New Orleans Pelicans: Summer League Says Austin Rivers Will Be Better

Austin Rivers had a historically bad rookie season for the New Orleans Hornets in 2012-13. The 10th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft out of Duke shot just 37.2 percent from the floor, 32.6 percent from 3-point range and 54.6 percent from the free-throw line en route to averaging 6.2 points and 2.1 assists per game … in 23.2 minutes a night.

According to player efficiency rating, Rivers’ rookie season was the fourth-worst year ever recorded in NBA history for player who appeared in at least 50 games and averaged at least 20 minutes per game.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/3/2013.

Rivers did make some history, though. That 5.9 PER was the worst ever recorded by a guard who met the playing-time standards listed above.

Summer league results can often be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s worth noting that Rivers showed signs of struggle when he played for the Hornets’ entry in Las Vegas in 2012.

He played in just two games in Las Vegas prior to his rookie year, logging 64 minutes and shooting just 4-for-19 from the floor (21.1 percent). That included a 1-for-8 performance from 3-point range and he was 11-for-18 from the line (61.1 percent). He averaged 10 points, 3.5 assists and three turnovers in those two games.

From there, he put together the historically horrible season of 2012-13.

But fast forwarding a year to 2013-14, the newly renamed Pelicans have a point guard in Jrue Holiday and wing players galore in Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans. So Rivers will likely be asked to play a role off the bench, as opposed to starting. Rivers started 26 games as a rookie before the plug was pulled.

Rivers told HoopsWorld last month he believes he can be a contender for both Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year honors in 2013-14.

Most Improved might not be too much of a stretch, if only because the bar would be rather low after the dreadful rookie season Rivers had.

But in this year’s summer league session in Las Vegas, Rivers showed the talent that made him a top-10 draft pick.

In five games, Rivers averaged 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game, shooting 48.6 percent from the floor (34-for-70) and a much-improved 72.4 percent from the line (21-for-29). The 3-point shooting, meanwhile, is still a work in progress—he converted just 2-of-10 from deep in Vegas.

Here’s some film of Rivers’ 24-point performance against the New York Knicks out in Las Vegas:

Rivers is more than ready to embrace a reserve role; he asked Pelicans coach Monty Williams if he can be the anchor of New Orleans’ second unit.

The D-League, as well as leagues around the globe, is littered with players who starred at some point in one of the NBA’s Summer League sessions. Summer league numbers should always be taken into proper context.

But at the same time, Rivers had a terrible summer in Vegas in 2012 and that translated into a terrible season in 2012-13.

Based on that parallel alone, the New Orleans Pelicans have to be optimistic about Austin Rivers after the way he played at Las Vegas this time around.

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