Lakers News: Insider Believes Team USA May Have Benefitted From Starting Austin Reaves
After dropping a game against a tough German squad earlier this week, the American FIBA World Cup squad had to settle for a bronze medal bout against Canada this morning. Then they lost that, too.
With multiple options to blame for the loss, one analyst suggested a current Laker's place in the starting lineup could've meant a golden finish for Team USA.
It wasn't just playing small that doomed this team, though. Throughout both the tournament and the games leading up to it, it seemed abundantly clear that the ball-moving styles of Reaves and Tyrese Haliburton were better suited for FIBA play than that of starting point guard Jalen Brunson. Another reserve, Paolo Banchero, is even more of a wing than Jackson in the NBA, but he brought more traditional big-man upside than JJJ in these games.
Though much of the criticism could be on Steve Kerr, not playing Reaves even after his heroics against the same German team saved Team USA in the fourth quarter of their pre-knockout stage game, the Warriors coach wouldn't pull that trigger.
Even after building such a rapport with Tyrese Haliburton in their first encounter with their eventual European foes who bested them in the semis, Kerr refused to play the promising guard from his NBA division rival.
Lakers playoff foe and Anthony Davis poster victim Jaren Jackson Jr. is also facing a fair amount of heat as the reigning Defensive Player of the Year couldn't even manage three rebounds a game over the course of the tourney.
Despite being nearly seven feet tall, the Memphis Grizzly refused to comment on why he couldn't finish some defensive possessions by securing the board.
Leaving him out there rather than Jazz defensive protector Walker Kessler alongside Reaves' absence from the starting five could all be partially to blame for the shortcomings.
Nonetheless, Reaves has bigger goals ahead of his NBA future as a ring with LA is surely on his mind.
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