Miami Heat: Perhaps, For Max Strus, ‘Robbed’ Is Too Strong…
Even in the dimes category, only Davion Mitchell and Pritchard averaged more there than Strus. If his overall numbers are among the best and they are the second or third best set, minimally, if not number one overall in totality… how did he not make either of the teams?
Well, it was probably his efficiency. For one of the top performing guys, he may have been the least-efficient.
For starters and perhaps you might have noticed, his overall field goal percentage was lower than his three-point percentage, a strange phenomenon in itself. While his efficiency was about on par with Cam Thomas’s, Thomas averaged almost seven more points per than he did and led the league in scoring.
Everyone else, though less productive overall, was more efficient at how they went about it and in Jalen Green’s case, to be specific, just as productive. Now, in a league that’s all about shooting your shots, Strus should have still made one of the teams, however, you can see the case they could make for leaving him off.
To answer the question though, was he robbed? You have to be fair and logical there, which means that “robbed” is too strong.
Again, he should have made one of the teams, based on production, but they have a strong case as to why he didn’t. One that would be mighty hard to overturn, simply based on the subjective nature of value in “efficiency to overall production” and with the fact that there were guys near him in production with much greater efficiency.
Don’t mind that though, as though the honor would have been great for him, the real test still stands before him. If he can knock down some huge shots in the regular year for the big league Miami Heat like he did in the Summer League, then that should be reward enough.