Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

Ha that’s an extremely low bar to pass

 

i mean people are bagging on reaves for being hurt while all those guys are always hurt, some as we speak.

btw, curry's health issues are very real and very concerning, too. he's 37 and played 43 games this year including missing the end of the year due to basically wear and tear stuff. at 60 million per, let's just say i'm ok with him staying in gs. if lebron thinks he'll provide him with a clearer title shot, he should go join him, lol.

the theme here is i don't trust old guys to be available for deep playoff runs. hasn't been happening much lately.

i'm assuming his max. so ok, in those cases, it's a 1 for 1. do you want kawhi given what everyone knows about him? you *may* get a toronto ring if both and lebron can stay upright for 28 consecutive games at the same time, but after that, you're in big trouble, imo.

we're not going to agree. i'll be shocked if lebron plays past next year, tbh. reaves doesn't have to get better; he just has to be playing.

he's not wetting the bed. the idea that he's choking is hilarious to me. he's coming off an injury and out of rhythm, thrown into 30+ mpg in two playoff series vs. two of the most athletic perimeter defenses in the league. it's not super surprising. i expect he'll play better, but i don't think you're going to see top-level reaves in this series.

bottom line is that i think you have incredibly unrealistic optimism about aging and frequently injured players. with the way the game is played now, those teams are failing. gs was totally stacked with that this year and missed the playoffs. i'd rather not waste luka's prime on that model. i'd rather see luka in an indy/okc/boston/det roster setup than a gs/cleveland roster setup.

 

I’m getting tired of the excuses for Reaves, he’s averaging 15 ppg on 30 percent shooting in the three games he’s played. If you’re on the floor we’re expecting you to perform. Especially given his history of underperforming in the postseason. It hasn’t been good enough.

You’re going to have to perform against high level defenses in the playoffs you can’t hide from that.

 

We’re talking about right now dude LeBron is clearly the best player on this team. Reaves once again is underperforming in the playoffs. It’s really not a debate that LeBron is the better player right now, he’s been carrying us the entire postseason led us to a first round victory over a team we were picked to be swept against at 41 years old.

Meanwhile Reaves continues to once again falter under pressure.

 

You have excuses for days when it comes to Reaves. Like c'mon man, the guy wants a MAX contract and is scoring 15 PPG on 15 shots per game shooting 30% from the field and wait for it, 11% from 3. He is 2-17 from 3. His AST-TO ratio is 1.6 so he's not exactly playmaking anything right now. He can't even play good defense so when his offense is off and the FT's ain't coming his way, you see his value immediately plummet instantly. All you have is an inefficient player who is clearly healthy enough to play or else his agent would have shut him down for the playoffs by now.

I repeat, 15 points on 30% from the field and 11% from three and your only excuse is he's coming back from an injury going up against elite defensive teams? Why do you think guys get paid max dollars? To just blame injuries all day? Dude is out there for 33 MPG since coming back. Again, there is a 0% chance his agent and management would allow him to go out there and play basketball on a contract year unless they felt he is healthy enough.

If LeBron doesn't play past next year, it's not because he can't. It's because he chose not to. That doesn't change the fact that LeBron will likely be a more impactful player than Reaves for the next 3 seasons, IMO.

I don't have unrealistic expectations of these older players. I just don't think Reaves trade value is going to be that high because he's getting kinda exposed so unless you're giving up multi first round picks for a better young player, you aren't getting an immediate better player other than by trading for players who are older but still better than Reaves. There is no scenario where you can argue Reaves was a better player than KD and Kawhi last season and you certainly can't argue he would be a better fit with Luka than those two. The only upside for the Lakers retaining Reaves at max is they have his bird rights and a low cap hold so his actual cost to the Lakers is much less than if he were an actual free agent because guaranteed, Lakers ain't offering him a max if he was a free agent with no bird rights.

I think there's a plausible scenario where the Lakers would be in big trouble if they pay Reaves $40m, he wets the bed, and now you're stuck with a $50 million player who can't be the second option and is clearly not the 1st option player. Time to face it, we may have overrated how good Reaves is. He's a good player. He's just not DYNASTY good on a contender team 2nd option. He would be perfect on a team like Utah or Memphis. I have no doubt he could score 30 PPG on those teams. But can he do it in the Lakers playoffs against the best teams? No, I have no faith he can at this point.

You keep talking about these players being old. Yes, that's the only way the Lakers would ever be able to get them without giving up picks lol.... It's a risk, sure. Just like giving Reaves a massive overpay and being unable to trade him in the future without giving up picks is also a risk.

 

Agree.Been advocating for 3 years to trade him,not because he isn’t good but because of what he would bring back.I still don’t believe the Lakers will trade him but to become a championship contender quick they should.

 

No.

 

yes, i know prisoners of the moment when i see them, lol. troy hudson for mvp.

 

If Reaves isn’t a 2nd option, is he a 3rd? And can you win with him as your 3rd.

If so, what should a 3rd be paid? At 30-35m, Austin is good value, no?

 

I like Reaves,and think he is excellent value at 30 million. Historically, there is a correlation with players getting to the line and team success.

