Duke Basketball: Comparing Austin Rivers and J.J. Redick's First 6 Games

Austin Rivers draws a lot of attention and strong opinions.

Many have slammed his initial performance as a Blue Devil.

I am neither a Rivers' crusader or critic, just a curious basketball fan.

Out of that curiosity, comes this question: How do his first six games compare with one of Duke's all-time great players, J.J. Redick?

Comparing Rivers with someone like Kyrie Irving would not have been consistent because Irving played point guard.

Putting Rivers and Redick side-by-side seems to be an apples-to-apples comparison from a positional standpoint. Both play shooting guard.

It was interesting to see how their first half-dozen games compare.

Backcourt Teammates

As a freshman, J.J. primarily played alongside Chris Duhon (pictured) and Daniel Ewing, two excellent teammates who both had notable collegiate careers.

Rivers is paired up predominantly with Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, who are both great shooters. 

Because Redick had Duhon, who was a true point guard that thrived on running the team and setting up his teammates, J.J. could focus exclusively on doing what he did best—shooting and scoring.

Rivers cannot be nearly as single-minded. The current Duke perimeter players all carry partial responsibility for play-making along with scoring. 

Frontcourt Teammates

J.J. Redick also ran with Dahntay Jones on the wing, as well as Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Casey Sanders down low.

This year's Duke team really doesn't utilize a true shooting forward and relies on Ryan Kelly, a perimeter-oriented PF, plus Mason and Miles Plumlee in the post.

The team that Redick played on as a freshman had better talent and better balance than this year's squad.

Scoring

J.J. Redick, Duke's all-time leading scorer, scored 80 points in his first six games, which comes to a decent 13.3 ppg average.

In four of those games, Redick scored in double figures. In the other two contests, he struggled, scoring three and eight points.

Austin Rivers has scored 91 points in his first six games, which comes to a respectable 15.2 ppg average.

Rivers has put up double figures in five of these six games. Rivers had a rough night against Michigan State, scoring five points in 23 minutes.

Field Goal Shooting Percentage

Redick, known for his sizzling shooting, started the first six games of his four years in Durham by shooting 24-for-59, an acceptable 40.7 percent. He shot 50 percent or better in one of those games.

Rivers has currently made 29 of 66 shots for a satisfactory 43.9 percent. He has shot 50 percent or better in two of his first six games.

Three-Point Shooting Percentage

Redick finished his Duke career as the NCAA all-time leader in made threes with 457. In his first six games as a Blue Devil, Redick hit 18 of 48 shots from beyond the arc (37.5 percent).

Rivers has shot 19 threes in his first six games, making seven, which is 36.8 percent from downtown. 

Assists-to-Turnovers

J.J. didn't help the Blue Devils much in terms of passing and play-making.

In his first six games, he had seven assists and seven turnovers, a 1.0 assists-to-turnover ratio. Even for a guard who wasn't needing to contribute much in this way, you would hope that he would have a better A/TO.

Rivers has both more assists and more turnovers in his first six games. He has handed out 15 assists but he has turned the ball over an equal (15) amount of times, for an identical 1.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Steals

J.J. had nine steals in his first six games. Rivers has eight so far this season.

When it comes down to it, neither one of these two players are considered to be a huge help or hurt on the defensive end of the court.

Conclusion

When I went to statsheet.com to pull up Redick's stats, I didn't know what I would find.

What I discovered was that one of the best college players in Duke and ACC history had a solid beginning with lots of positives to point out and lots of room for development and improvement.

I see Austin Rivers' first six games the exact same way.

He has had a solid beginning with lots of positives to point out and lots of room for development and improvement.

Rivers' future as a Blue Devil is wide open. No one, not even Coach K, knows how the next chapters this year or in the future will unfold.

I look forward to seeing what happens.