Just caught ESPN's Stan Verrett in a wrongsie -- ESPN showed Doc Rivers' younger son, Austin, dropped 46 on Wheeler High School (Marietta, Ga.) in a interstate showdown, and Verrett said he thought Rivers' other son, Jeremiah, was in the NBDL.
Anyway, it got me thinking about what Jeremiah Rivers' impact would be were he playing (for IU, not the Fort Wayne Mad Antz). It occurred to me that Rivers, touted by just about everybody within the program as a mentally strong and natural leader, would have been a good antidote for the Hoosiers on Monday.
It felt at times like IU players were going through the motions, lacking much urgency or intensity against a lesser opponent that had challenged them physically and otherwise, something Tom Crean attributed to a lack of good practices over the last week. If Rivers is as advertised as a vocal, in-your-face kind of veteran, he might have had the medicine for some of his teammates' ills had he been around.
Crean and players -- Verdell Jones specifically among them -- have talked about Rivers' impact in practice, always refusing to back down and continually challenging his teammates to make them better. But it's obviously hard for him to be the same forceful leader in games, when transfer rules relegate him to street clothes and a seat at the end of the bench.
It has been widely speculated that Rivers will get a really good shot at one of the two guard positions next year as a redshirt junior who's shown more offensive panache in Bloomington than he did in Georgetown's more rigid, methodical Princeton offense. He's also at times shown good distribution skills (he once notched seven assists in an NCAA Tournament game in his freshman year as a Hoya), so it would seem to follow he would make a good point guard in Tom Crean's high-scoring, guard-based offense.
The question I pose is this (and I'll offer my thoughts and then ask for yours): How would IU be a better team today with Rivers in the starting lineup?
The simple answer that he would obviously make the team better overall, simply because of his experience, basketball knowledge and defensive presence.
But it goes deeper than that. There have been times this year -- many times -- when it's been clear the Hoosiers lack a clear leader. Devan Dumes has tried his best, as has Kyle Taber, but neither player's game really lends itself to leading by example as well as word. Taber is a go-about-his-business kind of guy, and Dumes just can't command the same respect as would Rivers, who's been to two NCAA Tournaments, one Final Four, played at one of the country's premiere programs and has an NBA champion coach for a father.
One way Rivers would really help would be in guard rotations and responsibilities. He's a good teacher and he sees the game well, even from the stands (we sat in front of him at the Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase), and he can presumably play either guard spot with his size and apparent scoring ability.
That duality could be helpful to Devan Dumes, who could operate more within his own shoot-and-drive game rather than having to serve as offensive option and de facto floor leader at all times. It would also give Dumes a veteran guard to work the perimeter with, creating more opportunities by moving the ball and creating a flow that's seemed stunted by the learning curve this year.
It would also help IU's young guards, especially it's point guards, who could run the offense with Rivers as a sort of 1a option who could get the team into offenses when necessary and give instructions and advice on the fly, giving Jones and Daniel Moore especially an example to emulate and a different perspective when the freshmen are running the offense.
Now obviously, Rivers isn't the difference between a 10-win season and an NCAA trip, that seems certain. But I can't help but wonder if his on-court presence wouldn't hasten this team's maturation and growth, not just in the win column,
Now tell me how I'm wrong.
