Austin Reaves
Intro
Austin Reaves greatly improved his NBA Draft stock after a strong senior season at Oklahoma. Despite not often having his name involved in draft discussions going back to his time at Wichita State, Reaves still showed impressive traits for a professional prospect. However, he also continued his on-court development throughout his college career and was named to the All-Big 12 1st team as one of the premier guards in the country. Reaves was always known as a highly skilled player, but he took his ability to create plays to another level with Oklahoma. He especially stood out with his ability to get to the free-throw line and to draw fouls at a high rate. In 2020-21, according to Synergy Sports, 129 players in D1 finished at least 100 possessions as the pick-and-roll ball handler. Reaves ranked first among them in possessions ended in free throws.
Reaves uses a wide variety of moves to draw defenders off balance and run them into the screen at the point of attack, doing an excellent job timing his dribbles and recognizing opportunities to attack. He sees driving lanes well, naturally understanding the position of defenders to catch them shifting momentum and leaning the wrong way. He has a good ball-handling repertoire with an especially deadly behind the back dribble and half-spin “Smitty” that he likes to go to with impressive results. He understands when he needs to use the screen and when he can reject it, when the defense is overplaying his right, and when he needs to plant his right foot hard to throw the dribble behind his back and make a sharp turn the other way. He is comfortable driving either direction and uses a nifty spin move, along with side and hop steps, to add further unpredictability on his way to the basket. He instinctively understands how to manipulate body angles to catch defenders off balance and draw contact. This is perhaps his biggest strength as a player and is the main reason he draws so many fouls, although his willingness to play through contact, toughness and physicality are also great. Reaves isn’t the strongest wing, but he embraces contact instead of avoiding it. Most other similarly sized guards will actively avoid physical play and stop short when they see several defenders inside or twist away from collision with bodies of defenders. By contrast, Reaves is aggressive and hard-nosed in his approach. He is also a solid finisher when he doesn’t get fouled as he does a good job extending on his finishes and using his craft and feel to find the best angle to complete the play.
While drawing fouls is Reaves’ most outstanding ability, one in which he was elite relative to all of college basketball last year, he is also a highly capable all-around creator in various other capacities. Reaves filled the stat sheet as the Sooners’ lone star last year. He was 1 of just 3 players in the country with at least 25% usage, 25% assist percentage, 12.5% defensive rebound percentage, 60% at rim shooting, and 25 three-pointers made. He carried the team throughout the season and showed his ability to affect the game in a variety of ways from all over the floor. Reaves has a strong in-between game and the ability to hit deep shots in different situations. He is a smart, versatile passer, making reads that show consistent high-level vision. He is also capable of grabbing rebounds and getting out in transition, giving him a diverse skill set as broad as any ball handler in this draft.
Reaves uses his excellent footwork to get to preferred spots on drives, and even when he isn’t able to manufacture separation against defenders, he uses his soft touch and patient craft to create efficient shots. He is especially effective using pivots after gathering his dribble, finding ways to get his shot attempt over the defense or create a passing lane to set up a teammate. Reaves also does an excellent job manipulating defenders with pass fakes and hesitation, demonstrating exceptional rhythm and timing on the floor, as well as instinctual floor mapping. He quickly recognizes the weak spots in opposing defenses and catches defenders out of position or leaning the wrong way in order to set up open teammates. He does a great job running basic offense and executing the tenets of the scheme. He doesn’t get hurried with the ball in his hands and plays with a great sense of pace, not being bothered by pressure but also remaining unselfish, quickly moving the ball around the perimeter. He does a very good job recognizing pocket passes in pick-and-roll and is able to drive, draw, and kick to shooters on the weak side. He has a counter for almost anything the defense throws at him. In short, Reaves has proven himself to be one of the best lead guards in the country despite starting his Oklahoma career with the reputation of playing more off the ball.
Shooting/Size
Despite all that on-ball ability, Reaves was actually much more known as a pure shooter during his first two college seasons at Wichita State. The sharp contrast between the two roles he has played is relatively rare among NBA prospects and the success he had with both is noteworthy. Reaves’ creation makes him an impressive prospect on its own but paints only half the picture. His biggest strength at the NBA level may actually be his shooting touch. Some questions arise on a surface-level look at Reaves’ shooting numbers at Oklahoma as he shot just 30% from the three-point line as a senior. However, a deeper dive paints a far more pleasant picture.
