Fox and Monk are going to be a challenge, and he'll probably end up switching onto Derozan some, we'll see how those two games go, on that front. Golden State is going to test him too. If he can hold his own in those games, Max might keep himself out of trade talks. Toklat will be back saying " See? I told yall!!"
man, these next few are huge, tbh. if we lose all three, it's like detonation time. if we won all three, i'd think we'd righted the ship, tbh.
I'm rooting for Max...we gambled on him this past summer and up until recently, he was basically a dud. I think if Christie can string together some games where he's containing the opposing guards and he's hitting open shots (9-11pts) and 3's, then he may have found himself into the starting lineup for good. We've tried DLO, Reddish, Knecht, and Gabe...and now it's Max Christie's turn to prove that he's a starter.
nice highlights! Has to do good for his confidence to be giving an all world offensive talent like that some issues scoring. Big props! We need this kid doing this every night.
Really cool. Gotta watch this guy a lot more. I thought he was playing Ja really well but Ja also looked kind of off to me. Maybe Max had a lot more to do with that than I saw. 6 for 21 speaks for itself.
Really impressive work by Max. He's in for a tougher assignment Thursday, so I want to see how he handles a similar guard but with better range and not as predictable as drive-at-all-costs Ja.
curious to see what the strategy will be. teams have been giving sac problems by kind of letting sabonis and fox go wild and clamping on everyone else. our problem is that derozan plays like prime michael jordan every time he sees us. hard to to stay home on three guys to that extent.
Max probably needs another year in the weight room to be able to defend more with his body and less with his hands , he's slowly getting there . He's building a reputation as a defender so he will get less ticky tack fouls called on him while Lu Dort is allowed to play rugby out there
He got such a bad whistle last year that I think it impacted his development, tbh. Guy couldn’t breathe on anyone.
Trevor Lane said something that I kind of agree with regarding Max- it was something like “we need a guy the Max Christie five years from now.” I don’t think it will take that long- he’ll be a starting caliber defender two seasons from now. It’s really his inconsistent long ball holding him back at this point. Yeah, he still can improve defensively, but I think he’s pretty reliable now.
people really underestimate the mental aspect of performance in sports, imo. one reason reaves is special is he has a mindset you can't really coach/instill. it's as much a skill as running fast or jumping high, imo. hopefully, max is turning a corner here as he indicates. interesting that this has come up a couple times recently (bronny the other one). it must be something jj talks about a lot, and he's right to. the tricky part is getting it to stick. being afraid to fail is the problem, but it's hard to just...stop being afraid of stuff.
JJ understands that it's not made up like the Easter Bunny. Especially as a shooter, i think you have a better understanding of how much the mental can make or break your %. Far cry from "facts over feelings." I think he's been consistent with Dalton on the same stuff. But with Max, i imagine a lot of it is from how he was coached by the last regime and the lack of belief Ham had in him. Bronny it's all about the name on the back of the jersey and the media pressure that comes with that while coming off a life threatening heart issue that has become old news for clickbait/pops hating nonsense. I think that's one of the "new school" approaches JJ brings that is required in today's sports world.
Yup, I think JJ sees a lot of himself in Max and Knecht. JJ was one of the biggest names in college basketball when he came into the league, but early on he struggled with the physicality of the league and the grind of the season. There was a lot of "these white guys from Duke can't make it in the league" stuff at the time. It took him years to carve out a consistent role and ultimately become one of the best role players in the league. I remember in the 2023 offseason I was penciling Max in as a regular rotation guy at the 2. He was 20 years old. It's wildly impressive when a guy that young becomes the best or second best player on a team, but I actually think it may be more difficult mentally to be a role player on a good team at that age.
