You aren’t gonna win many games in the NBA when your fourth quarter offense consists entirely of Austin Rivers. All 5 shots, made or assisted by the guy who was probably the worst player in the league last year. Though to be fair, he had a really good night, with some nice finishes at the rim and some good passing. He’s progressed far enough that I would say he’s only below average now.
I have recently come across a new term to add to my NBA lexicon. “Tanking”. It’s where you purposely try to lose games in order to better your draft position. Could the Pelicans be attempting such a strategy with Austin Rivers as the “Tank Commander”?
It’s not out of the question, considering they lose their pick unless they are sufficiently bad. I fully expect Anthony Davis to get sidelined with a fractured unibrow so that they have to give all his minutes to Luke Babbitt. That draft pick is important. You can’t mess around by winning games.