Austin Reaves Discussion: Overachiever Who Underachieved

I like Beasley and want to see him get minutes but Reaves is no slouch at shooting 3's himself and defense wins championships. It is nice to have a guy capable of being a high volume 3 pt shooter but I just think Reaves has a better overall game. He is a frigging Swiss Army Knife. My guess is over a bit of time, Reaves will improve his 3 pt shot so that he feels comfortable taking a few more every game. Not that he is taking too few as it is but I just think he is ONLY at the beginning of his upward trajectory.

Coming up with a really great substitution pattern is the part that Ham needs to be a genius at. If he does, we could win a ring. I'm not really sure what it is. I like the starting 5 I have already stated, I like Rui, Beasley, Schroder, Wenyen, Troy and Walker. We simply need Bamba not really sold on him long term but he is not horrible. Walker and Beasley seem pretty similar. I like the energy of Schroder and Troy.

Long Rotation:
PG DLO, Schroder, Reaves, James
SG Reaves, Beasley, Walker, DLO, Christie, Troy
SF James, Troy, Rui, Reaves
PF Vanderbilt, Rui, Wenyen, Troy
C AD, Bamba, Wenyen, Rui

Short Rotation:
PG DLO
SG Reaves
SF James
PF Vanderbilt
C AD

The short rotation is really hard. Schroder is very limited. He does some really good things at PG but he cannot slide around to other positions. He is limited due to his height. But we need him fairly often so he has to be in our short rotation.

Rui has such a solid offensive game in the middle and his defense has really been picking up. He kind of is beginning to remind me a little of Jim McMillian. Obviously he is bigger and stronger but he is a solid backup to James, as McMillian was to Baylor. But, if this team stays together and at some point James retires, I could see him slipping right in to the starting lineup and being a solid member.

Beasley has to be given a shot at solid short rotation minutes but if he is not hitting, we go right to Walker.

If Bamba makes it back, then he or Wenyen need to get some minutes, simply to give AD a rest. I really don't think Rui is a solid short rotation backup C, even Wenyen struggles at this. Bamba has the best game to be our backup Center but heck, even he is injured right now.

Troy has to be in here too, main minutes at SF backup but against smaller teams, he can be used at PF and against larger teams, perhaps a bit at SG.

That's it.

So, when you start thinking about next year, and who could become available to us, I think the ONLY backups who are must keeps are Rui, perhaps Beasley. I am one of the people around here who actually likes Schroder but I think he is replaceable if we can find a good PG who is 3-D, with an emphasis on D and someone who could slide over to SG without a problem. A bigger player who could give us a solid rotation with DLO and Reaves. Like the old days with Magic, Scott and Cooper. That was a killer rotation.

We need something better at Center, not that Bamba sucks, I really have not seen enough to decide and I am not sure he will stick around anyhow. I like Wenyen's fit in some areas but he sure gets beat around the basket a fair amount. He has his limitations but he certainly is capable of making some really great plays. It really comes down to if we are capable of finding anyone better than this two headed monster. We should not dump them to dump them but if we found someone better, then by all means trade them out. It would be great if we could find someone who was capable of being a big bodies defensive center while being mobile enough to play some power forward and have him on the floor at the same time as James and AD. Give us a solid 5 man front court rotation of AD, James, Rui, Vanderbilt and new guy.

That would get us into a solid 8 man rotation for the playoffs with a couple of solid substitutions when this short rotation was not working.

I do not want to even pursue Irving anymore, we don't need him. He is a generational offensive player but mediocre defensive player and he seems to be a cancer in the locker room, don't want to end out in another Russel Westbrook situation, with a third star that locks us up and keeps us from competing with depth.

Glad I am not the coach, decisions, decisions!!

 

:Vogelshocked:

That novel tho

 

Yeah sorry, I don't usually do that. Must be the meth!??

 

Just means you’re engaged and rooting for this team as a fan. Far better than the opposite

 

The only reason to even watch some games...

 

Most minutes, best + - made some huge shots, kid has ice in his veins

 

#baller

 

I am still scared it's a fluke. Because if it's not, we got an All-Star as an undrafted FA.

 

Big game. Going to need an ice bath after those bruises he took in this one.

 

Oh? He's tough? I couldn't tell lol

What an absolute baller man. Hit big shot after big shot. But honestly nothing bigger than taht pull up mid range in OT when we were down 132-129 with the momentum swinging the Jazz way after Olynyk's 3. THAT was a gutsy and ballsy shot from Reaves..shows that this guy really has NO fear.

His price tag is going uppppppp man....Jeanie and Rob better not f*** around with him. This ain't caruso man...this guy is A LOT better than Caruso and way more skilled.

 

Yeah... he is playing himself into some team giving him 80mil poison pill

 

He, Bron, Ad, and D Lo should sit tomorrow.

He saved several games for us. This one included. Give him the day off.

 

I’ve been watching his high school to college games just because, he had a bad stretch where he played with a bum shoulder, but still made legendary plays, and is still doing the same moves in the NBA which is incredible lol

 

Reaves is playing tomorrow. He wants to bust Westbrook's a** lol

 

Mamba mentality

 

And ferris bueller too

 

No fluke Zen. We got an all-star.

 

and an amazing scouting team

their record is crazy good

 

Such a joy to watch. And he has no fear in clutch.

Jerry West 2.0