Austin Reaves Discussion: Foundation Piece Or Trade Piece?

And Hoochie Mama is blowing up monstrously as well. Gotta hand it to Pelinka for not panicking and doing the bad trades everyone was killing him for not doing …. and instead hitting a low screamer on the rise dead center for a grand slam at the deadline. But how do we pay all three of Reaves, Hachimura and Russell?

 

Handsomely.

 

The lakers can afford to pay anyone if they want to. The problem is the luxury tax, which means we are A) either not making much profit or breaking even or B) making a loss. Jeanie has said in the past she’d do it for a title contending team. So if we make the WCF, we’ll probably bring everyone back and / or try to retain all salary slots.

 

Apparently the most we can offer is 50m

 

That’s not true. If no one offers Reaves a contract the most we can offer him as a raise is the cap space we have which would equate to $50m over 4 years.

However, Reaves is under the Gilbert Arenas provision, so another team could offer him up to $98m and we can match that amount and it’s like restricted free agency, we’d retain him.

Edit: if we want to keep him, we can and I don’t see any scenario in which we wouldn’t want to retain him.

 

Another situation Austin is absolutely clutch in is when he has close friends and family in the crowd to watch him play. Boy does he ever …. just kills it. Said in his on court interview that there were around 100 of those in the stands in Memphis tonight, and this follows another huge game he had cementing a win a few weeks ago when a couple lifelong friends were in LA to stay with him a couple days for one of them running a marathon here.

 

yeah, ironically, it's possible the better he plays the less likely someone makes a big offer, because it will be futile.

i think someone will test us, though. and lose.

 

We can pay him like 10-12 for the first 2 years and then 30 or so for the last 2, right? That would be great since Bron comes off the books in 2 years...

 

yeah, every news outlet so far hasn't put that together. they keep assuming our salary structure will be the same in two years as it is now.

 

I don't get the Nash comparison. The guy is one of the best PG ever, controlling the tempo and running the offense. Reaves is far from that (and also more complete)

 

He's our 3rd best player. It's mind-blowing how fast he's developing. A borderline star already. Pay him that $100M Gilbert Arenas contract. Whatever it takes.

 

i'm still trying to get over that end game performance 18 hours later. just buried them in his first playoff game ever.

 

I seriously think AR can become a legit 2nd best player on a team. He isn't outstanding at 1 thing, but he's really really good at lots of things. Only 2nd year itl and rising quick.

He's shooting 53/40/86 for the season, and 58/44/86 since ASB, putting up 18, 3 & 6. So he's a lower volume Curry or Nash, efficiency wise. I'd like to see him get even more shots. Someday as the primary guard, he could be a 25, 4 & 8 guy on great %'s w good defense & IQ.

 

I didn't even think of it being a home game for him. They said it's only a 2 or 2.5 hour drive from his hometown. I think that helped. Can the team pay for them to be his traveling party? Same way Bron steps up for the Rams or other NFL stars he likes to impress.

 

Shooting, herky jerky play at times, floppy hair, and low melanin.

 

yeah, i've stopped putting limits on him in my mind. if prime gordon hayward was a max guy, reaves is nearly that already. and i think he still has a little room to grow.

edit: i don't see the nash comparison that much, either. here's one nobody has said: what about joe johnson? not as big, better passer, but similar in terms of being a good-sized ballhandling wing who's not incredibly athletic but can just get to spots.

 

Someone said Ginobili somewhere. Not exact, but some similarities as a combo guard off the bench but 3rd best player playing starter minutes, then eventually became a starter. Can do some of everything, ball handle, play make, shoot, defend, hustle, herky jerky play, fans love him, great guy, great attitude, easy to root for.

Spoiler

JUH-NO-BLEE!!!
...
AUSTIN-REAVES-EE!!!

Ok, doesn't quite work.

 

Easy Breezy Reavesy

 

The one Ham mentioned and the national media keeps bringing up during games the past few weeks is this guy



I think AR has a better handle than Thunder Dan did. But Majerle definitely was a tough customer.

 

That behind the back to Rui for the 3 during the 4th quarter with the shot clock winding down.. holy s*** that was so swift and perfect, Larry Bird-esque. Where did this kid come from?!