Austin Reaves with another 30-point game against the Clippers: 31 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST
Another 30 point night for him, all-star calibre season from AR15 so far. 11⁄16 from FG
Box Score: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401809801
Reaves is officially better than Ja Morant and a lot of players we would’ve never though possible a few years back. Wow.
He’s been better than Ja since last year lol.
But Ja does the spinny thing 🤷♂️
That’s literally what he said
What? He said “officially” like he just now became better than Ja? Maybe my English interpretation skills aren’t as high level and scholarly like yours, my bad bro.
No problem.
He never stated he meant “officially” meant ‘today’ or ‘recently’. I can see where the confusion arose.
I interpreted it as. “A few years ago, if you said AR was better than Ja, that would have been a ridiculous statement. Today, that statement is irrefutable”.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eHawSWEDIo0/hqdefault.jpg
“Officially” implies “recently”
Officially implies he only just became better
No it isnt
Before the 2023 season, I thought it would be great if Reaves would be better than Beal or Middleton. I never would have thought he would be better than Morant.
AR gets better every season. Ja’s stock keeps dipping.
Apparently all he does is work on his game and play golf. Plus he’s the anti-Ja as far as toxicity goes. Dude deserves every dollar of the huge deal he’s about to get.
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Nah, Ja wants to go back to his thug friends and play guns and gangsters.
He ain’t want go China. To be a gangster there, you gotta have a biochemical degree and know knives.
Ja doesn’t even come from the hood is the weird thing. He comes from a normal, middle class background. Where did he acquire these so-called thug friends?
School. Median income of Home town - 31k
A barber in this town is not middle class, no matter what ppl tell you. Public high School introduces you to a lot of dif ppl, I remember.
Ja should start learning Chinese.
TBF, Marbury became a legend in Chinese basketball. He is a hero there.
Nah his shoes aren’t nearly as affordable
Yeah Marbury had his shoes at Payless for like $19.99
Ja? Not really saying much, atp there’s a lot of players better than Ja.
Well a few years ago people were talking about him as a possible face of the league type
A few years ago…
The NBA really wanted an American as the next face of the league. Zion was injured, Tatum didn’t have the aura, and Edwards was too young and unproven, so they tried to push Morant.
And Ja is somehow all of the above
He had a lot of hype but it never really felt like he was as ever going to be a top 5 player. I just can’t see even if he stayed out of trouble how a small guard who isn’t a great shooter or defender could be at that top echelon.
Dont know about face of the league, but he was genuinely one of the most exciting players to watch offensively for a time. Guy just has issues, though.
Morant passed Booker among the league’s SGs, but Booker managed to pass him again at almost 30.
Yeah, insane to put it that way. I was so high on Ja but if the grizzlies could trade him straight up for Reaves right now they would do that
I mean, let’s be real here. There are a ton of players better than Ja right now.
Had to argue with people that Reaves is better than Desmond bane
Our 2023 series my warriors fan friend called me an idiot for saying he’s better than Poole
We?
Slightly related but who do you guys think is the best player we can say Reaves is absolutely better than?
Well, just throwing this out there…
Austin Reaves currently averages more points, rebounds, assists (by more than double 7.0 to 3.5) than Anthony Edwards. He also shoots better from the field, has a better TS% (.641 to .609) and is only .2 steals per game behind him. He also averages more win shares if you’re into that kind of thing.
Just saying…
He is on pace to be Devin Booker
Should have been 36⁄37 ngl
Genuinely don’t understand how the refs missed that goaltend
Or waived off the 4 point play. That was awful
And the foul on the three in the first quarter
Refs were on some bullshit
I typically don’t engage in ref whining but this game was wild. So many bafflingly bad calls.
Fr brutal refball
He can be either #1 or #2 option.
He’s the number one option in my heart
His most underrated trait is how he can switch between being a ball handler creating his own shot and an offball player getting fed by Luka and Bron. It works so well cause he can allow Luka to rest and also close the game with him
Yeah, and he seems to genuinely not care what role he’s playing in the slightest as long as it helps the team win. Some players get all in their feelings when they don’t get the ball as much, but AR will make it work either way
My 85 year old grandpa says he’s the second coming of Gail Goodrich.
He also claims back in his day that was a skill you looked for in guards thats “lost” to time.
He’s a 2 on a good team. A 1 on an average to below 500 team.
He could probably be the #1 option for half of the current playoff standings, especially in the East
Why do us Lakers fans always overrate/glaze Lakers players? I’m an AR fan but not delusional.
Which teams exactly?
I’m telling you right now if he was the Suns #1 option we might’ve actually won 1-2 of the game we lost off of booker’s decision making. I don’t think he’s necessarily better but he absolutely just processes the game faster than most players.
