Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

And my expectation is that Walter and super crew are going to do that without losing AR.

 

I think it's really hard, really hard to judge AR and his value. At the end of the day is he worth 30+ million dollars - i think frankly there is no doubt compared to other players getting that kind of money in the NBA. You don't let that talent walk and it's hard to find a secondary playmakers

OTOH I think the camp that is worrying about AR as a legit 2 aren't wrong
He's been hurt but some of these things are getting oversold as well - he got hurt during the Wolves series and didn't kill it in the first games and even this year he's back within the expected timeline and has had a few games to get his legs.

They kyrie comparison is an issue as well as Dallas got smoked in the Finals and C Bags picked on Kyrie the entire series

The playoffs are a different beast and I think when you take an look at overall regular season production - it's not going to be as valuable for when thinking about playoffs and looking at how teams decide to attack you when they have gameplanned and have time to prep. The fact that Lakers and NBA teams will go weeks without a practice is one reason during the regular I focus on this. AR has consistently been targeted last year and this year and hes gotten smoked. Has this happened to Luka yes but something changed with Luka under JJ this year - he legit became a solid defender using his size and reflexes to increase his steal rate massively. So he's made himself not pickable at least

Other players like Hali and Brunson also get targeted but their teams that both go all out to protect them, AND their offensive production remains ridiculously high to justify that. Can AR do that for an entire playoff series against the best teams - it's an open question at this point and if you're the Lakers if you look at Indiana and NY do you follow that model and just ditch everyone else that is not a good perimeter defender? Because the lakers are going to focus on Luka. Is AR the equivalent of kyrie irving a dude who has outdueled steph curry in an NBA finals?

I don't know it's a tough call - AR is one of my favorite players of all time. it hurts to right this frankly but the good teams consistently get an advantage on the Lakers targeting him and it's worked. One reason it bothers me is he was a perfect 3rd guy for a team for AD/LEbron/Max christie sort of core but i'm not sure of a Luka one. You're going to have to protect Luka on defense even if he's improved as you need to keep his legs from not getting worn out. Not sure you can do it with two

 

.... perfect there with the lose lose proposition.

 

Yeah yeah I know you like those stats and I like when you bring them, they are indeed more complete. My question was specifically on these ones, what's your take based on those?

Ok, so in your view his injuries and usual regression in the playoffs justify his performances in postseason? So if he's healthy you're happy with him being the #2 option moving forward?

Nice take on the playoff risers, makes sense to me actually.

On the "other ARs and McDaniels" we disagree. This long, athletic and elite defensive wings are very uncommon. Best comp is Mikal Bridges and he went for a haul of picks. It's not just their skills but also their built as they can switch and be used to defend any position on the court. Are also handy as we are starting to have big guards so their swiss army knife defensive arsenal is kinda priceless.
As for AR I think you can find more secondary playmaker/shot creators. And in our build it doesn't really have to be a guard, which gives us more options.

Also, heard this in a pod and maybe really influenced my view but how did you guys reacting by seeing a 3rd(?) year 2nd round pick on Ajay Mitchell outplaying AR? The kid looks legit but I think we can all agree he has been the better player and that shouldn't happen

 

Sometimes you find steals in the draft and let's face it there are lot of NBA ballplayers if you let them play 1v1 they are going to cook guys. You put AR or Lebron right now on OKC and they're allowed to play 1v1 and the defense is tilted away from them watch out. This is not taking anything away from Mitchell but this happens at times (clearly Mitchell is going to get paid because he plays defense and you can't leave him alone on offense)

The worrisome part for the Lakers is what I was trying to get in on the post - the lakers defense even with better defenders is going to focus on Shai and then Williams if he was not hurt - you're going to have to hope most of your guys outside of maybe one guy can hold their own defensively against the 3rd or 4th option. If AR can't that going to be a long term problem.

 

Ajay Mitchell is a star in hiding. He's going to grade out as a better player than AR because of his defense.

Anyway, back to Reaves... it's really tough because everyone likes him, he is a real competitor and has improved consistently year on year. When we got Luka, I was one of the few arguing constantly that he should be coming off the bench for redundancy sake. He shut me up with his performances to begin the season. The bigger issue is the post season when he gets picked on defensively. When we have Luka, what is the value of Reaves' shot creation? Obviously huge when Luka is sitting, but what about when they're playing together for the other 28 mins?

