Does Austin Reaves finally surpass Lebron as Lakers's no. 2 this year?
Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2024 7:30 pm
AD is obviously the guy under Reddick's new system. The plan is to get the ball to him a lot in different situations. Some new looks from last year with AD more on the perimeter. He's leading the league in scoring and has been unstoppable so far.
However, Lakers are slowly more and more relying on Austin's playmaking ability and ball skills to setup their offense and his outside clutch shooting has been insane thus far. Good things happen when Austin has the ball. Austin has a .671 TS% and he has already bailed the Lakers out a lot this year. Lakers offense seems to stumble when Austin is not involved. He's their best decision maker by far. Right now their stats are similar. Lebron with the 20/7/7 while Austin is similar at 19/7/5. Austin's BPM is 4.3 compared to Lebron's 1.6 and on/off favors Austin heavily at +11 to -14 for Lebron. If you watch the games, Austin has been the Lakers second best player so far. Small sample size, but it could be telling as the season progresses. I feel like we are seeing a changing of the guard with Austin stepping into the role as Lakers true no. 2 as Lebron's advanced numbers begin to decline. Also Hachimura has been great as well and is a good young player. As long as Reddick keeps feeding AD the ball and continues with the youth movement, Lakers will be legit. If we see Lebron shooting 20+ shots night after night, Lakers season will be finished.
However, Lakers are slowly more and more relying on Austin's playmaking ability and ball skills to setup their offense and his outside clutch shooting has been insane thus far. Good things happen when Austin has the ball. Austin has a .671 TS% and he has already bailed the Lakers out a lot this year. Lakers offense seems to stumble when Austin is not involved. He's their best decision maker by far. Right now their stats are similar. Lebron with the 20/7/7 while Austin is similar at 19/7/5. Austin's BPM is 4.3 compared to Lebron's 1.6 and on/off favors Austin heavily at +11 to -14 for Lebron. If you watch the games, Austin has been the Lakers second best player so far. Small sample size, but it could be telling as the season progresses. I feel like we are seeing a changing of the guard with Austin stepping into the role as Lakers true no. 2 as Lebron's advanced numbers begin to decline. Also Hachimura has been great as well and is a good young player. As long as Reddick keeps feeding AD the ball and continues with the youth movement, Lakers will be legit. If we see Lebron shooting 20+ shots night after night, Lakers season will be finished.