Austin Reaves Discussion: Will He Stay Or Will He Go?

How about Brooks on LeBron’s layup bodying him in the air to knock him down and no “and 1”.

James came out first thing in the game and give him a mini taste of what Kobe gave Pau to start the Redeem Team gold medal game. Brooks is happy with himself as a physical specimen out there and Bron is bigger and stronger still. Jolted him good.

 

Gilbert Arenas :"Reaves has already fallen to being a sixth man, with Darvin Ham electing to play Cam Reddish for his defense over him. "
I'd trade Austin Reaves for LaVine and keep D'Angelo Russell on the Lakers
Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas believes the Lakers should offer Austin Reaves to Chicago if the team wants to trade for Zach LaVine .

 

told you all... there will be morons that will analyze it exactly like that and it will hurt AR.

Granted, Arenas is one of the dumbest "pundits"... but still.

 

We are 5-1 since Austin went to the bench. What is there to complain about? The goal is to win the game...not pump up Austin's stats.

 

I agree, this move made too much sense. I think it was @lakerjones who called that and he nailed it.

Cam starting gives us more defensive punch to start the games and he's playing with a ton of confidence. D'Angelo and Austin was way too unathletic of a backcourt defensively. Austin can come in and feast on other teams second units, and he's in the game during crunch time.

I'm not sure what the issue is either.

 

This move made TOO MUCH sense? How? Why not Cam instead of Prince?

Finally, how did the move pay off? I really love myself a nice correlation.

During that period we played:

1. a depleted Suns team and we barely squeezed by 122 - 119
2. worst offense in Portland winning by 6
3. super-struggling Grizzlies team, blowing them out
4. the Kings, and ended up losing by 15 to the only semi-relevant team
5. worst offense in Portland winning by 12 (and we struggled most of the game)
6. barely lasting against Huston, at home

Homerun indeed LOL.

----

Now to lineups...

Would DLO AR Prince Bron AD and at 5 minutes mark DLO AR Cam Bron AD be that much different?
Or DLO AR Cam Bron AD from the beginning?

What the hell did the actual moving of AR to the bench acomplish aside from vacating a starting spot, which could have been done by sending Prince to the bench, where he belongs?

AR game didn't change one bit. He still has no real defined role with the "second unit", which is not a thing, as Pimple moves people around. When Pimple not being extra dense and playing him 18 minutes to Prince 30-f***ing-5, these are the most common lineups he has played since that amazing change (I've highlighted those I'd consider "second unit" lineups as all other include at least 2 starters alongside AR):


L. James - A. Davis - D. Russell - C. Reddish - A. Reaves: 3 games 18 min 24.9 NETRTG
C. Wood - T. Prince - R. Hachimura - J. Hayes - A. Reaves: 3 games 15 minutes -33.3 NETRTG
A. Davis - D. Russell - C. Wood - T. Prince - A. Reaves: 4 games 13 minutes -2.7 NETRTG
L. James - R. Hachimura - C. Reddish - J. Hayes - A. Reaves: 3 games 13 minutes 2.9 NETRTG
L. James - A. Davis - D. Russell - T. Prince - A. Reaves: 4 games 12 minutes 22.5 NETRTG
L. James - C. Wood - R. Hachimura - C. Reddish - A. Reaves: 2 games 12 minutes 95.8 NETRTG
L. James - A. Davis - R. Hachimura - C. Reddish - A. Reaves: 3 games 10 minutes -20.2 NETRTG
A. Davis - C. Wood - T. Prince - R. Hachimura - A. Reaves: 3 games 8 minutes 29.4 NETRTG
A. Davis - D. Russell - R. Hachimura - C. Reddish - A. Reaves: 1 game 7 minutes 55.4 NETRTG

We can continue, but I think the point is clear: AR leading the second unit is a myth and his most common lineup is literally as a starter instead of Prince.

His lineups that do not contain Bron, Davis or DLO are all HORRBILE or waaaaay to short to make a judgement:

C. Wood - T. Prince - R. Hachimura - J. Hayes - A. Reaves
R. Hachimura - C. Reddish - J. Hayes - A. Reaves - M. Christie
C. Wood - T. Prince - J. Hayes - A. Reaves - M. Christie

...

So... AR isn't tearing the world leading the second unit, while giving more or less the same production. We played a favorable schedule, with Bron playing out of his mind all through it. Prince has been sucking... Cam has been great.

