Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

I may be naive but being that I believe AR is very self aware of his play and standing as a player in the NBA when he has his struggles trying to be Luka against top teams in the playoffs with Luka out …. that the upside is maybe instead of my season long thinking of 35M ish …. it has now dropped to 30-32M ish? Other teams are watching too, the few that could swing offering a big contract to him, where he might really want to play, over what the Lakers may adjust to. Still one hell of a player to have on our roster going forward, certainly at closer to 30M. Especially if it’s another rough game on Monday …. with Luka not playing which factors in Big time. So it’s not all bad.

 

If I’m Chicago or whomever has the cash, I offer max for Reaves. Were talking 30m for Peyton Watson, for the love of basketball god.

 

I came up with a trade I would do for AR. Sign him for $37 mill per and trade him to Minny.
We will take Divincenzo’s rehab off of their hands and they give us McDaniels.

 

I said McDaniels and Dosunmu for Reaves and 2 firsts. I think that’s fair.

Reaves at 30m for me is a no brainer. I do think Watson has a higher theoretical ceiling due to size and athleticism. But Reaves is a top 30 player.

 

Twolves didn't want to give up McDaniels for Durant and they are not going to give up one of the best defensive players in the game for a guy who can look like a turnstile at times. Especially since McDaniels can put up 30 in a playoff game

 

I don’t think they do it, but if they go for Giannis. Maybe?

At the end of the day Reaves + 2 firsts is equivalent to 4 or 5 firsts. That could tip the scales. Although I imagine they try to trade Randle / Gobert instead of McDaniels.

 

Mcdaniels is a far superior player than AR.

 

Don't think the new GM in Chicago agrees with that idea. Curiously..the Bulls might circle back to AD tho. If Washington takes thier 15th pick..there maybe a deal to be worked out there.


https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-bulls-trade-rumor-gains-steam-latest-nba-insider-report/

 

Yes but is Reaves + a first his value? Or 2 firsts? I'm not sure if our fans would be happy to pay that much for McDaniels.

 

Austin is dropping a 40 piece tonight. That will muddy the waters for sure!

 

annnnd the 30th highest paid player in the nba is set to make make how much next year? (42 million)

watson has a high ceiling. i've been a strong advocate to pursue him as the top option this summer, even if i think it's unlikely. but it's actually a pretty big gamble to pay him 30 based on what he's shown over 4 years in the league.

ooohhh i'm not sure about that.





ideally, a luka team has both reaves AND mcdaniels as the second and third guys, imo. if it's OR, i'm probably taking reaves.

 

What do you conclude from those stats you brought? Not sure what they mean and, again, there's a ton of context on them. For example, AR had that MVP-like run early season that certainly bumped his offensive numbers. While I think we can both agree he has yet to find any way to be effective when defense shrinks and gets more physical in postseason

Knowing and watching both players, I think McDaniels have more unique skills that serve better a championship team. I think our team would be better with McDaniels than AR. He complements better what Luka lacks, therefore more easily making it a better team.

I do agree you need both along Luka to win a title. If McDaniels was here instead of AR, we would for sure be looking for a guy like AR.
But I think you more easily find what AR brings with some other guy than what you need from a McDaniels type

 

they're just my preferred omnibus stats for offensive and defensive impact. they attempt to adjust for contextual factors of the type that have you concerned, although they are obviously imperfect, as are all stats.

i think he's been injured or recovering from injury the past two playoffs. pretty much all top offensive options get worse in the playoffs (look at SGA vs. us, for example), all for similar reasons (fewer whistles, more intensity, gameplanning, talent, effort, and attention to detail for opposing defenses). i actually think a lot of these non-star "playoff risers" are just guys the other team decides to allow to try to beat them. very unpopular opinion, i know.

we'd be scouring the league for a second playmaker and coming up empty.

i think there are more mcdaniels types out in the world than there are reaves types. and i think luka's brilliance can make djjs have mcdaniels type impact.

 

https://digginbasketball.substack.com/p/austin-reaves-drive-game

good article that gets at some of what i mean above. people think this stuff grows on trees, but it does not. it's why jj went out of his way to talk about reaves "getting a foot in the paint" regularly.

he doesn't state it outright, but i also think he agrees with me that the answer isn't getting rid of reaves, but rather getting some perimeter speed and athleticism on the roster, which may involve losing some current fan favorites who don't bring that.

 

So he needs to get to the paint to be efficient but can’t get to the paint because he can’t beat his defender. Yeah we already knew this.He needs to be on a team like Houston or Atlanta or Boston.getting rid of LeBron and replacing him with a more athletic defender would help him but him next to Luka will always be a problem

 

Have you had your eyes checked lately?

I mean the link abeer just posted and you’re replying to just showed him doing it like 6 or 7 times with the grabbing defense allowed to be played by the best defensive team in the world without it, keying on him with Luka out. There’s 20 minute clips all over the internet of him doing just that … smoking defenders with quickness and technique as opposed to sacrosanct almighty pure athleticism. And once at the rim his elite per centile of finishing. Or dishing out. Nice shark jump LOL.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Whe...8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#lfId=ChxjMe

 

I can splice together highlights of Dalton Knecht being great to.My eyes in real time have seen him struggle the last two years to beat playoff defenders that’s not even debatable.Also why do we want to make things easier for AR shouldn’t they be more concerned about making things easier for Luka?

 

Or getting picked by defenders, bodied up, blocked, etc. Fair or not, the fanbase has overrated him to a point they think he's a number 1 or 2 option on a championship winning team, and some people (supporters of Reaves) are starting to see the light. You've been fair, but others (on this site included) continue to try to stick to this narrative that he can be a number 2 on a championship winning team w/Luka, and I just don't see that pathway. We have clear needs, and I get if he's traded to fill some of those needs, we're going to be left with other needs i.e. secondary ballhandler, shooter, shot creator, etc. I get that, but do how we weight that out with being outmuscled physically, defenders blowing past you, etc. His true shooting percentage outside of 1 game has been in the 50's. Regular season it was 65%. As far as the contact, grabbing, and physical, that's the nature of the PO's. Is it fair? Probably not, but if he fancies himself being a $40 million dollar player, that's what it is...

FYI: he had 9 assists to 5 turnovers his last game; oh and this little stat thanks to Japango on LG



Let him get his stats up tonight in a meaningless game and let his supporters tout those stats during the summer and offseason, but those who have watched and understand the context, they know what it is...

Have a good day @LTLakerFan. Don't get too worked up. It's just Austin Reaves.

 

lol "those who have watched understand the secrets"

 

This is what I have been saying for 3 years.He can’t be your second best player and expect to be champions.I even changed that thinking when Luka got here because I expected him to be the 3rd best player but that’s not how it turned out.
I have also said that if this team was legit 10-11 players deep they could win with him because you could replace him with quicker,stronger more athletic guards when needed. At this point my goal would be to surround Luka with the team he needs not AR so things would be easier for him