If I could find the right piece(s), I'd consider sending Reaves out. Moving him for Brown in a 3 team trade as an example is a no brainer.

 

Yes, regardless of the contract stuff, he doesn't offer much or anything when Luka is on the floor, especially in the playoffs, we're much better off playing Smart as a 2nd guard.

 

BS. And how can you say that definitively since this year we didn't even get to see it in the playoffs, when this would have been the year to get a good handle if it is effective or not with LeBron playing closer to the post area. Last year he and Luka weren't up to snuff physically (Luka from the get go and AR after game 2 with the jammed toe, and we had Jaxson for our 1st string center which was a huge fail. During the regular season they have done well together and teams with the tough defenders still go at them. Everyone knows what the purported game plan is attacking AR. It doesn't take waiting for the playoffs to know how to scheme for them. Just keep piling on everyone.

 

I assume we're going to have Luka on ball for a good 32 mins of his 38 or so he plays. That's Luka's value really. So Reaves would be creating for the 10 mins Luka sits and another 6 or so? For the other 20 mins he is on the floor, he'll be spacing and running secondary actions if Luka's plays break down - but how much is he going to be attacked on the defensive end? Are we gaining 20 points via Reaves but giving up 30?

A lot of this concern dries up for me if Reaves is a 30m player. If we're using 160m to build out the starting 5, with Luka at 50 and Reaves at 30, you have about 80 million to fill 3 spots.

 

still have nothing new to contribute. still waiting on how people think you turn reaves into two two-way complementary pieces and then find a secondary creator.

and it's not just about non-luka minutes--it's about who's out there taking some pressure off your top guy. houston struggled mightily until they brought cp3 in for that role. everyone thought it would be my turn/your turn, but it wasn't. not when both guys can shoot, handle, and pass.

again, i guess it's been several months, but we saw it for ourselves when lebron was out. oh right, those pesky 82 games you play to get to the playoffs mean jack squat. troy hudson forever.

 

They were 9 - 2 with Luka and AR before LeBron came back and 10 - 2 total for the regular season, plus a couple other wins out of the gate with only AR running the offense …. no Luka or LeBron. Including wins over Miami and San Antonio and 2 over the Timberwolves

 

Why are we so close minded to moving Reaves? You used the rockets as a good example, Luka is a heliocentric player in the vein of Houston's Harden. But I don't believe Reaves is the level of player CP3 was, even in at his 32-35 year old seasons. That's no insult to Reaves, Chris Paul was just that good. Once Lebron's gone, I think we'll have more situations like the pre-CP3 rockets, a first or second round exit, with an off to chance to make the conference finals if someone gets injured.

Like the rest of you, I love Reaves. I'm just not sure he is the guy to pair Luka with as the 2nd option. Now if he is earning 30m or less, that's alot more palatable and we can fill out 2-3 similarly paid players next to Luka to take more of the responsibility.

 

people keep moving the goalposts to reaves as a #1. yeah, if reaves is your best player, your team is likely in the lottery or like those harden teams, cute but not a threat. but we're talking about him as a second option. more than capable. move lebron to the bench (yeah, i said it), and find three guys who can defend and finish plays. voila.

 

No we don't. We're keeping the goal posts with Reaves as a #2 - do you think the lakers can win a championship with Reaves as the #2 being paid 40m?

Heck of a player, real warrior, hard worker and extremely skilful. But I'm not sure if the Luka + Reaves pairing is the right one.

 

i do. moreover, it matters little for current planning. his market value is that, and we can't afford to let him walk. it's the same argument you're using for rui, but in a much more extreme case, imo, as ruis are available often, and we've been trying to add a reaves-level player for years to no avail.

 

Lol..sounds a bit familiar, to how hard it was going to be, to replace Tinkerbell.

Austin hasn't met the bar of a 2nd option player yet, he's a good 3rd right now.

 

well, we didn't feel the dlo loss much because of reaves (and, you know, we acquired luka doncic). not sure why you're always bringing this up when you defended westbrook to the death. weird choice.

anyway...third options also make 40 million. lots of them. but reaves is definitely a second option on offense. and if he's not, there aren't many of those.

 

Westbrook has nothing to do with Austin. Unless we are talking about Luka and Lebron missing most of the season.

My boy has 6 TO already, we need better in order to win. At least he's scoring. The question is more about, whether he's the best 2nd option for Luka. Not is he trash.