Yeah.... the move sure paid off. SMDH.

All that that move accomplished is dimishing AR's value (yes, in eyes of stupid people like Hibachi, but that's most of them) and perhaps his confidence (I am absolutely positive he sees it as demotion, based on his reserved "...whatever best for the team..." comment).

EDIT: I think I wasted enough of my time, but an argument for Prince DLO backcourt being better defensively than DLO AR backcourt is one I've seen being made.

We can't compare them as it is hard to isolate and remove Cam's amazin defensive impact that DLO Prince lineup benefited from, but DLO AR hasn't.

We can only say that most lineups that include Prince but do not include Cam have negative NETRTG except for those that ALSO INCLUDE Reaves. Of course the sample size is far too small, but at least it doesn't support tha asinine DLO + AR are worse on defense than DLO + Prince statement.

Would love someone to show it differently.

 

Make or break: Austin Reaves' glow-up could determine Lakers' fate this season

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer
Updated Wed, November 22, 2023, 9:25 AM PST·15 min read

As the first portion of the NBA season unfolds, each week we will highlight a handful of make-or-break players who will determine their teams' fortunes, for better or worse. Before Christmas, you will have a full rundown of each team's bellwether, so you can ride the ups and downs of the rest of the season with them.

The first five make-or-break players: Kyle Lowry, Miami Heat • Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder • Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks • Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers • Julius Randle, New York Knicks

Last week: Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks • Dereck Lively II, Dallas Mavericks • Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota Timberwolves • Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets • Andrew Wiggins, Golden State Warriors

This week ...

Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers
Reaves was an experiment a year ago. He played sporadically for the 33-win Lakers as a rookie during their 2021-22 season, scoring in double digits off the bench on occasion, mostly in losses, before starting down the stretch of a lottery-bound campaign. As Thanksgiving approached last year, the Lakers owned a 2-10 record. LeBron James was nursing a groin injury. The team was scapegoating Russell Westbrook. Patrick Beverley could not make a shot. So, they reinserted Reaves into the starting lineup, and it was not long before Phoenix Suns teammates Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton were punking himon national television.

It was not until mid-March 2023, when the Lakers had tired of Malik Beasley soon after trading for him, that they fully committed to starting Reaves. He averaged 18 points on 57/49/90 shooting splits over the final 10 games of the season, as the Lakers secured a play-in tournament berth. His secondary playmaking lifted the offense enough not to waste a defense that rated fourth after the All-Star break and helped the Lakers make a surprise run to the Western Conference finals, where they were swept by the eventual champions.

During the playoffs, James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin for a feature titled "How Austin Reaves unlocked LeBron James, Anthony Davis — and the Lakers:" "I don't give a f*** about, like, athleticism; how great you can shoot the ball; how high you can jump; how fast you can run. I like high basketball IQ guys."

"He's a good complement for us," Davis added six games into their postseason. "He just knows how to play the game and he's tough. When you put guys like that around me and 'Bron, kind of the same role as [Alex Caruso]. ... Guys who just do all the dirty work but also can play, it really complements me and 'Bron."

As free agency opened at the end of June, the Lakers delivered Reaves their maximum contract offer — $56 million over the next four years — which he accepted over reported interest from the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs. A week later, he made the USA Basketball team for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and a week after that, Lakers coach Darvin Ham declared on the "#thisleague UNCUT" podcast with Marc Stein and Chris Haynes, "I’m putting it on record right now, Austin Reaves will be an All-Star at some point soon."

"It's proving that he's one of the best players in the world," Aaron Reilly, one Reaves' agents, told The Ringer's Mirin Fader for one of the many profiles on his client. "It's showing that this isn't cute. This isn't fun. This isn't a ha ha Austin's here, this is a nice story. It's, 'F*** you guys. I'm here. And I'm going to take your heart.'"

By media day, Reaves was standing with the ball between James and Davis for the Lakers' 2023-24 season promotional photo, and general manager Rob Pelinka was saying, "I think his core qualities line up with the tenets of the 'Mamba gene.' We all got to see Kobe’s career, what he stood for. No player can be compared to Kobe Bryant, but I think players today can carry genes of what he represented, and I think Austin does."


Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and LeBron James pose for a promotional photo during the Los Angeles Lakers' media day. (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) (Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
In one season, Reaves ascended from minimum-paid reserve guard to max-salaried third-leading man for one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and in one summer, he rose from a favorable Alex Caruso comparison to guaranteed All-Star and heir apparent to Kobe Bryant. That is one heckuva glow-up for a 25-year-old from a small Arkansas town of 1,170, and it is almost impossible to meet the latest expectations.

Opposing players take note of all the praise heaped on the next big thing in Los Angeles, too.

It is not surprising Reaves is off to an inconsistent start to the season. This is the most we should expect from a third-year player who first joined the roster on a two-way deal. The rest is the stuff of Disney movies. What is surprising is how the Lakers leaned more heavily into D'Angelo Russell as a third option and removed Reaves from the starting lineup in favor of Cam Reddish so soon after glowing him up.

The Lakers are leveraging Reaves as a tourniquet on a bench unit that is bleeding without James. Since his move to the bench, Reaves is averaging a 14-6-6 on 52/46/85 shooting splits — huzzah! — but the two most commonly used non-LeBron lineups featuring Reaves are still a collective -16 over 33 minutes in that stretch. If Reaves is relegated to a sixth-man role, that is a failure of the depth the Lakers touted all summer. It is also a testament to Reaves' malleability as a player. How many holes must one rising prospect plug?


Austin Reaves
SG - LAL - #15
2023 - 2024 SEASON
13.7
Pts
5.1
Reb
4.9
Ast
1.1
Stl
30:08
Min
Here is the thing: Reaves does have the talent to transform the Lakers from lottery team to conference finalist. We saw it. He might even be an All-Star at some point or the third-best player on a championship team. But to expect him to produce consistently every night the way he did for stretches in the second half of last season, all in time to deliver on that promise before James turns 40, that is a lot to ask of anyone.

Reaves was an advanced statistics god last season. When James and Davis were not on the floor with Reaves last season, the Lakers were outscored by 1.8 points per 100 meaningful possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass, and they were +16.4 points per 100 possessions when he shared the court with them.

Just about the opposite is true through 15 games of this season. Which small sample size the Lakers can trust will determine whether they are serious contenders, and the in-season actions they have taken speak louder than their offseason quotes. Maybe they are using the first half of this season as an audition tape for Russell's tradeable salary, but what that does for Reaves is a different matter. It is one thing to foster the development of a promising young player and another to label him the savior before he is ready.

 

lol "label him the savior", "glow him up", "max salaried"...this freakin' guy...

coming into the season, i viewed him and dlo as 3a and 3b, and i think you can argue that's how it's been. even with his new contract, he's still underpaid and overdelivering.

 

“The team was scapegoating Russell Westbrook.”
LOL! Tell us you didn’t watch more than a couple of games last season without actually telling us.
He wasn’t the only problem with last season, but look at the massive reversal effect it had on the team when he was shipped out for decent role players who actually contributed to winning, and not just stats.
We are constantly being drowned by false narratives these days from everywhere.

 

Let Austin be Austin..no need to put labels on him. Let that kid play his game, I like him off the bench, and it looks like it was good for the team. Austin Reaves is a hooper, he's going to find a way to make an impact regardless.

 

i like him starting and off the bench. just have him on the floor for 30+mpg, and i like him out there in the biggest moments.

the article is just sorta lame, imo. i get that the guy has to get clicks and that reaves/lakers will get them, but you could have an actually interesting take instead of the "glow up" b*******.

 

This article is a piece of crap. This "The team was scapegoating Russell Westbrook." was indeed all I needed to skip reading the rest of it.

 

Hospital Scapegoating Communicable Disease

 

Yeah they misspelled not one but both of Frank Vogel’s names. How does that happen?

 

Tremendous 4th quarter to lead the charge with Lebron. Just wished he didn't sag off Kyrie at the end.

 

On offense, so far this season, Austin has been more clutch down the stretch than AD.
Let that sink in for a moment.

 

Made the game exciting but also biggest boneheaded play at the end leaving Kyrie…

 

His 8 second violation with Kyrie defending him was also tough. Lebron also was bone headed with attempting a 3 over Kyrie and then the bad pass to AD. They both probably got tired as Reaves played the final 18 minutes straight and Lebron the final 12.

 

this is where we miss gabe (really, dennis). we need someone to get us into our halfcourt sets and then get it to reaves to initiate the primary action.