Like any good father, Doc Rivers has his son's back.
Austin Rivers, the future Duke guard and winner of the Wooten Player of the Year Award as the nation's top high school basketball player, recently made headlines for saying in an interview with Sporting News, "I dont want to just meet LeBron, I want to destroy him on the court one day."
He was not misquoted, but here is Austin's full remark in context:
"Well, Ive met Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen -- you name it. A lot of people ask me who Ive met through my dad, and theyre in awe when they hear the names of the players, but Ive never looked at it like that. Its cool meeting all of them, but I really want to be in their situation one day. I dont want to just meet LeBron, I want to destroy him on the court one day."
Doc cleared things up with media members Wednesday night before the Celtics' game with Indiana.
"The way it's being portrayed is not exactly what he said," Rivers pointed out. "What he actually said was 'I look up to all those guys, but if your own the floor with them, you want to destroy them.' You've gotta have that mentality. I think he better have that mentality or her will get destroyed. I think that's good."
In an age when more and more attention is being placed on high school athletes, Austin has already started to make a name for himself. He's no longer just "Doc's son," which makes the elder Rivers proud.
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"One thing I like about Austin is he kind of dismisses all that. He's defiant about it. He wants to be his own player, his own person, and I think that's the way he should be."