Austin Reaves against Clippers: 29/2/6 | 80.2% TS | 32 Minutes
5⁄10 from 2
4⁄5 from 3
7⁄7 FT
He’s so efficient and productive it’s crazy. 100% would’ve made the All-Star and probably All-NBA
This Lakers team probably has the best big 3 for a team this bad in history.
This Lakers team is probably also the best team to be called bad so often in history
nah, the 2014-2015 Hawks had the best record in the NBA one year and flopped hard in the playoffs, and blew it up a year later. They were way better and no one believed in them, even their FO. Just couldn’t get past Lebron, and everyone knew it.
And then there were the Lebron Cavs teams. Lots of people thought they’d lose even with Kyrie and Love. The East is weak, Cleveland can’t get role players, Lebron isn’t clutch, Lebron wants to leave again, etc.
Then way back, there was the Rodman-Robinson Spurs, Rodman seemingly couldn’t play with goody two shoes Admiral and he’d act out every spring like Draymond but Robinson’s stats were ungodly those years. He’d get 50 points on jumpers and block everything. Like Dwight with offense, or a 7 foot Kawhi, he was freakishly athletic and his moves were robotic and efficient on both ends. Phil Jackson was able to harness Rodman, Spurs couldn’t. Those teams were amazing but so much wasted potential. They were seen as doomed even at the time, like a baseball team with erratic closers.
They had a negative net rating almost halfway into the season!
All 3 of their guys missed about 20 games man, and we had gabe snell as our backup PG until the deadline
They’re also 34-21, calling them bad is stupid.
They’re on track to win over 50 games. There’s no universe where they’re “bad”.
we got an expert on what a bad team is here (sry)
It’s fine I’m fine :(
Here’s a fun stat for you: The Lakers have exactly three players with a positive (actual) EPM. Luka +5.9, Reaves +3.6, LeBron +0.5.
That’s it. Not even some random 15 MPG bench player who’s liked by advanced stats and thus rated as a positive contributor.
Such an unbalanced team. They pretty much have three starter-calibre players. Plus some decent role players like Rui, but overall, it is insane how little individual talent they have beyond their stars.
And their highest paid bench player in Rui is an advanced stat nightmare
That’s actually, genuinely mental if you deep it. EPM is a team metric as well. You see so much clustering especially in the defensive EPM, couple DET and OKC guys up there, BOS as well. That’s why its a such a terrible metric for individuals. Because having no positive EPM guys outside those 3 means that these 3 would have much better EPM numbers in a team like OKC for example
Bench is so ass its crazy….
Very true, but you know what, I’m just happy to not have to watch Gabe Vincent anymore dog. Our bench is a little less ass than it was before, I’ll take it
It’s cause they don’t got a single 3&D player. And Ayton is their starting center.
You can replace either LeBron or Reaves with 2 good 3&D players and they are contenders.
Hopefully they make some moves next year.
Kennard has been really good. Great 3 point shooter and was hustling like crazy on defense. Incredible upgrade over Gabe Vincent.
Yea but his best defense is still average. He was getting hunted like crazy in second or third quarter today
Its better than Gabe and he can hit his shot at least.
I don’t think the Lakers’ standard is ‘better than Gabe’ at 4 on the depth chart. Real depth is going to cost something, Lebron retiring or leaving only gets you so far.
I do think Ayton is good enough to upgrade the other positions.
Agree, but still a huge upgrade from Vincent. He’s shown that he can handle the ball and make good passes. It’s mostly just a breath of fresh air seeing someone come to the Lakers and retain their ability to shoot and make layups.
Ayton isn’t great but honestly it’s hard to blame him considering how little he’s making. Pelinka just hasn’t been a good GM over the years.
Smart is still a legit defender though I’m not sure he’s a legit 3 and D player because his 3 is not great.
The Lakers is waiting for Lebron contract to end to either go Giannis or build around Reaves and Luka.
Lebron to the Cavs for Jarrett Allen and Dean Wade or smth
thats what I do in r/basketballGM
Why would the Cavs or LeBron agree to that? If he wanted to go there he could just do so as a FA. He’s not going to want to end up in the same “we don’t have a center” mess the Lakers are currently in.
Works for us!
The rest of the roster is terrible lol.
the difference in talent between the 3rd and 4th best player on the lakers gotta be the biggest in the league
That’s more so cause its a Big 3. Smart has been really good for us
It’s cause all 3 do very similar things and the rest of the team sucks
Bit of a bad composition for the big 3, two guards and a forward, all average on defense.
I mean, that was the Heat, right? If Lebron was younger, he could do power forward like Dray or Bosh and they’d skyrocket. They’d be contenders now with more of a roster around them and better health. Lakers are very close now, but it’s a slippery slope with OKC, Denver and SAS out there.
Tbf all 3 of the big 3 has missed a decent amount of games. If they stay healthy from here on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lakers make a run to finish out the season
The on court synergy between Bron and Luka is just not really there, feel like it’s been long enough for me to feel comfortable saying that
Also while the trio is super talented they all have the same weaknesses being defense and athleticism and the entire rest of the roster somehow also has those same weaknesses. Just horrible roster construction
Definitely, there is a reason they changed it so they all start, Luka plays the full quarter where he is probably the greatest 1st quarter player ever, but Bron and maybe AR goes out, Hayes comes in. And then in the 2nd quarter we get Bron and Ayton minutes. Not sure how AR will fit into these rotations in the long term, but maybe he stays in more than Bron with Luka, then goes out and comes in with Bron minutes
As long as Jeanie Buss is still around, the organization likely won’t put a good enough roster around Luka.
