3 things Max Strus must prove with Cleveland Cavaliers next season

Keep adding to his playmaking

It would be nice to see the Cavaliers run more passing plays where he is a shooting decoy. On top of that, taking the ball upcourt is beneficial to the Cavs because the eyes of the defenders won’t always be on Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, who are the team’s main orchestrators. His assist/turnover (2.5) marks are decent, so it’s worth experimenting by putting the ball in his hands more. 

Additionally, Strus had a career-high, averaging four assists per game last season on a low usage (18.1) and time of possession average (1.8 minutes). Strus is ready for an encore. His dimes mostly come from two-man actions with the bigs and swinging the ball in transition plus the half-court. 

His best connection was with Jarrett Allen, who he fed for about 29 percent of his assists. Next was Mobley, who missed 32 outings last season. Strus was a good pick-and-roll operator with them. Running more of this would give DG and Mitchell plenty of open 3-pointers or drives after hard closeouts because of the overreactions the roller will create.