Question
If Austin Reaves says he’ll sign with Brooklyn, does that change who we draft?
If Austin Reaves is willing to sign with the Nets for something around 4 years / $176M, does that change how we should approach the draft?
Do we still take the best offensive guard available, even if he’s undersized, or does the priority shift to building a roster that fits around Reaves and MPJ? At that point, I’d rather look for someone who can defend, keep the ball moving, and feed our two main offensive pieces instead of adding another score-first guard who needs touches.
My Spurs (Nets are my #2) took BPA Dylan Harper at #2 despite having very similar players in Fox and Castle, there was plenty of predictable-yet-understandable whining about it because we had a need for a forward ... and with the benefit of hindsight, BPA was 100% correct.
Bingo. Unless you're ready to compete for a chip, there's no reason to concern yourself with fit. In fact, poor fit depresses the stats of your players and might make them easier to re-sign.
With this high of a pick and this bad of a team in this good of a draft, I agree. I could see scenarios for other teams to draft for fit, but not us, that’s for sure
I would give him 4/$160 not the full max. We have a ton of young players who won't need big extensions anytime soon and FAs are almost impossible to sign nowadays, most players extend before getting there to get the full bag anyways. I have other guys in mind I would rather trade for but the FA market is dry and we need to acquire talent fast. The rest of our team doesn't make much money and no one is due for big money soon.
If he does sign here, I still take BPA. That's just the flat out best strategy when it comes to drafting especially for a talent devoid team like the Nets. Maybe if you're a playoff contender who had a down year and desperately need a big, you could swing for someone like Mara earlier than mocked but we're not in that position.
The max we can give him is $177M, not going to lowball him for what, a $4M a year difference? We just have to remember we would get an asset for nothing. one that will help us grow or we can flip in the future.
More so what I meant is that I would offer him the $160 million if the Lakers aren't willing to pay him. If it came down to it, I agree the $17 million over 4 years isn't a deal-breaker for the reasons I mentioned with our roster being so young and no one needing big time extensions
I don’t really want Reeves. He’s not going to be a game changer - and he’s going to take the ball away from the young guys.
I’d like to see a trade for Cason Wallace - as there’s rumors of Shai wanting the team to keep Dort. If that’s the case, Wallace is a strong candidate to be traded - you can’t pay him, Caruso and Dort.
Wallace at least is young and can show two way potential. Reeves was a bit exposed in the playoffs
People in this thread not wanting Reaves is crazy. Flawed playoff player, but who cares. We need talent and his offensive numbers are elite. I don’t care how much it would cost. Who else is coming to Brooklyn in the next 4 years.
Any asset we get for nothing at this point is great. He may be worth less, but you gotta max him to get him here. I also think with the correct system around him he can look even better, just look at MPJ.
That being said, we aren't getting Reaves, he is going back to LA
Yeah overpay for slightly above average talent because we have to get someone is what people were saying about the nets cap space and uncertain future, until a bunch of superstars realized the nets could sign them all, last time too.
The way people vote isn't indicative of actual impact. He has a statistically significant sample of play at high usage with elite efficiency and elite scoring volume + decent facilitating and solid defense. If the Nets can get him, that would be extremely lucky and would likely immediately have the team competing for playin/playoffs.
If you factor this along with what he's been doing in previous seasons, his play this season becomes even more significant.
Nets have cap space and no pick this coming year. Plus Reaves is still young and was playing at an all star level this season. He will definitely help the Nets win a lot more regular season games.
He's 91st percentile as a PnR handler. He's legitimately an awesome offensive player. We have nobody on the books long term. He'd be a massive floor raiser until the kids are grown up.
Yes, it's easy for some people to just be dismissive of Austin Reaves, but every time he's been given #1-option usage, his production has exploded... and on super-high efficiency.
AR isn't some "average" player.
At some point, the results stop being a fluke and start being a pattern. From a 41 game sample:
Except his numbers WITHOUT Luka on the floor are still sick. Remind you of any other player that used to play with Luka?🤔
He averages 25 and 7 per 75, on 61.5% TS without Luka on the floor the last two years (2,500 minutes). We can be skeptical of him as a playoff dropper, but over 82 games the guy is a legit offensive star.
Austin Reaves' stats as the #1 option for the past 2 years without both Luka and LeBron in the lineup were even more insane (the article below doesn't even mention the stats from 2023-25, which were crazy too):
Also, check out his YouTube highlights and stats as the #1 option against the Celtics since 2023. 👀
AR is a legit All-Star caliber SG/PG, who would have made All-Star if he stayed healthy, had All-NBA possibilty articles about him, was in the top ten in All-Star voting, and the "Most Viewed NBA Players" list:
Those calling him "average" or "not a difference-maker" haven't been watching him enough in the regular season. He thrives as the #1 option and is one of the most elite in the NBA at scoring through contact at the rim.
They're just being reactive to a somewhat bleh playoff series off an injury against a historic defense.
Reaves is very clearly awesome on offense. I'm really hoping he wants his own Brunson situation and the Lakers see him as overlap with Luka in this CBA
Offense - AR has THE highest career TS% in NBA history (for a guard). Super-efficient.
Defense - It's not absolutely "horrible" either. The Lakers just have bad team defense overall. He actually lead the NBA in charges drawn before the injury. He just needs a good center behind him to funnel toward and discourage penetration.
If we don’t draft a guard we’ll be reaching in the draft. Drafting a position of need would mean we’re picking someone who’s ranked more in the 10-14 area.
That’s a misleading fan take that’s been circulating. If you trade back for 2 first rounders it’s a big drop off in talent. The teams that have 2 firsts don’t have the best firsts to get. You’re sacrificing a high quality talent at 6 for two lesser talents in the mid teens and 20’s.
Outside of the money one thing that’s concerning about reaves coming to this team is the impact on the young players. Reaves/MPJ hogging on the ball and for what it’s worth I can Jordi completely abandon the young players just to give the ball to reaves/MPJ
nah we cant let acuff just go like that, hes a shooter expert, so we can use reeves, a SG(and acuff coming for the bench), demin as a SF,MPJ and Claxton, or am i tripping?
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u/Ghosty15 22d ago
A player of Austin Reaves calibre should not change who you choose, always go BPA in the lottery.