Is it Safe 2 to say Austin Rivers.........

[jaemooms]

I was critical on draft day but I will take Waiters over Beal anyday. Waiters is a little more fearless. Stronger going to the hoop. All these rookies are shooting horrible percentages. But Waiters has shown he can get hot.

Rivers is just stinking it up.......flat out.

And Damian Lillard is making alot of GMs look like idiots right now.

 

[BlackAX410]

neva was impressed wit his game was way ova hyped eva since high school. undersized 2 guard wit a weak handle, poor finishing ability in traffic a shaky jumper nd no court vision i didnt see da "IT" factor ova heads saw. maybe i'll be wrong cuz its A LOT of time left but i just dont see it IMO. I'll neva forget Chad Ford said he thinks he's Kobe Bryant but in reality he's Ricky Davis lmao

 

[Crude_]

Rivers shoulda stayed at Duke another year I was telling folks that when he declared that he was not ready.

Way to early to call him a bust though let's see his progression over a 2-3 year period.

I remember when N.O. drafted Rivers I was hoping we would get Lamb I don't know if he was still on the board at that point though.

 

[(ob)Scene]

lil nigga ain't built for the league

 

[PaperPlaneJane]

I'm not gone bash the guy personally. My understanding when he got drafted was that he was gonna be a major project to begin with. Everybody that would have been possibly better was gone by the 10th pick and everybody after didn't grade out better potential wise. If you watch the games u see he has the ability to be a good willing passer but no one outside of Hornets fans pay attention to that because he's not scoring effectively.

Season just started and he wasn't supposed to be put in a position to be playing 25-30min a game and be a major scoring option. Blame that on weak ass Eric Gordon. Rivers is just getting thrown out there to take his lumps way earlier than he should have IMO. I knew he was gonna struggle because he doesn't have the strength to finish at the rim yet. No problem getting there just can't absorb the contact yet. And that hurts when u don't have confidence in your jumper yet.

 

[WhoisDonG???]

I thought he wasn't ready and as u can see he's not. Doc knew this but his hands were tied with his son already thinking he better then what he is. He probably told him he not ready but it's your decision!!!

 

[Cigarello Slim]

Too soon to call him a bust but I will call him another player who left college too early.

 

[Billy_Poncho]

He's a combo guard's size but he doesn't have PG skills. He can be a servicable 6th man at best if he puts on some muscle.

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

The Video shows why Chad Ford gets paid to analyze NCAA players abilities to translate to the pro's, while Skip and Steven A. Smith don't.

It's too soon to say this kid is a bust but he has a lot of work to do to prove he should've been drafted where he was drafted at.

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

I agree that he is a bust.

But just off the top of my head here's a few that looked like bust in their rookie year too...

Jerry Rice. (I read somewhere that some Bengals receiver was touted as the "best WR" of his draft class for at least

the first couple years of his career.)

James Harden (I can personally vouch.)

Roddy White (I can personally vouch.)

Tyson Chandler (if my memory serves correct he was gettin rag-dolled in the paint his first few years.)

WTF! Jerry Rice had almost 1000 yards his rookie year back when it wasn't a super throwing league like it is now.

 

[greenwood1921]

I agree that he is a bust.

But just off the top of my head here's a few that looked like bust in their rookie year too...

Jerry Rice. (I read somewhere that some Bengals receiver was touted as the "best WR" of his draft class for at least

the first couple years of his career.)

James Harden (I can personally vouch.)

Roddy White (I can personally vouch.)

Tyson Chandler (if my memory serves correct he was gettin rag-dolled in the paint his first few years.)

WTF! Jerry Rice had almost 1000 yards his rookie year back when it wasn't a super throwing league like it is now.

He had less than 50 catches and didn't get 100 or mor till like his 5th year.

And the Walsh era Niners always passed a lot regardless of era. Which is why some considered Rice a underachiever in his rookie year, because he was in the most receiver friendly offense in football at the time.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brown of the Bengals had more catches, yards, and over twice as many TDs and won ROY.

Eddie Brown never had another good season again.

We all know Rice wasn't a bust, but if they played in today's microwave sports climate, (especially with Rice's 4.6 40 time) niggas would be making a thread like this about JR too.

 

[Beta]

Nigga gonna end up like DJ Augustin and jerryd bayless

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

why my shot not posting?

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

I've tried to post something 4 times and it isn't doing it

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

@greenwood1921

Players were not catching 100's of passes in a season with such regularity back then. Art Monk was the first to do in in 1984 and 6 seasons later Jerry was the 2nd in history to do so.

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

That was all I could post out of everything I typed. SMH

 

[#1hiphopjunki3]

Jerry went to a championship team who had there 2 best receiving options returning and was 3rd in catches,2nd in yards and #1 in yards per catch for 9ers.

 

[greenwood1921]

Rice wasn't drafted to be a 3rd WR.

They spent that pick on a WR because their WRs were not game changers and Montana's best weapon was his TE.

You're lookin at stats waaaay too much without looking at the situation.

I was only like 4 at the time, but all you have to do is talk to some old heads and also do your research on that era (not just stats and numbers.)

Lemme use a modern example...

It's like if the Aints drafted a WR with the 16th pick next year.

They obviously need a true game changing WR despite their recent success (just as the Niners did then.)

But if that WR finished 3rd behind Colston and Lance Moore next year, nobody would be impressed, and nobody would be saying at the end of the year

"that kid looks like he's going to be the next GOAT WR.

The point of my original post is that neither of those player's rookie seasons accurately portrayed what those players turned out to be.

Imagine if I said Julio Jones will be the greatest WR to ever play the game when it's all said and done.

The first thing niggas would say is...

"But he's not even the best in his draft class, AJ Green is,"

Eddie Brown was the AJ Green of 1985.

Nobodys saying Rice was a bust, he just didn't look anything like what the Niners wanted and needed from him and what he eventually became.

Rice himself has even said he was disappointed in his rookie year, which is where his legendary work ethic came from.

 

[TheIraq]

Lol @ asking if a nigga is a bust 15 games into his rookie season.....

 

[greenwood1921]

Hip-hop Junkie, here's some articles that will give you some insight to the *real climate* around Jerry Rice back then. Not just his numbers...
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2006/too-deep-zone-jerry-rice-rookie-bust

From his bio:http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/jerry-rice.htm

The San Francisco 49ers selected Jerry Rice with the 16th overall pick in the 1985 NFL draft, and hoped that he would elevate their already dominant offense. But the initial transition to the NFL proved to be a difficult one for Jerry. His rookie season began at a poor pace, and, uncharacteristic of his football career up to then, he dropped catches at an unacceptable rate. His early season performances drew boos from 49er fans, and caused many to feel as if the former small town star was on his way to becoming a big time NFL bust.

As you'll see from reading those articles, the first half of his rookie season and the second half were night and day. And his stats from that year were mostly padded from his late season performance including a game where he got over 200yards.

And let's not forget that this is a thread asking if a NBA player is a bust just after the first month of the season.