Strus should benefit from Kenny Atkinson’s new offense.
The Cleveland Cavaliers signed Max Strus to be the shooter that made their core work. While his three-point shot was useful, his all-around game is what helped them most last season.
The Cavs were 6.6 points per 100 possessions better with Strus on the floor last season compared to when he was off (84th percentile). Only Donovan Mitchell and Dean Wade had a higher impacts. All three players share one thing in common: They’re incredibly versatile players.
Cleveland has lacked players who can pass, dribble, and shoot. Strus doesn’t have that issue. He showed that he could be a tertiary playmaker by assisting on 16.7% of his team’s baskets. This was a result of being comfortable putting the ball on the floor, running pick-and-rolls, and playmaking out of it.
That versatility extended to the other side of the floor. Strus was often tasked with guarding opponents’ best wings and did an adequate job of doing so. The additional defensive rebounding he provided was also much needed.
All that said, Strus was brought in to be this team’s knockdown shooter. He tried to do his part, but the Cavs didn’t provide the best environment for him to do so.
Strus attempted 1.8 tight threes per game where the closest defender was within two to four feet. This was the 17th most in the league and Strus converted just 29.4% of those attempts. That number jumped to 2.3 in the playoffs. While the volume is good, the shot quality wasn’t.
Strus was predictably better when given open looks. He connected on 36.3% of his open threes (closest defender between four and six feet) and 38.3% on his wide-open threes. Those are quality numbers. The team just needs to generate more of these caliber looks for him.
Kenny Atkinson was brought in to update the offense. That presumably will be with more off-ball movement. That will only help shooters like Strus and Sam Merrill who were proficient moving off-ball even in a stagnant, pick-and-roll heavy offense.
“Kenny has stated it from the beginning just running me off more screens,” Strus said about how his role will be different this season. “Finding me more open shots, better open shots, and using me as a trigger for our offense. I don’t think we did enough of [that] last year and I just think I can help everybody else free up some space and give guys a lot of freedom on the offensive end.”
Strus was a great pickup last off-season. He was as good of an option as you could find for the starting three slot given Cleveland’s salary and asset constraints. There could however be a better version of Strus waiting to come through. Figuring out ways to get more open threes instead of the heavily contested ones he had to deal with last season could go a long way in Strus taking another step forward offensively.