The graph above shows the effective field goal percentage on “spot up – no dribble jump shots” and three-point field goal percentage of the top shooters in this draft class. As can be seen, there is a strong correlation between the two numbers. The higher the spot up shooting, the higher the three-point field goal percentage. That makes sense, as the overwhelming majority of spot up shots in the modern game are threes. Reaves is the anomaly in the top left. He comes out with one of the highest career effective field goal percentages on spot ups but one of the lowest on threes. Clearly, his results on spot up jump shots have been as good as any of the top pure shooters. His free-throw percentage is similarly among the best in the class. Below are the top ten career free-throw percentages among prospects in ESPN’s top 100 big board.
So statistically, Reaves is one of the better shooters in the class in every way, except one. So why is his three-point percentage so low? The answer is his role.
Reaves played an extremely heavy ball handling role and bore an enormous offensive load at Oklahoma, as demonstrated by his combination of high usage and high assist percentage. That meant that he had very little opportunity to spot up with his feet set and shoot off the catch. This has been a feature of Oklahoma’s offense in the last couple seasons. Trae Young infamously took an almost unprecedented amount of off the dribble jump shots. In 2019-20, star senior forward Kristian Doolittle rarely ever took spot up shots and pulled up off the dribble much more often, taking 146 dribble jumpers and just 18 catch and shoots that season. Reaves took on similar responsibilities. Below is the ratio of off dribble, “pull up” attempts for every “catch and shoot” attempt among the top guard prospects in this year’s draft.
Of course, guards are the players that take the most off the dribble attempts of any other position. Which means Reaves’ shots came off the dribble more often than off the catch at a far higher rate than any other prospect in the entire draft class. Of course, those shots are also far more difficult and consequently less efficient. The median eFG% in NCAA D1 last year on off the dribble shots was 39%. On catch and shoots, it was 51%. Generally speaking, however, someone has to take those shots for any team.
The merits of Oklahoma’s offensive approach can be argued, but what can not be debated is that this split impacted Reaves’ shooting results. Reaves hardly ever got a chance to play off the ball with the Sooners. He did do so with Wichita State and was incredibly successful in fewer minutes as a teenager. As mentioned above, his career spot up percentage is very strong and ranks comfortably among the best pure shooters in the class. His off the dribble numbers are actually good as well. Reaves had a 43.2 eFG% on off the dribble jumpers last year, putting him in the 65th percentile in the country. He was 1 of just 32 players in the country to average at least 2 made off dribble jump shots per game, with just 2 high major players (Juzang, Jarkel Joiner) making more off dribble jump shots per game than Reaves. However, he took so many off the dribble shots and so rarely got a chance to take catch and shoots that his overall three-point percentage suffered.
Reaves is clearly a highly effective and capable spot up threat and given the opportunity should be able to thrive in a more off-ball role. He has a quick, fluid motion with great rhythm and energy transfer from wind up to release. Especially with his feet set, squared and balanced, Reaves is as automatic as it gets. He shows the ability to hit shots off movement as well, fading out to the three-point line off pin downs or out of floppy, elevator and hammer sets. He has always had excellent touch and a fluid release, but over the course of his career, he has improved at getting more lift and a higher arc on his shot. He has added better rhythm, condensing his entire motion into a single fluid action that smoothly transfers power from lower to upper body.
Overall, Reaves separates himself among guard prospects with his versatility. He has made a name for himself as a point guard at Oklahoma. Reaves has shown the ability to run offense, create with the ball in his hands and get to the rim at a high level. However, he is also one of the better pure shooting prospects in the class. Imagine if Sam Hauser, Johnny Juzang, or Corey Kispert transferred before their junior season and were asked to play a lead ball handler role while rarely ever being given the opportunity to take catch and shoot jumpers. Even if they wouldn’t necessarily be worse off as prospects, the perception of them as players will certainly be far different than it currently is. Reaves shot 45% on threes in his first two seasons with Wichita State. His career spot up shooting numbers are similarly excellent. How many other prospects can lay claim to playing either guard spot on offense at an equally impressive level?
