Philadelphia 76ers: Buy stock in Austin Rivers before it’s too late
The Philadelphia 76ers could have ‘father-son-ly’ love.
When the Philadelphia 76ers eventually settle on a head coach to lead their franchise into the 2020-21 season and beyond, they’ll have to identify cheap, peripheral players who can come in on vet-minimum deals and/or a chunk of the mid-level option to help supplement their $100-plus million core.
Is that an ideal situation to be in? Heavens no, every team would love to be built like the current Eastern Conference champions Miami Heat, or even a rapidly ascending squad like the Memphis Grizzlies/New Orleans Pelicans, but unfortunately, that’s just not the case. The Sixers have become expensive, old, and worst of all, gosh darn impossible to believe in, let alone root for.
With that in mind, there are players to be had who can come in, do their jobs, and make the team better. Marco Belinelli pulled off such a feat in 2018 and near singlehandedly gave the Sixers’ bench life in their first legit playoff run since Elton Brand wore a red, white, and blue jersey during his first tenure in South Philly – a team forever memorialized in the Safdie Brothers’ anxiety-inducing drama ‘Uncut Gems’.
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In 2020, that player very well could be Austin Rivers.
Now before you go nuclear in the comments section, yes, I know Rivers is a rather unpopular player in many an NBA circle – with some going so far as to call him the villain of the 2010s. Matt Barnes isn’t a huge fan, Big Baby straight-up hates the guy, and Austin’s relationship with his father near-singlehandedly ruined Chris Paul’s relationship with Doc on his way out of Los Angeles.
If that’s enough to disqualify Rivers from your potential pool of players worthy of a contract with the Sixers then who am I to argue, but when you’re $16 million over the luxury tax cap with very little wiggle room to operate, sometimes you have to make lemons out of lemonade. Plus, I know on good authority that Rivers has a working relationship with the Sixers’ new head coach, his father Glenn.
Yup, in case you somehow didn’t put two and two together, Doc and Austin are father and son; the first father and son duo to ever share a coach-player relationship at the NBA level.
Would it be a tad blasé for the Sixers to sign Austin after his tenure with the Clippers ended in a borderline mutiny from many of the team’s top players? Maybe so, but this isn’t the same Rivers who played alongside J.J. Redick and Tobias Harris for 243 games from 2014-18.
Whether tasked with running the point, or spotting up on the wings as a secondary-playmaker from the two guard spot, Rivers has developed his game with leaps and bounds since entering the league in 2012 – looking better in 2019-20 than even the best statistical season of his career back in 2016-17. Under the watchful eye of another Sixers coaching candidate, Mike D’Antoni, Rivers grew past many of the bugaboos that hampered the first half-decade of his career, developing into a catch and shoot specialist who remained willing to drive it to the hoop for an easy layup with the clock running down.
Though his assist numbers never quite reached the levels of his various point guard partners like Paul, James Harden, or Russell Westbrook, Rivers’ newfound offensive discipline, when coupled with a willingness to play a secondary role in a clearly-defined scheme could provide the Sixers with a clear upgrade over Raul Neto and even the criminally underutilized Trey Burke.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Rivers is not only a solid player worthy of a spot in virtually any playoff rotation, but presumably one who could be had on a veteran minimum contact?
Since signing a three-year, $36 million deal with the Clippers under his head coach/GM father – which, is a great way to do a negotiation if you ask me – the younger Rivers has earned a grand total of $3,329,641 for the better part of two seasons with the Rockets, with a 2020-21 player option currently up in the air worth $2.39 million. While the Sixers can’t offer too much more than that figure, as they too are way, way, way, way, way over the tax cap ceiling, the younger Rivers may be willing to make that cross-country trek on a vet minimum deal for a chance to play a bigger role in his father’s system.
With only two players currently under contract with experience in Doc’s scheme, Harris and Mike Scott, Austin could immediately come in and serve as a sort of culture-setter for the Sixers’ backcourt – a term that has probably never used in the same sentence as ‘Austin Rivers’. Even if Austin fails to recreate his 2017-18 former glory- where he averaged 15.1 points and 1.2 steals per game while knocking down 2.2 of his 5.9 shots from beyond the arc (37.8 percent) in 33.7 minutes of action a night – adding a 28-year-old guard with experience in Doc’s scheme and the versatility to play as an either off or on ball guard is just too good to pass up.
Could Rivers shock the world and become the Sixers’ new starting two guard next to Ben Simmons? Or is he more of a reserve point paired up with Shake Milton coming off the bench? The possibilities aren’t endless, but they are certainly better than many the team has had over the last few seasons.
Next. Ben Simmons is better than Colin Sexton, Cavs fans. dark
Doc Rivers is not the Philadelphia 76ers coach/GM. Unlike in Los Angeles, where he held a two-pronged role with the Clippers, Rivers will have to make the most out of the groceries Elton Brand and company opt to bring to the table, regardless of how much he’d like to coach his son for a second go around. With that being said, Austin Rivers, even divorced from his name, is among the better fitting players on the open market for what the Sixers plan to do in 2020-21 and more importantly, who fall in their price range. If anything, his father’s new deal just makes South Philly a far more likely landing spot for a player many linked to the team earlier this year.