Lakers, Austin Reaves in OKC Tonight

Everyone will be talking about Russell’s return as a Laker which is fine, but I want to feature former OU All-Big 12 First Teamer Austin Reaves on my blog today.

I want my blog to be different from the normal genre of Thunder blogs. That’s not what I want my basktball/sports/music/journey of life blog to be about. I want a reader to learn something different when they stumble upon my modest underground blog.

In my mind…Austin was the third best guard in the Big 12 last season only behind Cade Cunningham and Davion Mitchell.

He did everything for Lon Kruger and kept OU afloat as an NCAA team which played pretty well against Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs in the second round.

Austin transferred to OU from Wichita State after his freshman season and was OU’s best player during his stay in Norman.

Kruger knows how to coach the guard position since he himself was an All Big 8 guard back in his playing days. Add another Lon Kruger guard to the current NBA mix…Trae Young, Buddy Hield, and now Austin Reaves.

Hard to believe Sam Presti didn’t even give Austin a look given he played in the Thunder’s own backyard and has more toughness to his game than Theo Maledon and Tre Mann combined. Whatever. But Aaron Wiggins should be okay down the road I would think.

There’s a toughness and resilence in Austin’s game which I admire. Plus, he’ll never back down from a tough moment or bad play. He is the epitome of the basketball phrase…’next play up’.

I saw Coach Kruger have to pull him back several times, but Lon Kruger was smart enough to not diminish the best part of Austin’s game which is that chip on the shoulder he plays with every game.

I think one of the reasons OU blue chip point guard Devion Harmon transferred to Oregon was the fact Austin just beat him out for the role of being OU’s go to guy in clutch situations. I think it hurt Devion’s feelings. Hopefully, Devion shines as an Oregon Duck this season playing for Dana Altman.

Austin was supposed to be an early second round pick, but didn’t get drafted. He made the Lakers’ roster and is now getting serious rotational minutes with the Lakers. He played thirty minutes in the Lakers’ win over the Spurs last night.

When you think about it he’s the perfect kind of guy to mix in with LeBron, Russell, AD, and Carmelo in that he’s Coach Vogel’s blue collar scrapper with something to prove every time he’s on the floor.

I would think there should be a pretty good crowd tonight for the Lakers and if you’re there be sure and watch all the little things Austin does when he’s on the floor. He’s Nick Collison playing guard is what he is….except he shoots better than Nick.

Nick’s dad was a high school coach in Iowa, I’m guessing that somwhere in Austin’s family either his father or maybe an uncle was a basketball coach.

He plays like he grew up talking hoops every morning at the breakfast table.

Good luck, Austin. Don’t change who you are.

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