Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

Because I don't want to. I come here to vent and read other people's opinions. I also don't have fun suggesting trades, as I'm sure the Front office doesn't read this forum.

We usually can have different opinions on this forum without getting on each other's throats. On this Reaves issue, it seems it triggered a lot of people that some of us would like to explore the idea of moving on from Reaves, and that has motivated multiple personal attacks over these last pages. I find this odd.

 

lol, if it's not obvious, i like arguing on the internet. what i don't like is complete irrationality, which is clear is going to ensue here, just based on what's happening right now.

i don't even know what this means. like, if i phrased it:

"i don't particularly understand why you think letting reaves walk or trading him for role players is more important to you than winning, but i respect that"

would you receive it well?

I also don't understand why some of you seem to be extra salty just because some people are willing to float the idea of paying Reaves his market value to keep the team from losing assets for no reason, or question if we should be concerned about retaining an all star level player in a market where they basically never become available.

being good in the regular season IS winning. google the relation between regular season record and winning rings. you've got to be in the mix and have some luck.

the dumb part of all this is that everyone actually agrees that we need to keep reaves this summer, so i'm really not sure what the hater brigade is after. pre-whining about a 5m annual contract difference that will mean absolutely nothing? what is it? seriously? i have no idea.

 

or just all this ^

this s*** is wild, man. nobody has said anything about never trading reaves for any reason. just complete fabricated, strawman, b*******.

if you think we should let him walk if he won't sign for 30m, say it! i want it on record in case it happens and the pitchforks come out.

 

Actually we were having good and constructive discussions before you decided to add fuel to a fire that never existed.

 

I too would trade Reaves for a better fitting player.
That being said, it would be for a top 25-ish player and not for two top 60ish players.
I just think it’s incredibly dumb to talk about trading him now, when he holds all the cards and would have to not only agree to the terms, but the new location as well.
It just doesn’t make any sense right now.

 

Teams will want Reaves. Lakers shouldn't have to actively pursue a trade. If a team offers a great deal then do it.

 

I feel like we can't say anything that could be construed as anti-Reaves now, since we get jumped on, but I'll say it.

Reaves is on that bracket of offense-only players that are very good, but not good enough to lead a team in the playoffs. These players don't tend to carry a lot of value around the league. See Trey Young, who is not a bad comparison, same age, and actually has had really good playoff series in the past, unlike Reaves, and was traded for peanuts.

It's also why a player like Mikal Bridges who is not really that good, but can play defense at a high level, goes for 6 firsts. I'm not saying I agree with this, but it's just what the league values right now.

Having said this, no, I don't think we should let him walk. But if he doesn't improve next year, odds are that if we try to trade him at the end of next season, we won't get much in return.

 

What an incredible load of b*******.

Time to leave till f***ing November.

 

reaves has never been nearly as bad on defense as young (or jalen brunson or jamal murray, for that matter). he's recently graded out better than kevin durant and kyrie irving (whom some want to trade him for).

the idea that he's one of the worst defenders in the league is just not supported by facts. his metrics look like or better than ant and consistently better than booker.

he won't be paid as much as basically any of these guys, and he won't be asked to be the #1 guy in a playoff series unless something bad happens like it did this year.

 

The want to trade AR folks can revisit it next trade deadline if they want. He's a 20M cap hold this off season and what we pay him, as many have pointed out, does not affect team building THIS important off season, in addition to him having final say anyway as an UFA.

But looking inward and examining truthfully what tends to set me off more so than differences of opinion is when I see blatant exaggeration on his supposed weaknesses. "Only plays one side of the ball and is a really bad defender". "Unathletic, when we need athletes next to Luka" And this sequence of posts still sticks in my craw as IMO egregious misinformation. Used to bolster AR's "weaknesses" arguments. I mean are we to believe the bolded comments in red against the clips directly above them from this year's playoffs!!, as well as actual statistics of him being ELITE at getting to the rim and scoring, or dishing off. And AR's perfomance in athletically important events in HIS combine. As detailed from excerpts from 2 posts on LG pushing back at these same exaggerations from BILBGH. At the end below.

BILBGH:
AR career eFG% 56.9%

Kyrie career eFG% 54.0%

AR career TS% 63.0%

Kyrie career TS% 58.4%

AR career scoring at the rim 79.5%

Kyrie career scoring at the rim 62.6%

AR career 3 pt. shooting 36.8%

Kyrie career 3 pt. shooting 39.4%

AR career FT% 86.5%

Kyrie career FT% 88.8%

AR average FTA per game 4.2

Kyrie average FTA per game 4.3

AR career playoff eFG% 52.7%

Kyrie career playoff eFG% 52.1%

AR turnovers per 100 plays 13.4

Kyrie turnovers per 100 plays 11.0

What some people do here is cherry pick the worst stats of Austin's and use it to influence others to think he's way worse than he is.

