It can be difficult for fans of a team who is used to winning championships like the Los Angeles Lakers to take away anything positive after an extremely disappointing 33-49 record in 2021-22.
But for Lakers rookie guard Austin Reaves, the goals of earning a roster spot with the Purple & Gold and being a solid contributor in former head coach Frank Vogel’s rotation were achieved.
Reaves’ other goal of winning a championship may have fell astronomically short, but that was because of the Lakers’ shortcomings as a whole last season.
In an interview with Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Reaves discussed how he felt his rookie season went, weighing his personal success to the team’s failures:
“Individually, I think it went about as good as it could have gone for me,” Reaves told The Athletic. “Doing all those things was special. And as a team, I mean, to say the least, it sucked, to be honest. We had high expectations for ourselves and felt like we just couldn’t piece it together throughout the year. “
For me, the main goal is always to win, so it sucked in that aspect.”
While Reaves’ scoring average of 7.3 points last season was not astonishing, the 24-year-old proved to be a hard-working player who does all the little things correctly on both ends of the hardwood, and even got recognition from LeBron James as a ‘special player.’
With the Lakers’ offseason emphasis on youth, athleticism and two-way players who can knock down 3-point shots, Reaves fits right into what new head coach Darvin Ham envisions in the spacious ‘four-out, one-in’ offense from the new look Lakers.
As Reaves puts in work during the summer while the Lakers round about the roster for training camp, the fan-favorite Laker looks to accomplish the goal of winning a championship this year. He will need to be stronger and knock down more shots to help make that happen, which are focuses of his this summer.
Rob Pelinka reveals Anthony Davis is having strong offseasn
After two injury-plagued seasons, Lakers star Anthony Davis looks to bounce back and return to his normal self that averaged 26.1 points and 9.3 rebounds during the 2019-20 regular season before going on to win the 2020 NBA Championship.
When Davis revealed that he had not shot a basketball since April 5, the Laker faithful were disgruntled at the offseason regimen of the 29-year-old star big man. With priority being on his body to be injury-free and in more physical shape, Davis has taken strides since his comment about not shooting a basketball.
Currently, Davis has been working on jump shot with popular NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews, AKA ‘Lethal Shooter’. The consistency the 6-foot-10-inch star has shown with his work-ethic this summer has Lakers general manage Rob Pelinka excited about what type of season he will have in 2022-23.
Lakers fans have a wishlist of roster additions that include Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving and Indiana Pacers guard Buddy Hield. But no matter what big name comes in and rocks the Purple & Gold for the first time, nothing will be more important than a healthy Anthony Davis.
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