoming very clear that’s just not his best role. Rivers will find the most success being a role player surrounded by better players. He’s shown signs of being a capable backup point guard, and his individual numbers have seen small increases this season — but his current role with the Clippers is not one that’s helpful to him.

Chris Paul went down with injury in mid-January, and it was Rivers that Los Angeles thrust into the starting point guard role in his place. The lineup has been fine for the most part, but the drop off without Paul is noticeable. They score 106 points per 100, but then give up 106 per 100 on the other end of the floor. That’s a huge drop off of the defensive side of the ball compared to the exact same lineup with Paul. Rivers can’t do what Paul does, and it’s clear that asking him to do what Paul does is not going to lead to success.

Next: Zach LaVine's progress is halted but not stamped out

What is Austin Rivers? He’s not a superstar, a star, or even someone that can carry a bench unit for that matter. Every single team metric on the Clippers reflects that. However, is he a bad player? He’s currently having the most efficient season of his career and, while he’s not Chris Paul, he’s helping keep the team afloat.. Rivers is a capable guard which is really all the Clippers need him to be.