Unconcerned with his stats, Austin Rivers just wants to win with Timberwolves

When Austin Rivers signed with the Timberwolves in July, he went to Twitter to express his excitement for his new home.

Finally, Rivers was going to live in the place where his favorite movie franchise was filmed, "The Mighty Ducks."

"Been wanting to live in Minneapolis since mighty ducks!" Rivers tweeted. "Where Charlie Conway at?…let's link."

Rivers, who said his favorite movie in the group was "D2: The Mighty Ducks," has already spent time scouting locations where some of his favorite scenes were shot.

"I was like, that's where Mighty Ducks was filmed! People are like why do you care?" Rivers said.

The 30-year-old veteran will get to take as many pictures as he wants around town while he's with the Wolves, but it wasn't just the tie in to the "Mighty Ducks" that brought him here.

Rivers, a defensive-minded guard entering his 11th season, took the floor for the first time in a Wolves uniform in Tuesday's preseason opener, a 121-111 victory over the Heat in Miami. Rivers played 21 minutes but was scoreless, missing six shots. He did have three rebounds and two assists and was a plus-9.

Anthony Edwards scored 24 points and Taurean Prince 19 for the Wolves. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro led Miami with 22 points apiece. Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell did not play for the Wolves.

Rivers was candid at the team's media day when discussing his options in free agency this summer — in that there weren't a lot.

"The summer was stressful, honestly," Rivers said. "You end up putting yourself in a situation where you don't know where you're headed. I didn't have 15-20 teams calling me, offering me deals."

At first, he thought he might return to Denver, but then he said he saw an opportunity with the Wolves after the team traded much of its depth from last season in the trade to land Gobert. Rivers, the son of 76ers coach Doc Rivers, signed a one-year minimum deal.

"I know, deep in my heart, I can make a positive impact here. It worked out," Rivers said. "I didn't really care what the deal looked like. I just wanted to come here and play basketball. All that other stuff takes care of itself. Just want to put yourself in the best situation. Then the money and all that kind of stuff ends up coming when you do it for the right reasons."

The Wolves will be counting on Rivers to provide depth on the defensive end of the floor. That has become Rivers' niche in the NBA where earlier in his career scoring was more his focus.

"He's a great example of a guy who came into the league and probably thought he was going to be a volume scorer," coach Chris Finch said. "For whatever reason or another, that's now how his career unfolded for him, but he's figured out, 'This is what I needed to do to get on the floor, stay on the floor and help teams win.' A lot of it has to do with his IQ and competitiveness."

Rivers averaged six points per game with the Nuggets last season and is a 35% three-point shooter for his career. But offense isn't on his radar this season. If he contributes, fine. But defense is where he wants to make his mark on helping the Wolves win.

"My biggest advantage is I have no self-interest in my own stats," Rivers said. "It wouldn't do anything for me. I'm not going to get plays called for me. I'm not going to score 20 points a game. I'm not going to take 20 shots. It's not going to happen. So my only intention is to win.

"I don't have anything else. I haven't won since I've been in the NBA. I haven't been a part of a championship team. So I would like to be a part of that."