I know we will make some changes because our roster is still limited but with what we have now Max is a day one starter. Max, Austin, Rui, Lebron and AD is a solid unit on both ends. All complete players with no weak spots except Lebron's regular season defense and we can hide that. By playoff time that is a scary unit especially considering we will be adding to it. No 10-15 minute games to get him ready. Play him and let him find his way. He wasn't scared when he came in so he is ready. No sense repeating the mistake we made with him this year and with Austin the year before. Players don't get better sitting on the bench they just get a year older.
Man if he can get to 6'7' he becomes a very intriguing player. Ive been a big fan but if he can credibly switch one to 3 then he's has the potential to be key rotational piece for a title contender. Vando with offense
Even at 6’6 with a bit of extra strength he is an intriguing piece. If he could play starting SF with Reaves as the SG, we’d be good for a while at those two positions.
i guess i just don't see max becoming a sf, even with literal growth. or, put another way, if he's a sf after an inch of growth, he's a sf now? his ability to guard the big wings is probably limited more by strength than the location of the top of his head. jayson tatum is three inches taller with a 5 inch longer wingspan. kawhi is 1.5 inches taller with 7 more inches of wingspan. but the biggest difference is that tatum was 15 lbs heavier and leonard was 30 lbs heavier than max at the time they were drafted. i do think max can put on some muscle, but i don't know how much you want on him. anyway, what intrigues me, longer-term, is if both guys (reaves and max) get stronger enough as ballhandlers that you can start them at the 1 and 2 instead of the 2 and 3. in such a scenario, max doesn't add muscle so as to retain lateral quickness in order to guard opposing pgs. i'm a big fan of old chicago bulls style lineups (e.g., harper/jordan/pippen/rodman/center) with tons of length perimeter defenders. iow, i try to find ways to get guys playing down, rather than up a position on the perimeter.
Yeah I honestly thought I saw a lot of the Phoenix version of Bridges in him. Bridges is also listed at 6'6 but a really long wingspan so I definitely agree if Christie gets close to that he's got a real bright future. *I did not see the Nets version coming of him and still have a hard time thinking he's that good of a go to scorer tbh
I was on the bridges train before he signed his first major contract with Phoenix. I thought he was a steal at those numbers - 22m per. I remember saying he was the best 3&D wing in the league and getting some push back from abeer who thought he was just a good role player. I think he can be a credible no#2. Christie reminds me of him in how he plays, very smooth and under control. Would be amazing for him to develop into a credible 3&D in the same ilk.
yeah you won that round (i won the lonnie walker/tj warren round), but i don't think anyone predicted what happened when he got to bkn. i don't think christie is quite the athlete bridges is, nor does have the freakish wingspan (bridges' is 5" longer, like the sfs i was talking about earlier). but he's more skilled at the same stage (which is at a younger age). still not seeing christie as a sf, though. but again, don't think he needs to be in order to be successful.
Yeah I expected more from TJ and less from Lonnie, so that was an excellent surprise. I really liked your Bulls example of having a large 1 and 2. If Max and Reaves could do that, I’d be thrilled too. It would be great to have a young 3&D SF to add to that.
I think Max had the confidence to do more but like any player wanting steady minutes …. had no confidence he wouldn’t get yanked, especially as a rookie, if he tried to expand any on his game and messed up.
Lebron doesn't have the time or patience for Rookies learning on the job. Max would have been in a better position if he came into the League with Austin.
Lebron great player that he is doesn't know jack about who he needs for teammates. Max was way better even being a rookie than half that first roster we had. If we had played like we should have he would have been kicking butt by playoff time. Plus he plays hard and wasn't scared. Not playing someone just because they are a rookie is just really bad coaching as far as I am concerned. If we would have had our current roster to start the season that would have been understandable. When you are going no where fast develop your young guys. We would still be playing if we had started the season with Austin and Max get the playing time they should have. We all think and see it differently.
Getting playing time doesn't automatically develop you. It's all a process that involves practice, talking with coaches, vet players, self-learning, mental strenght. Going too soon to a rotation basis can actually brake you if you're getting beaten every day. There's a lot of factors playing in the development of someone on any skill Max is 19. There's no need to rush him back nor would he have salvaged anything for us, had he played more He has a great future ahead and his time will come, be it next season or after
Max is now 2-3 months past 20 and I agree he should have gotten more run with the bench unit after Troy and Malik fizzled in the playoffs, just to see if he could continue what he did well earlier. Couldn't have been any worse shooting, probably better from what he was showing and better on D. The experience would have been great.
I get why we didn’t play him in the playoffs. So much on the line for a guy with so little experience. I think he’ll win minutes in camp next year and play in the playoffs assuming we get there.