Drafting Reaves is almost like drafting two players with one pick: A smart, tough and skilled point guard and a knock down pure shooter. Reaves projects as a much better shooter than other lead guards in his draft range like Daishen Nix, David Johnson, Quentin Grimes and Herb Jones. Meanwhile, in comparison to pure shooters like John Petty, Joe Wieskamp, Johnny Juzang and Aaron Wiggins, Reaves is a far better playmaker and much more capable of running offense.
There are a few players in this draft who do have some broad similarities with Reaves. Two that come to mind on the offensive end are Nah’shon (Bones) Hyland and Tre Mann. Both played on-ball in college but project as very good shooters off-ball. However, while all three have the length to defend shooting guards and play as off-guards next to a smaller guard, Reaves is a much more physical and active defender than the other two. Bones Hyland has a really thin frame and simply lacks the strength to battle inside. Meanwhile, Mann has a better body than Hyland but lacks the awareness and processing speed that both Hyland and Reaves have shown. He is late on rotations and exhibits poor understanding of body angles and general defensive position. The defensive end is clearly not where Mann’s focus lies. Reaves isn’t an elite defensive prospect, but he is tough and plays with good awareness and recognition. He won’t hurt a team on defense; the same can’t be said for Hyland and Mann.
Reaves does a good job zoning up one against two on the weak side, shows good footwork on closeouts and understands timing and responsibilities on “X-out” closing to shooters. He communicates well on switches and executes “stunt” rotations well on the perimeter. He also stays tall, keeps hands high inside, and does his best to contest shots at the rim when put in the position to do so.
Areas of Improvement
Versatility and fit are the names of the game in the draft for all but the elite of elite. Reaves’ ability to play on or off ball, his toughness, basketball instincts, and high skill level form an intriguing and underrated prospect. However, there is still improvement and development to be had.
While Reaves has excellent patience and uses pace and timing at a high level, he has tended to use a lot of dribbles and hold the ball a bit too long at times. This was the nature of his heavy load at Oklahoma. However, due to his lack of elite twitch and top tier dynamic athleticism, Reaves might have issues creating separation against top notch defensive talents. With a shorter shot clock and a more limited role, he will need speedier and more precise attacks. He already shows flashes of quick decision making and feel for moving the ball around the perimeter. Continued experience, film study and coaching will likely allow his game to enjoy further growth.
Athletically, there are clear gains to be had as well, as Reaves isn’t the most physically cut or flexible player. Working on his agility and movement skills through stretching and yoga training will allow Reaves to expand on his body mechanics. Reaves should be able to develop quicker reflexes and more sudden shifts in momentum while also adding physical strength. Reaves isn’t weak and he is certainly not lacking for toughness, unlike so many other young prospects. However, he can be pushed around at times on defense by bigger, wider players who employ a bully ball style. Improving on his physique, adding core strength, and working on his endurance should allow Reaves to bring more consistent focus, activity, and awareness on the defensive end. Being asked to do so much on offense without a doubt drained his energy and was likely a major culprit for Oklahoma’s tendency to keep him away from the ball on occasion.
His finishing can also improve, not only through run and jump athleticism but through improved fluidity and energy transfer from his lower to upper body. At times, Reaves would rely on his arm motion too much as a finisher. With an improved mid-body constitution, he can use his core more to conduct energy and convey it into his upper body and arms in a single fluid movement. As a passer, he needs to continue to add some of the more advanced half-court reads. Making long distance skip passes on the move with both hands is still not something he is extremely comfortable with. That said, there is a relatively positive history of prospects being able to add these particular skills in the league. The only prerequisite for that type of development is already being equipped with a certain level of skill and passing vision, both things of which Reaves has plenty.
Finally, while his shooting touch is among the best in the class, he doesn’t always get great balance on his shot, especially when he is not starting from a standstill. However, considering his already impressive shooting ability, Reaves can become one of the better shooters in the league with some minor tweaks in his lower body and footwork.
Conclusion
Austin Reaves is one of the most complete perimeter prospects in the class. As a lead ball handler, he has the ready made instincts and feel for the game of an NBA guard. He was one of the best and most crafty and assertive drivers in college basketball last year. At the same time, off ball, he stands among the best pure shooters in the class. On defense, he is tough on ball and uses his size as a guard to play with verticality. As an older player, he will be able to contribute to winning from day one but is still growing and improving his game, developing his dexterity and body mechanics.