Watch the NBA | What is the strength of Reeves and this kind of puzzle?

Which of the following options was the turning point in the Lakers' 22-23 season?

A. Anthony Davis returns

B. Weishao was sent away and brought in Russell, Van der Biao, Beasley

C. Austin Reeves returns

D. LeBron James is back

Answer B seems like a natural choice. Thick eyebrows and James are the cornerstones of the Lakers' team, and it stands to reason that A and D should also be prioritized above C. But you can never ignore the C option for a 4-for-1 game, especially if you realize that Reeves may be invaluable in the playoff matchups, then C deserves to be favored again.

Reeves grew to become the Lakers' No. 3 star, dramatically changing the outcome of the Lakers' 22-23 season. I had a hunch in February that Reeves would be a difficult point for the Warriors to deal with against the Lakers. The reality fits Murphy's Law very well, and Reeves did deal a painful blow to the Warriors, both in the regular season and in the playoffs.

Where is Reeves in particular?

High ball intelligence, reasonable selection, foul making, consistent mid-range shots and finishes, and defensive toughness beyond physical fitness are all Reeves' assets. These alone are not enough, there is no shortage of defenders in the league who are better at carrying the ball than Reeves, and there are countless better defenders than him. But putting the following conditions together, very few can be met at the same time:

possess the combined capabilities described above;

Take the money of the puzzle player;

There is the normal heart of a puzzle player, and the enterprising spirit of a star player;

You can play shadow killers next to star players, and you can also stand up at key moments and turn the tide.

Yes, Reeves is special, he has the ability to be a star player, but he is a puzzle player. And, at least so far, Reeves' understanding of identity is very clear. We've just seen a puzzle player who plays the contribution of a star player change his mentality after his identity changes. Reeves may certainly face such a test, but he can't change the reality of his jigsaw player salary, at least for the next three years.

A puzzle-positioned player has a star-level ability, which means he won't become a stronghold for opponents to hide their defensive weaknesses in the playoffs, like Bullock and Finney Smith. This version of the Lakers, their most important advantage and feature is the ability to pose multiple ball carriers at the same time, to achieve low-cost, no dead angle to hit single defensive weaknesses.

This is also why, I think the most difficult part of the Lakers' offense for the Warriors is not the thick eyebrows that turn over the river on the inside, or the old Jen who intermittently exerts power, they are all constants in the calculation, the Warriors have competed with them for so many years, how to defend, there is roughly a suitable method. But these are only possible if the Warriors' outside defense can help the inside. The current situation is that the Warriors may have to put on 2~3 outside lines at the same time, and the Lakers can almost every outside can hold the ball to kill these points. As a result, the need for external supplementation and internal has become a self-care of inside and outside in reality, and the internal line also increases the risk of fouls because it has to fill leaks for the outside line, which in turn causes a domino-style collapse of the whole line.

To achieve the ability to strike with the ball in all directions, it is naturally necessary to hoard enough points that can hold the ball. As we mentioned in previous articles, ball development is the most expensive resource in the league, and a player's ability to hold the ball is not far off. With a few well-paid cores in your hands, it's hard to guarantee that you can afford to use such a puzzle. On the other hand, the frontcourt players who can play with the ball will be more expensive, and the relatively spillover ball-carrying resources in the league are in the backcourt, and to make up a full ball-carrying lineup, it is basically necessary to play a multi-guard lineup, and the defense of multiple defenders will almost certainly suffer. Even if you have a puzzle guard who can handle the ball and can lead the defense, and by chance he has a cabbage-priced contract — like Schroeder last season — he may not be able to shoot three-pointers and lack the compatibility without the ball.

Reeves doesn't have these problems.

Okay, now you understand what Reeves means, right?

As a puzzle player, he can both open up space and tear up opponents to despise his defensive counterpoint, and his super high ball intelligence allows him to combine the two things very reasonably. On the defensive end, he can at least use it at the same time as another point guard to defend some non-top-talented ball carriers. He avoided that when the team chose the last puzzle, it had to make offensive and defensive trade-offs, or there was a trade-off between the ball and not, which raised the shortcomings of the barrel effect and gave the Lakers a very high lower limit.

