Why Austin Rivers has actually "given themself" to the Nuggets and why he wishes it's a lasting collaboration

Check out this post by Mike Singer from The Denver Post discussing some important points this week. Mike Singer recently posted this and I decided it was well worth publishing on this website.

Nuggets guard Austin Rivers called his two-month hoops hiatus a “blessing in disguise.”

Not only did it give Rivers time to conduct a self-audit, it gave him the chance to master the art of the diaper change.

“I have a two-month-old baby boy, so I got to be at home with him,” Rivers told The Denver Post. “I had my son come up (to New York), my two-year-old, which was a handful. I was really on like daddy duty, man. I was making dinners, cleaning diapers, waking up in the morning, just life, man. It was a new experience for me being able to do that stuff, but it was amazing.”

In between trips to the zoo and various trips to the park, Rivers stayed in shape knowing that the call back to the NBA could come any moment. It was a place Rivers never thought he’d be in after starting the season with the Knicks, then getting moved to the Thunder and immediately waived.

“Basketball-wise, it didn’t make sense the things I was going through,” Rivers said.

At 28, his first step was still devastating, and he still brought it defensively. Why, then, was he on the outside looking in?

“There are things from a leader, as a person who’s been in the league for that long, I can be better at,” Rivers admitted. “More consistent. Always being a presence in the locker room where you’re adding nothing but positivity. Not that I ever added negative stuff, but you can be better. You have to look in the mirror and just be like, ‘Man, I can be better at these things.’ I can be earlier, I can talk more.”

Rivers said on past teams he’d been seen as an “introvert.”

“I think sometimes when you do that, it leaves people to guess who you are because they don’t know you,” he said. “That was kind of my thing. I just started to be like, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna start to really give myself to the team,’ and just put myself out there.”

Call it an epiphany. Rivers knew he couldn’t entirely blame his circumstances on the Knicks.

“When you have a fresh start like (in Denver) … and then you just stop trying to put so much emphasis on yourself,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest difference in my game right now and just my approach as a player. I’ve given myself to the team. Whether I play 35 minutes or five minutes, I’m going to be positive as hell.”

Perhaps the biggest lesson Rivers learned while away from the game was how much better it feels when your primary focus isn’t on individual achievement. Not that he regrets his circuitous NBA path in the least; without it, he wouldn’t be in Denver with a front office and a coach who believes in him.

“I was a top rookie and didn’t have my best years in the league,” Rivers said. “I’ve been through a lot as a player. Those experiences I don’t take back because I know I can use them for good instead of (being) so focused on myself… Just focus on trying to help the team. When you do that … it’s a lot easier to be happy. It’s a lot easier to be positive. It takes energy to be so indulged in yourself all the time.”

Rivers, who erupted for 25 points Wednesday against the Knicks and then drained five more 3-pointers in Friday’s loss to Utah, called his new start in Denver a “blessing.”

“They gave me a chance, and they didn’t believe stuff that they’d heard,” he said.

When the Nuggets began doing their background research on Rivers, the questions Tim Connelly asked had nothing to do with talent. Rivers said Connelly told him he was confident he’d be an asset on the court.

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“All the questions were about culture,” Rivers said. “They take that seriously here. That’s a priority.”

“… They don’t have bad guys on the team,” he added. “They just don’t. Their superstars are soft-spoken people. Jamal Murray and (Nikola) Jokic are like the most regular, normal guys you’d ever meet but are bad dudes on the court. Those are the type of guys they collect here. … It’s a more welcoming type of franchise, and I think that helps players play better and be more comfortable.”

Rivers and his growing family have already fallen for Denver. No one needs to explain the business side of the NBA to Rivers, but if it works, he said he would love to be with the Nuggets moving forward.

“That’s the goal,” Rivers said. “The goal’s to be here long-term. It’s just been a natural fit. I can’t speak for them. I know it’s a business. … I love this team, that’s all I can say.”