If he isn’t necessarily better, I’m assuming scoring, then why would he be a better # 1 option?
Playmaking, passing, running the offense for the whole team without having to force yourself to get yours is extremely valuable. Not that Booker isn’t good at those aspects, but AR definitely has the edge on getting everyone else involved. But Booker is much better defensively and a better scorer so I think it really depends what you’re trying to achieve as a team.
Gotta remember in games without AD/LeBron/Luka he was putting up like 29/8/8 on high efficiency and getting wins in the West with a depleted roster and no Center last year.
There’s a bunch of good teams that could use that especially in a shifty 6’5 guy that can run the offense. Raptors, Heat, Cavs, Knicks, Hawks, Magic? Spurs probably could cause Wemby just hasn’t hit his prime yet and is missing games. Suns, maybe Twolves. His scoring matches Ant but he has more assists and might run an offense a little better but obviously you want Edwards and Wemby for long term going forward. Maybe even Rockets with KD being old and under 25ppg.
Edit: To be clear I’m not saying he’d be the best player on these teams but he could run the offense as a #1 option better than what they currently have available given his skillset and size at his position. His contract helps too
Bro his advanced stats right now are literally top-10 in the entire league. It’s not delusional to say he’d be the best player on the Magic or Hawks rn
He can basically create for himself, his penetration is elite, his play making is atleast above average. I bet alot of teams wants a player like him. Imagine your #2 can do that. And like those sub 500 teams. He can be #1
I think he could be a decent 1 on a deep team like okc,. or last year’s pacers. replacing shai and Haliburton respectively. Obviously not quite as proven as those guys but I think his teams would be dangerous for sure
On a 15-67 Wizards team maybe
He’d be the 1 on the Celtics right now who are 9-8.
Maybe maybe not JBs been playing pretty damn well
JBs a stud and a better player, but Reaves would operate better as a first option, if that makes sense.
Kinda, he has been playing a bit out of his mind recently but also hard to compare situations. Celtics roster right now is not doing much to help JB. No saying that Reaves could have any more successful with it especially if he becomes the defensive focus night in night out
The Celtics roster is also markedly worse than the Lakers and it’s not like they have another credible scoring threat. Reaves is doing this on a team where the main guy is in the convo for MVP and is threatening to average 35 a game. And there’s another guy who’s basically a triple-double machine. All three of them on the court tonight and Reaves still goes 31/9/3.
JB > Reaves as a # 1 option
Disagree. Reaves is a slightly better shot creator for himself and a much better playmaker for others. Also gets to the line a ton which is huge.
Reaves and Brown are now averaging 27.9 ppg. Similar rebounds, but Reaves averages three more assists per game. And that’s with Luka as a teammate (and now LeBron). How many options do the Celtics really have?
Also, Reaves’ hair doesn’t leave marks on people’s jerseys.
Refs robbed 6 pts from him, should’ve been 37
AR is legitimately top 10 in EPM. His defense has been improving every year.
It hasn’t been linear improvement and he got worse when he started getting more minutes and offensive responsibility. But this year I feel like he’s been passable and at times opportunistic. Big improvement considering his offense has also improved.
Ye, he’s gonna get an All Star selection and he absolutely will deserve it when the time comes. AR is the definition of breaking barriers.
Might be all nba at this pace
6 points robbed by the refs.
Reaves, Lebron, and Luka combined for 99 points.
Why get bench when big 3 can average 90 points.
His speed getting to the rim was great tonight, was making the Clippers old players look even slower than they are
All star
I swear AR is a fast learner, he improved under Lebron and now another leap after playing with Luka. He’s like the monstar ball but without the side effect of taking the skill from the player lol
His handles are so insane, every time I think he might be out of control of go out of bounds he just manages to get into the paint.
The quick stop behind the back he always does to change direction works every damn time now too. His improvement is so insane to watch year after year
He really is an all star
Remember when this sub said he would never work with Luka
White boy on a field goal diet, don’t best try it. He’ll beat Clips ass like a looter in a riot.
I know this is a thread praising Reaves’ for his incredible offense, but I wanted to ask, is Kawhi really cooked? I saw AR look decent on defense against him today when he got switched onto him, which was shocking. totally expected Kawhi to treat AR as a rag doll, but he genuinely seems to have issues getting to his spots.
Actually Kawhi is the one bigger star in the league that Reaves has been weirdly good at guarding for for a couple of years now.
Everytime he drives it looks so good! He is such a baller
This is exactly what Kyrie was to Luka on the Mavs last year.
Called it in 2021. He will get an All-Star selection sometime in his career. He has been having himself such an insane start to the season. Give him MIP while we’re at it.
Overrated
You’re overweighted
Deez
Trade him for Herb Jones and his triple single.
Legitimately saw people proposing this …. crazy …