Austin Reaves Discussion: Overachiever Who Underachieved

Yeah I sure hope JJ and them have been preparing a lot more stuff we haven’t seen yet because most of the time they seem to be trading off just going one on one with their defender after/while utilizing a pick outside. Nothing fancy or interesting that make use of their cumulative offensive abilities and great passing.

 

Someone's getting tested after the game

 

This indeed is one HELL of a great photo!!

 

When we win the chip that is the face AR gonna make! I'm calling it

 

Yeah, it's why Reaves is amazing IMO.

He can drop 25+ points routinely but he is super unselfish and has no problem deferring by making the correct play. He gels super well with the superstar players since he doesn't need the ball like a Russ Westbrook to have an impact.

You look at someone like Bradley Beal who many in the NBA fanthreads said they would rather have over Reaves... Beal is useless if he doesn't have the ball and wants to jack up 17+ shots per game. Reaves will find a way to be useful whether it's 8 or 16 shots.

 

AD was holding Austin back imo. Luka actually helps Austin. The huge increase in 3 pt volume is important for the leap he has taken. You would think AD would of gotten AR open looks but AD likes to shoot a lot of middies and didn't pass much either. Luka spreads the floor and is an elite passer. I'm not saying the trade is thevonly reason though, Austin was clearly trending up. AD was injured too before the trade.

 

I completely agree with this.

AD liked to hold onto the ball just standing there waiting for something to happen. Then when the shotclock winds down, he settles for a midrange pullup. It was one of my biggest frustrations watching AD because he would settle for jumpers like he was Kevin Durant. He wanted another big to be on the court with him but his floor spacing wasn't good enough to justify having two bigs on the court. It worked in the 2020 playoffs because AD had an outlier playoffs shooting the ball.

It's why the offense looked so bad when Bron was sitting. Reaves was willing to give up the ball to AD and the offense didn't look good. Reaves is more of a scoring guard who can pass whereas AD needed a pass first guy like Rondo or CP3 to set him up.

I'll get flak for this but would any of us really give up Reaves + assets for AD? I probably wouldn't. Only way I give up Reaves right now is if you're definitively getting a guy like Giannis, Jokic, etc., There's plenty of guys who have nice stats and can pad it up. There's not many who is a third option dropping 25/6/6 shooting 40% from three the past 20 games.

 

Yeah man AD was low key bad for LAL. Dont even get me started on that. People have so much respect for AD, etc. that they are hesitant to critique him, even still. His defense was obviously good, but he mucked up the offense. His offense was empty stats. Not worth it. Then when he publicly said he wanted to play the 4 I was thinking get this guy out if here. I bet Laker mgmt thought the same, not just for Luka imo.

 

Having 3 players who can score and create at the level our top 3 can is just so unusual and awesome. If they can truly get their games in sync, we could be watching some amazing basketball this playoff run.

This may be Lebron's last hurrah in the playoffs, so I hope all 3 parties stay healthy. We have a puncher's chance this year if we can catch fire.

 

You disappear for a couple of months after the deadline and your failed season long hobby trying to trade AR for like 40 other players in the league, capping it off with Dennis Schroder in a last gasp effort …. to finally surface again, including now lauding him and dumping all over AD with THAT post?? “Don’t get you started on how low key ‘bad’ HE was with his ‘empty stats’ offense”.

Was this an I’m back and Hold my Beer moment …. I can do worse?

 

LOL. I didn't think the Lakers would he bold enough to trade AD. Nobody did. And the Luka trade was obviously a shock to everyone. No one could have predicted that. So, at the time Austin was the only player besides AD, that the Lakers could realistically trade for something of significant value. I stated the reasons many times. The Lebron/AD/Reaves trio was a bad fit, and the Lakers were getting poor results. They clearly needed to shake things up.

 

NO.

AD and LeBron were A top superstar duo in the league and just one of AR’s strengths is being a connector playing any role and fitting in with who’s on the floor.

Luka YES. Of course.

 

We really are hindsight is 20/20 on AD in here huh?

AD's problem is he isn't consistently aggressive nor does he dominate his matches. In the game against us he was a bit passive in spaces but also, like when he played with us, didn't get the ball when he had a clear seal (usually on Austin actually). He is a #1 on defense and #3 on offense IMO. In saying that I think its crazy how we forget how great this dude is and how much some of us didn't want him gone. We can't ignore that his durability is questionable and as a #1 that would be hard to rely on. You absolutely trade him for Luka 100% of the time.

Also, we really just forget how little ball movement and player rotation we had over the past few years. Most times we dribble/dribble/stand around/shoot late clock 3 pointer. Since the trade we have more movement without the ball and we have 2 guys (Luka and AR) who constantly attack the rim with Bron being more aggressive too. We have been much less stagnant than we were with AD. Is it because of him? I don't think so. I actually think it is because Luka and AR are better facilitators of the offense AND, this is important, we have guys who are hitting shots off the drives and kicks.

That all being said..... lets stop trying to act like AD wasn't a beast for us and we didn't love what he did when he was healthy.

 

Where is this idea AD holding up AR coming from lol?

The clear data point is that when Dlo got traded, AR exploded. If you're looking at anything that is the change point - the team decided to use AR as a playmaker and not give minutes to a traditional PG.

 

I hear you. AD in 2020 was great for us. That was 5 years ago though. In those 5 years, he has changed (in terms of speed on defense, shooting, etc. ), and the league has changed (has become even more perimeter oriented). Compound that with the new coach we have, who puts an emphasis analytics/modern nba, etc. As opposed to Darvin Ham. Also AR was being affected. You can't just force him to be a guy that fits. You still have to let him drive amd get to his spots and stuff like that. I think a lot of ppl wanted him to turn into a Dalton Knecht type player. It wasn't happening with the team we had. Now with Luka, Austin is getting a lot of open looks and he gets to increase his volume. It's unfortunate that he couldn't raise who's volume with AD. AD if had to be a stretch 5 to potentially make it work, but he wanted to play the 4 and be likes to shoot inefficient long 2- pointers.

 

Great point. Yes that got the ball rolling on Austin's growth for sure, particularly in terms of being able to be the point guard. But I think AD affected him too in terms of clogging up the paint and just not moving the ball and taking shots. Look, ideally Austin needs shooters around him. This helps open up space for him and also let's him utilize his passing skills. With AD being on the perimeter, AD is not going to knock down open threes and he's not going to generate many assists for players like Austin.

 

Here’s your beer back ST …. congratulations on the new bad takes.

 

I'm just a fan bro, of the Los Angeles Lakers team. Unfortunately in this era, there tends to be a lot of hero warship. Sadly creates conflict between fans. It's good to have different opinions though. It would probably be boring if everyone agreed on what's a good take and what's a bad take.

 

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