Do I think Kyrie is a better player? Yes.

But as you can see here, Austin even with two terrible back to back playoffs still has a higher playoff eFG% than Kyrie

Even with those horrendous recent 3 pt. numbers, he's still shooting 36% in the playoffs

If he gets hot one series then he's back up to his career average.

Kyrie has better handles but that's what he's famous for.

AR's turnovers per 100 are pretty much the same as LeBron's 13.3

It's tiresome having to post these facts but as I anticipate certain posters trashing Reaves all summer, I will continue to post what I consider fair counterpoints as I see fit.

AND

The Hawks have Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jonathan Kuminga, Zaccharie Risacher and they could not get past the first round.

They needed CJ McCollum to win the two games they won.

I can't tell you how many times people have mentioned some of these long defensive wings like they will be a cure all just by themselves.

I think Jalen Johnson was the only one who played well. Maybe Kuminga but every one of those players is long and athletic and they couldn't do sh*t

Same with Detroit. I expected them to breeze through the first two rounds and they are on life support.

I know how good the Thompson twins are. We just watched Amen Thompson almost take us out. But Ausar has been like Dyson Daniels. Solid defense but contributes nothing on offense. I'm honestly shocked how poor Jalen Duren is.

I would have traded Duren for Reaves in a second, but now I'm not so sure.

I was looking at the combine scores this year and I noticed AJ scored 11.06 in lane agility, 2.99 in the shuttle and 3.14 in the 3/4 court sprint.

Darryn Peterson scored 11.06 in lane agility, 2.95 in the shuttle, and 3.16 in the 3/4 court sprint.

Reaves scored 10.94 in the lane agility, 3.19 in the shuttle, and 3.07 in the 3/4 sprint.

Under 3.10 in the 3/4 court is considered elite speed.

Reaves speed was better in lane agility and the 3/4 sprint than these two can't miss elite prospects.

His vertical was only 35 inches compared to AJ's 42 or Darryn's 37, but he's still more athletic than you might think.

Anyway, I'm getting off track but we do need players like Beef Stew and Ron Holland. I just think we can add them to the team without trading away Reaves.

 

This is not supported by facts or reality. But you're free to have your opinions

 

If you torture the data long enough it will confess to anything

 

Show me YOUR data disputing him being elite this year getting to the rim and finishing. And what's the explanation for the 6 or 7 times in these playoffs right there in video .... it's all fake edited? Believe You over our lying eyes and the statistics for this year?

 

I don’t know why there is so much vitriol. It’s fine to believe that we can’t win a chip with Reaves and he isn’t a number 2, while the other side believes he is and we can.

It’s fine to have different opinions. My line is in the middle, if we build successfully around Luka and Reaves we should be able to win, but I’d trade
Reaves for Brown in a 3 team trade as an example.

I haven’t found a trade with multiple pieces where it makes sense. So I’m in the, let’s keep the bird in the hand while we got him position.

 

I just explained where mine comes from ..... blatant exaggeration in the face of statistics and video clips showing the opposite. Combine results pushing back that show he is athletic, just not a vertical jump out of the gym leaper, though 35" is ABOVE average. (The average maximum vertical leap at the NBA Draft Combine is typically around 31 to 33 inches, while the average standing (no-step) vertical is roughly 28 to 29 inches.) Body coordination, balance, straight line speed, shuttle test all that stuff say otherwise.

 

which part specifically?

the defense? or that we won't get much back for him?

show me comparable #2 or #3 guys with similar defensive rating, in recent years that have been traded for a bunch of assets, and I'll shut up.

 

What about the stats that actually matter and translate to winning basketball games, such as being bottom of the team in +/- in these playoffs. Lebron: -36, Reaves: -61

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/OCAQhgiFmb8?si=wjcTJHi9J9XO8bEA
anyone can splice together film to make a player look good or bad.
As far as defense the only thing I need to know is that he gets targeted frequently by opposing offenses which speaks for how little they respect his ability

 

This is super lazy Vince. Reaves was the only player who didn’t play the first 3 games where we won against Houston. That means in the 7 games he played, we lost 6 - of course he is going to have a bad +/- when he was part of only one win.

And no, we didn’t lose 6 of the 7 because he came back. Don’t even bother with that argument next.