The Lakers' vision of low-pick Taobao in recent years is still good, Larry Nance Jr. was selected with the 27th pick in the first round and has now grown into a reliable substitute player; Kuzma was selected with the 27th pick in the first round, and Kuzma, who came to the Wizards, played the best performance of his career and repeatedly hit key balls; Thomas Bryant was selected with the 12th pick in the second round and is now the Wizards' most important inner rotation player; Caruso, as a lost draft, is now a defensive gate and the Bulls' most reliable outside defensive player. Austin Reeves is also one of the many low-ranking players, and now Reeves has become one of the few bright spots for the Lakers, his trajectory looks a lot like Caruso, and his performance on the court has really attracted the attention of many teams.
In the past five games, Austin Rivers as a starter can average 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks, shooting 56.4% from the field and 47.4% for three points, which may be the only recent highlight of the Lakers besides James 50+. Reeves had a chance to be selected in the second round of the draft, but he turned down this opportunity, he wanted to play for the team he dreamed of since he was a child, from the first game to the Lakers, Reeves showed his efforts on the court, whether he was hit under the basket or left pain in the tough defense, Austin Rivers won his current place in the Lakers through such a performance on the court. So far, Rivers has averaged 6.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 22.4 minutes per game and has had eight starts.
The 23-year-old Reeves is already an older rookie, in this potential-oriented league he is destined not to get too much favor from scouts, in the university of Oklahoma played for the University of Oklahoma for 4 years he was the team's main attacker, the senior season averaged 34.5 minutes per game, 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists, shooting 44.3%, three-point shooting rate of 30.5%, free throw shooting rate of 86.5%, Reeves's talent is mediocre, he does not have a fast breakthrough like Wall, He doesn't have the physical qualities of Zion, his explosiveness and strength are not good, but Reeves is very smart at playing, he relies on his excellent rhythm to create shooting opportunities, and often can shoot some magical goals, he is also known as the "fairy ball maker", and when he comes to the Lakers, he has shown his magic, he killed the Lone Ranger with a bottom corner three-pointer.
This season, the Lakers' guard line is full of talent, Westbrook, Bradley, Nunn, Bazemore, Munch, Ellington and others are all experienced players, but Reeves has slowly become the Lakers' most reliable guard, and he has squeezed these veterans behind him. Although Rivers is a rookie, his performance on the court is not flustered, his performance is very old-fashioned, he is not as strong as Caruso, but like Caruso, Rivers also starts from defense. He's a little thin, but Rivers is going all out against any of his opponents, and rivers won't easily take a step back unless he knocks him to the ground, and when rivers makes a lot of effort on the defensive end, he can't limit his opponents as effectively as Caruso, but this is only because of his strength disadvantage, if he improves his body in the offseason, then Rivers will become more outstanding, because defensive awareness and habits are difficult to cultivate, which happens to be what Rivers has.
Rivers did his best on the defensive end, because and Caruso were both drafted, the performance of the two on the court is also very similar, there are always fans to compare Rivers and Caruso, but a season down Rivers is actually a player more suitable for James than Caruso, Caruso's role is more defensive, his offense is half a pound, and there is no stable means of scoring, and Rivers is an offensively enhanced version of Caruso, his defense will not be as good as Caruso, but the attack is definitely more reliable than Caruso. Inside the three-point line, Reeves is highly efficient — he shoots 3.2 two-point shots per night and shoots 72 percent from the field, while outside the three-point line, he's also a reliable shooter with 32.5 percent three-point shooting. Reeves has become a reliable defender and smart playmaker for the Lakers, and he now takes over the team's defensive tasks and needs to make sound judgments on the offensive end.
In this season's Lakers lineup, Rivers is also one of the few players who can have a chemical reaction with James, when they play together, the Lakers can score 115.1 points per hundred rounds, limiting opponents to only get 100.4 points, net 14.7 points, is the Lakers' golden combination. The mutual influence between the two, not only James has a benign effect on Rivers, Rivers also makes James play more easily and efficiently on the court, not requiring you to have much talent around James, as long as your ball quotient is enough, then you will definitely get a lot of opportunities, Rivers's intelligence makes him the best helper around James. Every game you can see Rivers's focused eyes, in his eyes only basketball and hard work, as long as he is on the court he is the hardest one, the Lakers really found the treasure.
Has Rivers become a player like Caruso? It doesn't seem like it is now, It took Caruso a full 4 years to turn himself from a lost draft to the best outside defender today, and although Rivers is much better than Caruso in the same period, he has a long way to go, after all, this is only his first season, and it will take time to see how the subsequent development trajectory will be. But in terms of signs rivers this season, he has embarked on a path worthy of respect, and now he has his own piece of the sky in the Lakers, Caruso praised Reeves as "he is one of the excellent glues that the winning team needs", the Lakers have found their next Caruso, just hope that the Lakers can keep him forever.