The Lakers offense depends on Austin Reaves' shooting ability and ball-handling to operate at a high level. Unfortunately, Reaves has to play on both ends of the floor. That's why his struggles in isolation are really starting to become an issue for Los Angeles' defense.
Reaves expends quality effort on defense but his lack of elite athleticism limits his capabilities. He has decent size for a point guard at 6-foot-5 but his lateral quickness is nothing more than average. Recently, Lakers' opponents have started to go after Reaves like his individual defense is well below average.
The Mavericks took targeting Reaves to an entirely new level in Tuesday night's 118-97 demolition of the Lakers. They targeted Reaves in isolation on 15 separate occasions. That numbers was almost double his previous high of seven on the current campaign.
Anthony Davis can help erase some of Reaves' mistakes at the rim but he does not have a lot of other quality defenders playing alongside him in the Lakers' top unit. LeBron James can be a good defender but he's more of a power forward at this stage of his career when his team doesn't have the ball. His effort on defense waxes and wanes from game to game.
Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided’s daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend! If you don’t like it, share it with an enemy!
The Lakers' perimeter defense is still lacking
Max Christie has the physical tools to develop into a good defender but he's too inexperienced to really help boost Reaves in the backcourt. The real weak link for the starting five is Rui Hachimura. He struggles in both isolation and help scenarios. When Reaves gets beat at the point of attack he cannot expect any help from Hachimura.
Inserting newly acquired Dorian Finney-Smith could help cover up for Reaves' deficiencies. He's a natural two-guard who has the ability to guard the point of attack in certain matchups. His insertion into the starting lineup would give Reaves some easier defensive assignments. At the very least, opponents would be forced to utilize a screen or two to get Reaves isolated against their top scorers.
Ultimately, the Lakers will need to accept Reaves' defensive deficiencies as a tradeoff for all he does to power their offense. As long as he continues to lead the team in assists and shoot over 36 percent from 3 he has a chance to grade out as a positive player. If his offensive production starts to slip then Los Angeles could find themselves in a no-win situation with Reaves.
