Austin Reaves Discussion: Overachiever Who Underachieved

"He'd make a great 6th man off the bench"?

 

He's not gonna get an All Star nod because fans are morons, but ... he is one, production wise. And he is a superstar :lol: if normalized for contract.

 

Hey, if AR was the 12th man, towards the end of the bench, he would be the best 12th man EVERRRR!!!!

So, that's a logical reason to use him there!!

I'm running for office, vote for me!!!

 

What kind of office?

 

DAOTUS: Dumb Arse of the United States!!

 

Hillbillies can’t be getting tossed if you are the glue.

 

He’s been disappointing since the career high

 

You keep saying that

 

This loss is on AR. Can't be getting tossed when you are this important. This team needs him to close the games even if he is laying bricks early on.

 

He's going through the biggest adjustment with Luka coming in, it's noticeable. If you watch the first 6 minutes, he barely touched the ball and it definitely frustrated him. Then the shot wasn't falling, he started trying too much and the frustration built up, leading to that outburst with the official (although it was indeed a foul).

It's part of the process and with time he'll adjust. We don't have a 4th organizer/shot creator so he still plays a huge role. There's also a stint in each half where Bron and Luka rest together, at least for now, which he needs to capitalize.
He has been the one asked to adjust the most this season. Started the season with DLo, asked to be the POA defender and share the rock with DLo, then DLo started playing more off ball and from the bench and he became the main initiator, then we traded DLo and he was the main/only PG. Now Luka. It's not easy to adapt to so many different roles but he's doing a great job. I fully trust AR to be in his best version again in around one month

He needs to be the main target after Luka gets double which he does a lot. AR is elite attacking scrambling defenses because he shoots, attacks the basket and passes with great quality. It will take some time for the team to adjust to Luka too and maximize this type of scenarios that we weren't so used to.

 

I continue to believe Austin should come off the bench. Not because he can't play well with Luka and LeBron (he can), but I want to best utilize his talents for as many minutes as possible. I don't want him being the POA defender for a majority of his 30-34ish minutes, which is what happens when you start and close with Luka/LeBron/Austin together. I don't want him being the sole source of offense in lineups without Luka and LeBron, I want him as the #2 guy with just one of them on the court as much as possible.

IMO, the best utilization of Austin is to bring him off the bench, still play him 30-34 minutes, but structure it so that the only minutes he's playing with both Luka and LeBron are the closing minutes (8ish minutes per game, the last 4ish minutes of each half). The other 22-26 minutes he's out there with just one of LeBron or Luka, and also with Gabe or Vando so one of them can be POA. That's the best way to make his role going forward closest to his pre-AD trade role, where he was excelling.

 

Austin got ejected and the game turns around.

Austin was injured earlier this year, and we sucked.

He's kind of important and we win at a high clip with a healthy Austin.

They better lock pay his a** when the time comes...he deserves it.

 

The old do as I say and not as I do … huh Pop? “Don’t get attached to the kids”.

 

yeah, i'm still on the reaves-is-manu train (this is not an insult!!). we need a defender in his place with the starters for now. i'm guessing jj's waiting for it to be reaves's idea...

imo:

hayes
lebron
luka
DFS
gabe

should be the starters.

and given our personnel at the moment,

lebron
DFS
luka
reaves
gabe

should be the closing unit.

 

Two Reaves are better than one

 

He's a nice player but he didn't win the Championchip, just the german cup. So basically the same trophy as Austin with the IST

 

left with some slick moves and quick release

probably a stopper on D too

 

Pretty good defensive effort today, all around best player in the team

 

AR making up for bonehead move last game.