Without the gravity of an Anthony Davis screen Austin Reaves looks like a completely different player. He can not get any separation at all against his defender. Having saying that Austin is still an elite off ball role player that can occasionally be your secondary playmaker. He just is not anywhere close to a primary playmaker.
Bingo.
Last year, AR surprised opponents. They were unprepared for him and underestimated him, thinking he’d eventually fizzle out.
This year, they’re playing him honestly and exposing his weaknesses. He’s not a great ballhandler/driver, and he’s not a pure shooter. He was just aggressive last year and fearlessly attempted to score in appropriate situations. He also got a bit hot. But, honestly, I was never that impressed with the way he scored (I was just happy the ball went in when it did).
He’s supposed to be a feel-good, crowd favorite, spark plug, 6MOTY-candidate type of guy who gets pulled when defense is needed.
Laker Nation went crazy, misevaluating Reaves and the supposed “depth” of the team.