The Miami Heat are on a four game winning streak! How about that?
After a stretch immediately before that saw them lose seven of the eight games they had played, they are about to try and move things in the right direction. Though they can’t seem to keep everyone healthy or active, at least, they are getting production from everyone that is active on any given night.
One of last season’s Rookie Of The Year contenders in Kendrick Nunn, who had been out of the rotation between last year’s bubble and early this season, has been one of those guys to re-emerge. Rookie big man and 20th overall pick, Precious Achiuwa, even has his nights every now and again.
Another guy who has a pretty cool storyline going right now and the production to back it up is Max Strus. The second year wing out of DePaul is really coming on for the Heat in his limited minutes.
That’s so much so, that it’s probably time to reward him for it a little bit.
The Miami Heat found another one in Max Strus, it appears, and now it’s time to play him.
Strus has, again, shown what he can do in limited minutes. He’s not only a darn good shooter, 39 percent on 3.5 attempts from three per game, but he is a sneaky good athlete attacking the basket.
Even on the other side of the ball, you won’t confuse him with Robert Covington or anything, but he is capable and always gives you a solid effort. You wonder, why then hasn’t he been deployed more?
For a guy who can help you stretch the floor, shoot it as well as Duncan, and attack the basket a little bit more than Duncan Robinson can to add to that, how come he doesn’t see more time already? Perhaps it has everything to do with his status as a “two-way” player for the Miami Heat.
While traditionally that stature has limited players of Strus’s status to 45 days of service time in the big league, between all of practice, travel, and game days, whereas this season’s coronavirus situation has caused the league to broaden the policy and rightfully so. Two-way players are eligible for 50 of a team’s 72 games this season.
The Miami Heat are 11-14, meaning 25 games played. 72, the number of games in this season, minus that 25 is 47.
Strus has played in a total of 13 games for the Miami Heat this year. That means that he has a total of 37 left.
So, perhaps that all has to do with the fact that they are strategically plotting when to use his minutes or game allotment. That’s what you would hope it is, as he should be on the court and that’s at least two or three more minutes per contest, if not five.
At 13.9 minutes per game, getting him to 17 wouldn’t hurt, would it? I only think it could help keep the Miami Heat with the most possible lethal shooting on the floor at all times.
I trust Coach Spoelstra though and so far, he’s deployed him at all the right times. This is why I feel like he should be getting a few more minutes though.