She litwrally isnt anymore tho
She’s still the governor.
That doesn’t mean shit.
To be fair, this big three is pretty bad at defense
Because none of the stars can play good defense and the play styles too similar
In fairness their big three have barely played together this season with all their injuries
You don’t know what you’re taking about. This big 3 people keep harping on doesn’t fit and that’s their biggest problem. More specifically Luka and Lebron and no one is taking about it. Not even the NBA media.
But casuals keep blaming it on the other role players.
That was half the talk when they paired up you goldfish
That’s what happens when 2⁄3 of their big 3 are some of the worst defenders in the league and the third one is 41 years old.
‘Some of the worst defenders’
Not even close.
Luka and Reaves are absolute food. Maybe not the worst in the league, but definitely some of the worst out of starter/rotation players on playoff teams.
There’s literally a video about their defense lol…..
Oh ok well if some guy made a video then that changes the whole equation
“Here’s why the two worst defenders on a terrible defensive team aren’t actually bad.”
Luka gets so trashed for his defense but anyone whos actually watched games know he’s actually pretty underrated. The shitty part is the same people saying his defense is trash give lebron a complete pass when HES the actual worst defender on the team and its not even close.
The Mavericks quite literally built a team of defenders around him knowing how bad he was.
Then he goes to the Lakers and they become one of the worst defensive teams.
Yet Luka is somehow underrated? Don’t get me wrong, LeBron has been absolutely selling on defense, but Luka isn’t good or underrated.
or they just put a bunch of defensive players around luka because he’s an offensive force and having guys that can defend and catch and shoot/catch lobs is a whole lot more efficient than having a bunch of creators.
The narrative that luka is “Trash” defensively is overblown as shit. He’s neutral at worst. Same thing with reaves, he had a couple of seasons where he got hunted but he put on some weight and at this point he’s also actually pretty solid defensively.
The problem is they have deandre ayton as a defensive center and the dude plays with superglue on the bottom of his soles. Then you got to over rotate or switch everything because lebron also cant do shit.
If you think he’s such a bad defender, how could the Mavs have one of the best defenses in the league with him?
Also, the Lakers were better defensively after the trade last year lol
It is crazy to blame any of them when their 4th best player might be washed Marcus Smart
Austin Reaves has the highest career TS% of any guard in NBA history, and he supports that by being a tough shot-maker, not just relying on a bunch of open looks.
Hm, I thought this for sure couldn’t be true, but for high volume guards, he does in fact have a slightly higher career average TS% than Steph Curry, so I think it actually is. Obviously, low sample size and relative era is playing into that, Austin has played 5 seasons while Curry has played 17. Curry also has the highest season average TS% for a high volume guard still at 67.5% in 2017-18, and SGA this season is averaging 67%. But even still, Austin is just behind them at a mind blowing 66.5% TS this season, which is very elite. Honestly can’t believe he’s so good.
✔️But this actually shouldn’t be surprising. (see the recent posts in r/lakers and Facebook).
Austin Reaves has already been talked about as having one of the highest career TS% marks here on Reddit, FB, RealGM, ISH, and other forums every year he’s been in the league.
Yes, he’s that good and his “breakout” is actually 1-year behind. If he had the same kind of usage and leadership role last year, he would have been in the All-Star/All-NBA mix already.
In comparison to SGA this season, Austin was at a crazy-high 68.8% TS before the injury, on high volume (some of it with Luka and/or LeBron out).
There was nothing to indicate that, if healthy, he couldn’t have at least stayed above 67% for the year.
He’s so fucking good
X4
He’s looking like a top 10 offensive player in the league this year. Dude manages to get more efficient every year despite increased volume. Luka and Reaves are such a scary back court.
I love seeing him kick ass. May not be a lakers fan, but as an OU grad, I’m a huge Reaves fan.
Also a Reaves fan, but as someone who lives on the East Coast, if the basketball gods can figure out a way to trade Reaves for Brunson or Jaylen Brown, I would very much appreciate that dear gods.
He’s like Harden on the Thunder, ready to blow.
In fact, the Rockets need scoring and the Lakers need defense. huh.
LuKai is over, LukAustin is here
LuStin
Snow Gilgeous Alexander strikes again
Best 3rd best in the league
he looks better than Bron this season imo. so i think he’s 2nd
It flip flops on some nights Austin looks fuckin awesome then on other nights Bron has to pick up the slack we need to see em play more together as a free. They need to build proper chemistry before the play offs it’s been too disjointed this year
I believe this is only their 11th game played together this season (Luka, Lebron, Austin) so that checks out
Except he’s 2nd best.
He’s our 2nd option
Those rim finishes were insane man this genuinely might be a superstar. Some team needs to go all out for him in the summer
Pretty 4 of his misses were blocked too.
Real gym rat
The handle still loose and he’s not found the shirt middie which was the deep drop coverage buster for him. The shot on and ball the ball mostly back and he’s trying on d
Lakers best and most efficient offensive player
you havent watched Luka bust your teams ass enough times?
I mean statistically AR is the most efficient volume scorer on the team.
Have a good night
3 flops