JonFromVA wrote:jbk1234 wrote:JonFromVA wrote:
OG is certainly better than nothing, but I wouldn't call him a perfect fit on a max deal. We brought in Mitchell in part because we saw the need to have a secondary playmaker when opponents had a guy who could make it hard for Garland to dribble or simply trapped him.
Not to mention we could just keep Isaac around and let him continue to develop while investing Mitchell's salary cap space somewhere else. He's had a rough month, but are we sure Max Strus shouldn't be coming off the bench for a high level contender?
With Garland and/or Mitchell out, Strus has been getting a lot more attention from opposing defenses. He's absolutely good enough to start on a good team. He started for the Heat last year and played a pretty important role in getting them to the Finals. If I see Okoro do anything when matched up against good defenders, or consistently put together good shooting performances, I'd consider changing it up. I've seen enough flashes followed by a return to the mean with Okoro that it's going to take a lot more for me to believe he's the better option.
Strus was pretty awful in the finals, could be a connection. I wouldn't want to gamble he's the answer at SG with OG and Garland, at least at this point in time. Not to mention, but Max was supposed to be a backup in Miami.
If we're going to pay our SF max money, I'd much prefer someone who will earn it.
Strus has admittedly had a really awful stretch of games from a shooting standpoint as of late and I’m starting to see what everyone was talking about in regards to him being a streaky shooter (after being near 40% shooting from three, he’s currently back down to 34% due to an awful month of shooting in December).
With that said, I still really like the idea of having him be the starting two guard next to Garland if we ever do move on from Mitchell. He’s still a threat from outside, but he’s got other benefits as well. He’s been a very good defender since coming to Cleveland (didn’t see him enough to Miami to know if he was always this good), and he’s a pretty decent playmaker as well. And he’s shown that there’s more to his offense than just three point shooting. There’s better SG options out there and I totally get that, but for the most part I think he does enough good things to make him a positive player for us. I think he has to stop falling back on that three point shot so much when it’s not falling but I don’t think he’s someone that can shoot you out of a playoff series.
We won’t know what will happen with OG into the end of this season, so all we can do is speculate. But I’m going to make a bold prediction and say that if the cavaliers were to in fact get OG from Mitchell, and the rest of the starting lineup stays the same, Cleveland would be poised for a deep playoff run.