Austin Reaves Discussion: Overachiever Who Underachieved

No. He's *earning* $12.6m more than Gabe. Gabe is ski masking his annual salary.

 

Really struggled with their level of physicality against him. Some were no calls but it was clear fairly early on what they were and weren't going to call.

 

I really don’t understand the wide discrepancy between how games are called.
If you are going to allow for more physicality, great! Call every game this way. Don’t call every other game like it’s from a different era.

 

LeBron too AGAIN had some obvious to everyone but the refs standing right there hacks on some of his shots.

 

I'm not exactly in love with the Austin at PG look either. I guess we are trying to see how we look, without Tinkerbell running point. I prefer Austin the scorer over Austin the primary facilitator.

 

been saying that forever. that said, it's not an issue against denver, as their backcourt d is no better than ours right now. but generally speaking, reaves is a secondary initiator (and a damn good one!). you still need an orchestrator and someone to be an "every-down back" at pg, imo. we've said it's not lebron. and that's fine by me. but it ain't reaves, either.

and again, this was supposed to be gabe, i think, but he completely forgot how to shoot the ball, so...

 

That's exactly how I would play Austin if I was an opposing HC. Press up on him, attack his dribble. The thing that you can't afford to do with Reaves, is to give him enough space to get into a rhythm with his jumper, or lose track of him in rotations. He will absolutely hurt you bad, if you do that.

 

Whoa

 

Left pelvic contusion but no structural damage. Could be bit*h though with pain for awhile and also related to a “bone bruise” which take a long time to get past as we went through with Nunn. Hope not … and AR is a tough SOB as he’s demonstrated in the past.

“Sources tell me Austin Reaves received imaging on his back and that it showed no structural damage after a scary fall Friday against OKC. He is with the team on their flight to SLC but he’s dealing with soreness from the play.

— Dan Woike (@danwoikesports.bsky.social)2024-11-30T21:22:23.208Z

Reaves may sit out a game or two as the Lakers have a heavy travel schedule ahead, but this is good news. Reaves has started all 19 games for the Lakers this season, stepped up his playmaking role and is averaging16.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game.”

 

This team gets a lot less good shots with Austin out.
He’s underrated.

 

Yeah I think you clearly see what happens without him. Real good chance they beat OKC if he doesn't get hurt and these last 2 games the offense went into the toilet without him.

AR does so many good things that he's definitely one of those guys the boxscore just doesn't tell you the whole story: the secondary assists created by his playmaking, clutch boards, Lebron can play off of him ala Draymond all gone

 

Austin benefits from playing with Lebron and AD for his entire career too. He has some good chemistry with them, but Austin Reaves, is not going to save the day. Some of his limitations, are a part of the problem, when he's playing. That's ok tho.he shouldn't be expected to save the day. He's still a great bargain at his salary.

Now...If it comes to a time, when he's requesting 30M or something, another discussion needs to be had on that subject.

 

Sigh, certainly our 2nd best player now

 

not sure I'm willing to tolerate this bashing of my favorite player

tread carefully

 

I am a big fan of him but by this point he should be getting 20ppg almost every game. We have no bench scoring so there's plenty of opportunities for him. He's a 3 level scorer. NBA is a 115pts plus game almost every time. He's our so-called 3rd star

I think his inability to step up his game to 3rd star level is also a justification to our shortcomings.

Hopefully he gets there this year. Would like to see at least a month averaging over 20ppg. If not, I'm starting to have him in my superstar trade package within the next few years.

Btw, on the next superstar hunting, Spurs may beat us in the first one available. They will surely want to go all-in on someone to pair with Wemby and have a bunch of young players and picks. Just something to be aware of

 

we're going to have to bite on a flawed star, as several teams can beat our best offer for any real franchise cornerstone. the only route to the latter is straight up FA signing (lebron) or forced trade situation (AD).

if another AD situation happens, austin would certainly have to go.

i won't move him for less, even if he doesn't become a third star level player, simply because his value per dollar is still too high to move laterally.

 

bad timing on this injury. don't see much of a shot at taking a road game in miami without reaves.

 

Umm AR is a really really good basketball player. If anyone needs more proof is how inept this team has looked since his injury