This "best fifth person" function is most likely to be realized in Shuang Nengwei. The reason is also simple, if the above characteristics appear in the frontcourt players, they will almost certainly become the core of the team, and it is impossible to play the role of "shadow assassin".

But the top card in this group is not Reeves, but Derek White.

White is probably the league's best No. 1 blocker and can defend most of the backcourt. Although he proved in the playoffs that he couldn't move up to Butler's rank, Holiday next door explained that it wasn't White's personal problem. White has a consistent breakaway shot, reliable efficiency inside the three-point line, solid ball handling, and few mistakes. There have been seasons where White has been a reliable point-and-shoot three-pointer, such as last season, when White shot 38.1 percent from three-point range in the regular season and 45.5 percent from three-point range in the playoffs. He wasn't accurate every season, though.

If you only look at the performance of punishing defensive weaknesses, I think White is inferior to Reeves. In the long run, White is unlikely to be promoted to a core player, his next contract is not easy to sign, it is not appropriate to maintain cabbage prices, and it is not appropriate to raise his salary at the age of 31. White is currently able to get a higher rank than Reeves because he has maintained a high level for a longer period of time, and Reeves needs another season to continue his highlight. Judging by his role and performance on the U.S. team, this shouldn't be a problem.

Smart was placed at T4 instead of T3.5, a notch below White. If it had been last summer, I would have reversed the positions of Smart and White, and recent form would certainly be an important factor in determining the ranking of the two. But as a puzzle piece, Smart has something more questionable:

Smart will be bigger than the puzzle piece in mentality and functionality. "Team Soul" is not called in vain, Smart does take on some "Team Soul" tasks at key moments of the game, which will produce a double-edged sword effect. On the one hand, you can't blame a leading player for giving the whole team mental support and inspiration, and on the other hand, Smart's ability is suitable for those crucial moments of turning and finishing, big heart shots, and difficult balls, which is a question mark.

Smart is not a player who can be consistently efficient, and his three-point level has always oscillated in the "daring, sometimes accurate, sometimes abstract" range, but in general, it doesn't hurt the team. Smart has improved his finishing level in the last two seasons, but you also have to take into account the Celtics' space environment, and after going to the Grizzlies, you have to observe. He has smart offensive options, but he also lives because he is too smart but not enough. Overall, he's a powerful piece of the puzzle on the offensive end, but he can't eliminate the by-products, which is inferior to Reeves and White.

Given Smart's most formidable defensive versatility in the group, he's still enough to stay in his current position.

T4.5 gives three championship guards:

Pop, the only "whiteboard" 3D in this series T4.5 and above, that is, catching, shooting, setting points and defense, can almost summarize Pope's entire contribution. Pope's two championship journeys were on a team with a core player who excelled in creating opportunities for his teammates, which kept the pressure on Pope to do complex things to a minimum, which was reflected in Pope's two championship seasons with the lowest round share of his career since his rookie season. However, although it is only a simple thing, Pope can do his job well in low plays, he fills the gap in the Nuggets' previous backcourt defense, the playoffs are extremely deadly in the bottom corner, and in the third quarter of the Western Conference G3 - Jokic is trapped in the foul, the Lakers home, which may be the Nuggets' toughest third quarter of the year - relying on his only off-ball development scenes, scoring 12 points. I have to say that this little highlight is one of the reasons I put him in T4.5;

Bruce Brown explains very well that shooting limitations are not intolerable injuries, the key is to depend on the environment. At least in the regular season, Brown was still not a stable space point for outside shooting, and his other abilities — such as energetic fast breaks, open cuts, smart downward and point-and-shoot breakdowns, beautiful near-rim throws, passionate defense — were present during the Nets and proved his finishing and transit value as the team's weakest outside point when Harden was still able to eat. But when he was elevated to the Nets' third point outside and the only forward defense option, even if he could still play basic damage, his combination with the Nets was still awkward.

