With a heavy defeat to the Pelicans, the Lakers once again suffered two consecutive defeats, and their record, along with the consecutive defeats, came to 17-17 and continued to rank 9th in the West. Truth be told, no one knows what happened to the Lakers, who were a Western Conference finalist team and won the championship in the midseason tournament. But after that, the Lakers suffered Waterloo, and the 3-8 record is the best proof of this. At the end of the midseason tournament, the Lakers finished fourth in the West, but now they are getting further and further away from the playoff ranks. It is only a matter of time before you are willing to take a pay cut, return to the Lakers, and return to the starter, and only top superstars can replace you.
It turned out that the Lakers' change of formation was a failure. After using a starting lineup of five forwards, the Lakers only played a 2-3 record, and they still couldn't change the decline, continuing to dive, away from the championship group, and further and further away from the ranks of the playoffs. Although the Lakers are plagued by injuries and the overall rotation of the team is also terrible, head coach Ham's personnel deployment and coaching ability seem to have certain problems. However, it is not yet clear that the Lakers have the idea of changing the coach, so they need to rely on the existing roster to solve the problem. And in the eyes of most people, the Lakers' current starting lineup will not last long, and it is only a matter of time before it changes, and at this point in time when injuries continue to hit, it is the best opportunity for the Lakers to change their starters.
Due to Reddish's absence, Hachimura was once again put in the starting lineup by Ham, and the Lakers continued the starting line with five forwards. But the accident came, Hachimura's calf discomfort, in the second half, he started in place, became Reaves, and in the entire second half, Reaves only rested for 3 minutes, it can be seen that getting Reaves into the starting lineup is not a move that Ham has nothing to do, in the eyes of the Lakers coaching staff, Reaves is indeed worth starting, and his playing time ranks second in the team, second only to James. And in this competition, Reaves' performance and efficiency were also good, he shot 7 of 12, personally contributed 20 points, 9 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, and did not have a turnover.
Despite being an undrafted player, and despite only being the third season of his career, Reaves is already the recognized third core of the Lakers' roster. Whether it is the status of the team, the tactical role, the role of Reaves, is second only to James and thick eyebrows, this time Reddish and Hachimura were injured successively, although it is unfortunate, but from another angle, maybe the Lakers can find the first answer to their lineup. Because in an interview, Lakers core forward James made it clear that he likes to play with Reaves. James' words were as follows: "Austin is fantastic, I like him wherever he plays, whether it's starting or coming off the bench, it's always a great feeling to play with him. ”
James said that because Reeves is smart, he knows what to do when and when, and he is calm and not easy to make mistakes, James wants to express a simple meaning, in addition to praising Reeves' ball quotient, he almost explicitly told Ham that getting Reaves into the starting lineup is the best way for James and Reeves to play together for a long time. In fact, Reeves went off the bench and became more of a victim. He proved himself in the playoffs, averaging 20+5+5 per game in the Western Conference finals, and was the second most efficient player in the World Cup (after Doncic) and the first in the United States.
Reeves has proven to be able to play efficiently on any team and in any field, he relies on a very high ball quotient, and if it weren't for the physical problems caused by continuous high-intensity battles, Reeves would not have fallen into a slump at the beginning of the season, and after entering the bench, Reeves' efficiency slowly returned, thanks to the fact that his playing time was controlled, and in the odds of the best sixth man, Reeves led the way with a faulty lead. When Reaves decided to re-sign with the Lakers on a four-year, $56 million contract, nearly half the market price, he had already locked in a great value contract.
The current situation has given the Lakers an opportunity to bring Reaves back into the starting lineup. This season, a bad start has always been a dead end for the Lakers, and once Reaves returns to the starter, the Lakers will line up James, thick eyebrows, Reaves, Vanderbilt, and Prince. This lineup, and the Lakers' counterattack starter in the past season, is to replace Russell with Prince, and Prince is the Lakers' most stable 3D wing this season, the Lakers' lineup, the offense has space, the finish is stable, no mistakes, and the defense is inside and outside, this is the answer to the Lakers' current lineup.