With the regular season starting in less than a week, the Los Angeles Lakers only have two preseason games remaining. Time isn't exactly on their side, especially for Austin Reaves, who was able to return from his ankle injury on Tuesday in Las Vegas and played limited minutes.

Reaves' return to the lineup was nice as it allowed head coach JJ Redick to start figuring out his rotations. Redick expects a nine-man rotation but is open to expanding if a player impresses him.

The nine-man rotation was the case Tuesday night as Redick lined up with his expected openers in the first half. Coaches have dress rehearsals toward the end of the preseason, and Reaves liked that early preview.

“Yeah, I think it’s just a comfort to know that,” Reaves said. “Anything you do, if you know what is required of you or if you know the game plan that goes into the game, obviously things are going to change as the game progresses. It won't always be a set time, someone might get hot and you might sit a little longer or stay out a little longer. But it's really good to know where you're going to create most of your shots and what's required of you defensively. This simply includes the foundation that this coaching team has created. For me, that’s a really good thing.”

One positive review Redick has received in his short time as head coach is his level of detail. Reaves talked about that detail and structure as the team continues to learn what Redick wants to implement.

“Obviously we planned plays that either start or end with that to give us an advantage, but I think it's just a matter of reading and reacting and playing basketball,” he said. “To the point where we grow in preseason, yeah, we're still putting in things right now that we're going to do when the season starts. So I feel like we did a really good job as a team, agreeing on the basics and then just adding things as the week went on. So I think the people we have are very detailed and very intelligent and we need to execute them as best we can, not before we move on to the next thing, but we need to make sure we're consistent with what we're doing “You're in tune with what you're doing right now.”

The initial substitution pattern was Max Christie coming on for LeBron James midway through the first quarter, Gabe Vincent coming on for Reaves after halftime, and then Jaxson Hayes coming on for Rui Hachimura. Anthony Davis appears to be the star, playing the entire first quarter, and then James takes his place at the start of the second quarter.

It's hard not to compare coaches, but Redick seems to be on the right track as he is extremely detailed and structured. Darvin Ham wasn't known for that, and Reaves seems confident in what Redick is selling so far.

Austin Reaves' ankle felt “good” despite minutes restriction

As the Lakers have been unlucky with injuries in recent seasons, Austin Reaves' ankle injury last week caused concern. However, he said he “felt good” despite being on a minutes restriction against the Warriors on Tuesday.

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