The Clippers have a Max Strus question on their hands before he’s even played a game: does he belong in the starting five, or is he better used as a weapon off the bench?
That choice matters because Strus brings a very specific package. He’s a dangerous three-point shooter, the kind who can get hot in a hurry, and he’s also the sort of locker room presence a young Clippers team could lean on. Add in the fact that he’ll do whatever head coach Tyronn Lue asks without making a fuss, and it’s easy to see why he’s being viewed as a high-value, championship-level piece.
The appeal of starting Strus is pretty straightforward. He has real chemistry with Darius Garland, and pairing those two in the backcourt would give the Clippers another level of shooting right away. Garland is already a known threat from deep, and Strus is right there with him, if not ahead of him.
That matters because the Clippers already have another option in Kris Dunn. Dunn would make sense in a starting role for one big reason: defense. Garland has made it clear over the years that he struggles to hold his ground against his own position, and Dunn can help cover that up by doing the dirty work and handling the tougher defensive assignments.
But Dunn brings a flaw too. He isn’t a consistent three-point shooter, and while he can have the occasional night where he looks dangerous enough to keep defenders honest, those games don’t come around often enough.
That’s where Strus changes the equation. If he starts, the Clippers don’t have to worry about backcourt shooting at all.
Garland provides plenty of it, and Strus adds even more. The former undrafted free agent has hit 37.0% from three for his career, and he’s already posted a season at 41% on 6.5 attempts per game across 68 games.
He won’t give the Clippers what Dunn gives them on defense, but he doesn’t need to. Strus can hold up enough on that end to do the job, and the shooting upside is too valuable to ignore.
So even with the dilemma sitting there before he’s taken the floor, the answer looks pretty clear: Strus should start. He’s too good to bring off the bench, and it’s the kind of move Garland would almost certainly welcome.
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