The Miami Heat are having an ok season if you take a step back and look at it. Though they aren’t dominating, by any means, they aren’t that far off from being right where they want to be.
Looking at their 10-12 record on the year, good enough for 11th in the Eastern Conference right now, one might think that this is all make-believe. However, upon closer review, there are only five wins between the second-seeded Bucks and the Miami Heat.
In any event and no matter how they go about climbing the seedings, it’ll take massive efforts from each individual member of the team to get to where they ultimately want to be. From the top of the roster to the very bottom of it, they’ll need to be able to get something from every single one of the guys.
One of those guys, Max Strus, has really continued his ascension as a player and as a guy the Miami Heat can count on this season. That’s just it though, he could stand to become just a bit more dependable, in a sense.
The Miami Heat will depend on all of their guys throughout the rest of the year, which means maximizing roles. For Max Strus, that means a consistent floor.
If you look at his games from this season, yes, he has scored 16 or more points in 12 of the Heat’s 22 games, with him being active for 20 of the 22. And though that means that he has scored less than 16 points in 10 of the 22 games, it’s a bit deeper than that.
In four of those 10 games, he’s scored eight or fewer points. And here’s the thing, though every player can have a bad or middling game, the Miami Heat can’t afford the feast or famine aspect that seems to be plaguing Strus this season.
And nonetheless when it can happen mid-game, that makes matters that much more drastic. Take this in example.
Strus would finish Wednesday’s game against Boston with 23 points overall. However, he would score 19 of those in the third period alone.
You appreciate the outburst, as it kept the Heat in it, but you wish you could get it all throughout the game as well.
Again, you don’t need him to explode for 30 every game, as he has at one point this season, but you need something of merit every single night.
The all or nothingness of it is his biggest thing right now. And it’s the next step that needs to be taken in his complete evolution as a player.