And when the team's center changes from the fourth brother who can only finish to Jokic, who has attraction, strategy, and projection, and has a better forward and defensive partner and more space points, Brown's all-rounder ability will have a greater stage to play. From playing the 3rd or 4th man of the team, to playing the deputy attacker on the bench, or the 5th man on the field in some periods, the subtle change in positioning has made Brown a different existence;

Caruso had a similar situation with Brown. If your team is pinning its hopes on whether Caruso, who has been let out of the three-point line, can respond, it is certainly not a team that can win multiple series games. Brown and Caruso are not Vanderbilt, and with the right configuration and positioning, their ball intelligence can be integrated into the team's offensive system. Of course, you can't put them too seriously. Caruso also started from the bench at the championship Lakers and ranked 6th in playoff minutes.

Brown, Caruso and Pope have opposite game qualities, but in general, in the top team, they are close in the ranking, Pope 5th, Brown 5.5th, Caruso 6th.

T5 gear can be divided into three types:

SP Pop type, that is, DiVincenzo, Melton, Grimes. Compared to Pop, these three people have higher ball skills, more extreme break-off performance, or, respectively, younger;

The Brown Plus type, aka Josh Hart, is stronger than Brown, has a tyrannical desire for the front board, can contribute defensive counterpositions beyond his size, and is an intelligent fixed-point tackler. Three points are not a strong point either.

The Reeves mini type, Vincent, has a talent base that seems bound to be exploded, but can produce a tough counterpoint defense. The big heart of the playoffs, dare to hold the ball and initiate to make all kinds of bold choices. While regular season three-point shooting suggests he's not a lethal space point, if you believe it, you're dead — the Bucks & Celtics.

In this way, in addition to Vincent necessarily being lower than Reeves, DiVincenzo, Melton, Grimes, and Hart are not necessarily worse than Pope and Brown?

Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But the world does have a prejudice that is hard to get rid of – if you are already a successful person when everyone looks similar, you will inevitably be looked up to, and then gain greater trust. Because at least you proved with results that you are a viable choice in a particular pose.

Similar examples:

Demonstrate that a certain uncrowned MVP player, his technical characteristics at his peak, is there a possibility of leading the team to win a championship?

For this topic, I can write a 10,000-word article with rigorous logic, detailed data and pictures, but the number of likes and the richness of the information conveyed are definitely not as concise as the reply in the comment area:

Oh, got it, you're a Harden fan.

You see, it's so true.

3 people in T5.5 gear.

Terence Mann, who proved himself to be the Clippers' most reliable backcourt leader — before Pepper was at full power — was a reliable counterattack and point-and-shoot breaker, and three-point was not a strong point but barely enough with breakaway and point-and-ball awareness. And, you know, that night;

DeLong Wright, an underrated card assistant, is a good figure as No. 1 and can lead two positions in the backcourt. Although he is not a good three-point shooter, he will break through, pass steadily, have a front board, the only pity is that he is not accurate near the basket, which is also the biggest gap between him and Derek White. Wright needed a chance to go to a strong team and play as the 7th man;

Fultz, I didn't put him in the "old and sick" point guard & good point guard group, although he was indeed a sick number and should have competed with others on the core guard track. But for now, Fultz's most promising chance to become a key member of a playoff team is in the current grouping type. He has the best raw talent in this group, which dictates that he has an extremely high defensive ceiling. Needless to say, the origin of the master determines that this matter is not close. He can hit the basket and near the basket in large numbers, and his efficiency within the three-point line is already quite good. Fultz was only a little short of an open three-point response from the top backcourt puzzle, which, along with his eccentric injury, became the biggest pain point.

Old Six is the deputy squad leader of this group, and to put it bluntly, this is the result of height discrimination. He is not alone, shooters, strange divisions follow a similar pattern.