Post by HoyaChris on Dec 7, 2005 16:22:23 GMT -5
I went out to see Jeremiah Rivers at the St Louis Shootout this morning. The Shootout, in its 25th year, has seen 17 national high school players of the year, 80 McDonalds All Americans and currently features 47 alumni in the NBA. The program cover features Zo verses Laphonso Ellis from back in 1987. The format features 5 national teams and 9 Missouri/Southern Illinois teams in 7 games, all played today. Jeremiah Rivers is one of four players featured in the publicity for the event, the other 3 being likely McDonalds AAs Chase Budinger (Arizona), Stanley Robinson (UConn) and Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech). River’s Winter Park team was matched against a veteran team from the St Louis exurbs, Troy Buchanan, which features three low D-1 recruits and is likely to place somewhere in the top 4 schools in Missouri at year end.
I arrived at the Savvis center about 12 minutes before game time and was surprised to see Rivers sitting on the bench. Perhaps I should not have been surprised since the morning paper had referred to a foot infection, but his coach had insisted that he was going to play. About 3 minutes before game time, Rivers walked slowly onto the floor and proceeded to drain 6 consecutive 3 pointers, none of them touching the rim. The form on the shots was good with a high release and excellent rotation.
Physically, Rivers reminds me of a young Fred Brown (yes, the guy who made the pass in the 1982 title game – before he hurt his knee before his junior year he was the Big East Rookie of the year in 1981) except that Rivers has exceptionally long arms. The other resemblance to Fred Brown is that Freddie played his last two years with a massive brace on his leg, and Rivers right leg had a sleeve on the knee and a sleeve on his foot.
And therein lies the problem, because there is no way that he should have been playing today – he basically played 22 minutes on one leg. I can only assume that he wanted to play because he was a featured player, but I would guess that today’s effort probably set him back three weeks. I would be surprised if he plays again before Christmas.
Rivers was clearly not himself, but you could see flashes. His line, 22 minutes, 7 points on 3-7 shooting including 1-2 from 3, 0-3 from the line), 4 assists (this is more impressive than it sounds because he didn’t run the point for ¾ of the game), 3 steals, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers.
His defense was excellent, even on one leg. He is unbelievably long and has fast hands. Assuming a solid right leg he would be our best perimeter defender right now.
I am also comfortable with his shooting based on the quick pre-game exhibition.
He gets into the lane fast. He tried to drive five times and blew past his defender each time, scoring twice, missing once and dishing off for assists twice. For the last two thirds of the game he did not look to drive, in fact he did not even get up the floor on about half of Winter Park’s possessions.
I’m not quite sure what to make of the turnovers. His dribble seems kind of high but that is not where he lost the ball. Twice he tried spin moves and his right leg just collapsed. Two other times he threw the ball away in what looked like communications problems with teammates (I’m guessing he hasn’t practiced much). On the fifth turnover he was hit solidly on the arm and the refs just missed it. But I am not sold on the dribble.
I would have liked to have seen him dominate but what I would mostly like to see him do now is rest. He was hurt all summer which hurt his ranking and I hope that he does not have a Ramell Ross type injury-filled career, because he looks to have serious skills.
His team is very good even without him. They won the game by about ten with four players scoring in double figures.
I arrived at the Savvis center about 12 minutes before game time and was surprised to see Rivers sitting on the bench. Perhaps I should not have been surprised since the morning paper had referred to a foot infection, but his coach had insisted that he was going to play. About 3 minutes before game time, Rivers walked slowly onto the floor and proceeded to drain 6 consecutive 3 pointers, none of them touching the rim. The form on the shots was good with a high release and excellent rotation.
Physically, Rivers reminds me of a young Fred Brown (yes, the guy who made the pass in the 1982 title game – before he hurt his knee before his junior year he was the Big East Rookie of the year in 1981) except that Rivers has exceptionally long arms. The other resemblance to Fred Brown is that Freddie played his last two years with a massive brace on his leg, and Rivers right leg had a sleeve on the knee and a sleeve on his foot.
And therein lies the problem, because there is no way that he should have been playing today – he basically played 22 minutes on one leg. I can only assume that he wanted to play because he was a featured player, but I would guess that today’s effort probably set him back three weeks. I would be surprised if he plays again before Christmas.
Rivers was clearly not himself, but you could see flashes. His line, 22 minutes, 7 points on 3-7 shooting including 1-2 from 3, 0-3 from the line), 4 assists (this is more impressive than it sounds because he didn’t run the point for ¾ of the game), 3 steals, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers.
His defense was excellent, even on one leg. He is unbelievably long and has fast hands. Assuming a solid right leg he would be our best perimeter defender right now.
I am also comfortable with his shooting based on the quick pre-game exhibition.
He gets into the lane fast. He tried to drive five times and blew past his defender each time, scoring twice, missing once and dishing off for assists twice. For the last two thirds of the game he did not look to drive, in fact he did not even get up the floor on about half of Winter Park’s possessions.
I’m not quite sure what to make of the turnovers. His dribble seems kind of high but that is not where he lost the ball. Twice he tried spin moves and his right leg just collapsed. Two other times he threw the ball away in what looked like communications problems with teammates (I’m guessing he hasn’t practiced much). On the fifth turnover he was hit solidly on the arm and the refs just missed it. But I am not sold on the dribble.
I would have liked to have seen him dominate but what I would mostly like to see him do now is rest. He was hurt all summer which hurt his ranking and I hope that he does not have a Ramell Ross type injury-filled career, because he looks to have serious skills.
His team is very good even without him. They won the game by about ten with four players scoring in double figures.