However, even after Austin's offensive explosion, there were questions about his fit on both the defensive and offensive sides of the ball.

In terms of defense, it makes it really tough to play Austin in the same starting lineup with Luka and Lebron.

In terms of offense, Reaves obviously excels at handling the ball and creating offense. That was a major question mark prior to Lebron deciding to play off the ball to accommodate those guys. So with that. You could kind of peg him into that "kyrie" role. But he is no Kyrie, and that role wasn't perfectly harmonious with Luka in the first place. They had other offensive pieces that fit Luka Luke a glove. Kyrie was a good fill in when he was out though, but that's more of a luxury. Ore important to get those 3 and D, and vertical spacing pieces for a Luka team.

Rui Hachimura asserting himself as an elite playiff performer and starter has increased my questioning of Austin's fit. Rui fits better offensively, in terms of being a catch and shoot guy. Defensively, it's a wash, but Rui is bigger and more athletic. Also, Rui likes to go I to isolation himself and stuff like that, so it's another player with the ball I'm their hand at times. Part of the reason I previously wanted to part with Rui. But without Austin, it opens things up for him too. But you definitely can't run a line up with Luka, Austin, Rui, and Lebron in it! One of them needs to not be there or come off the bench. Rui is making himself a strong case to start over Austin.

Also, preferably you don't pay AR 30 mil to be 6th man. So the question is do you sign and trade him for an upgrade at center or POA?

 

…. back to the “campfire”, actually all the armchair GMs that love this sooo much and in spite of having the best new owner possible with a proven track record of winning BIG …. just can’t bring themselves to wait and see what HE and his professionals are going to do. About the roster and about AR.

 

crux of the issue is the same: i think building around lebron for the next three years is very stupid. if you don't, of course you want reaves out.

lebron is not part of the long-term plan. leave that s*** to golden state. if we were still lebron/AD, i'd be on board with the "kill reaves" guys, but we're not. we got luka. so it's about longer term than before. not interested in pushing all chips to table next year. milwaukee's had a helluva time pulling crap like that. i'm out. no.

 

I think I only saw one person really mention how we can use Austin differently from an X’s and O’s standpoint, but I stopped reading a few pages back.

At this point, he’s here, and if OKC is going to be a problem for years to come, we need to figure out how to get him over this hump now.

Personally, I’d like to see him used in more off-ball actions. Like Jovan mentioned, there was that flare action where he caught the ball with momentum going downhill and was able to finish. Jason also brought up using more side pick-and-roll action with him and LeBron, which I think could help too.

He’s had success against other long, athletic teams before. The key now is getting him into spots where he mentally feels confident that he can score and impact the game, especially in high-leverage moments.

IMO.

 

reaves torched wallace (one of the very best POA defenders in the league, imo) in isolation on several occasions in game one. one time wallace caught up and blocked him. a couple times he got hit with what would have been foul calls three weeks ago. and a couple times okc's outstanding help defense negated the advantage.

it's not like reaves hasn't been playing against superior athletes his whole life. ironically, the warts that i got attacked for pointing out by his most ardent supporters (he's not a pg!) are on display. but that doesn't make the haters right. properly slotted with luka, and okc is having a much harder time dealing with him, imo.

lebron ain't luka. not close at this point on offense. okc is happy to let him create out top and live with it, even to the tune of 60% fg--because he's simply not a threat to get 60 points on you. they'll just sag and make post catches tougher to come by whilst putting max pressure on reaves playing a role he's not meant to play. we're going to lose. if reaves shot his normal percentages in game 1, we still lose.

 

Lebron is going to retire soon. The real question is whether Luka/Austin, is a good enough combination to win a Championship.

We won't get any evidence, one way or the other, from this postseason.

Folks just want to see Austin play well, especially in the playoffs IMO. When a guy is up for a big longterm deal, it's nothing wrong with critiques about their playoff performance.

That's just how it goes. Is Austin a legit 2nd option, or a high level 3rd? There is nothing wrong with asking that question.


if reaves shot his normal percentages in game 1, we still lose.

I disagree with this one. You are making assumptions that OKC would automatically adjust to that or something. I don't know if they would have or not. They aren't unbeatable.

 

agree with all of this.

i'm just saying it doesn't make up the 20pt difference. good chance SGA puts it into overdrive if the game's close, and i don't think we have an answer for that, tbh.

they're not unbeatable, no, but they played a very meh game by their standards and still won quite comfortably.

 

Im in favor of Reaves coming back next year. 30 million would be a good deal. He was 13th in FT rate this season, which is the money ball equivalent to walks/on base % in baseball.

The best scenario where he comes back is where we operate under the cap. This way, we still bring back Lebron, Rui, and Smart, and gives us an excuse to not over pay them. It also enables us to use the Room Exception, instead of signing Kennard with non bird rights. Instead of Kennard, Lakers need to get a 2nd poa defender with the room exception, because Smart can't be the only perimeter defender in the rotation, that wouldn't work.

 

Austin looks a little more healthier today. Austin powers!, Austin rules!

 

Now that's the pre- injury Austin we needed.

Big time game. He must've read the chats today.