Max Christie is finding his way

After a rough start to the season, Max Christie has made his way into the starting lineup and is showing why the organization believed so strongly in him.

There are just over 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter and Max Christie is in his familiar defensive crouch, deep in his stance, eyeing Tyler Herro on the left side of the floor above the break.

Herro has already made a huge impact in this Heat-Lakers game, hitting seven of his nine shots to that point, including all five of his 3-pointers, with several of his buckets coming at the expense of Christie, narrowing Max’s focus even further.

As he’s done several times tonight, Herro calls for a ball screen and Jaime Jaquez races up to wall off Max, bringing Anthony Davis along with him. Herro comes off the screen looking to shoot and a simple pump fake propels AD into the popcorn machine, looking to block a shot that never comes.

With any shot attempt now smothered by AD, Herro’s next read is to pass and he spies Jaquez on the roll, diving to the front of the rim with what looks to be a clear path. Herro throws the bounce pass to his streaking teammate, but instead of an assist, it’s one of Herro’s seven turnovers as Christie darts into the passing lane from behind, reaching around Jaquez to poke away the pass into the hands of Austin Reaves.

Austin then sees Davis streaking up the court and throws him an easy pass that Davis turns into an even easier two points.

In the boxscore, Christie did not get any credit for this play. The steal and assist were Reaves’ and the bucket belonged to Davis. But Christie was in the middle of it all and none of it happens without his ability to navigate the initial screen, recognize the switch, stay attached to the roll man and then work to get the deflection.

Plays like this are becoming more commonplace for Christie, whose grip on the starting spot he earned 15 games ago feels nearly as tight as that of his backcourt mate Reaves.

No, Max is not as accomplished, held in as high regard or asked to do nearly the same things on the floor as Austin, but he’s playing his role with a competence and confidence that is nearly as high as Reaves’.

And while Max was inserted into the starting group for his defense, he’s also finding ways to impact the other side of the ball, too. Since being inserted into the first five, Christie’s averaging 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 40.8% from behind the arc on nearly five attempts a game, 48.4% from the field overall and 87.5% from the foul line.

While those numbers do not scream out as being particularly special, a deeper dive into how those stats are coming about shows that Max is performing quite well at the job he’s being asked to do.

For example, since being named a full-time starter, Max’s shot profile is nearly exactly what you’d want to see and his success rate at the shots he’s taking most are pretty strong. Of the 122 shots he’s taken, 71 of those have come from behind the arc and over half of those (37) have come from the corners, where he’s made 48.6% of those attempts.

Similarly, on shots that are classified as wide open by the NBA’s tracking data, Max has made 17 of his 35 attempts from deep (48.6%), making defenses pay for leaving him alone around the arc — either by design or because they’re paying too much attention to his more renowned teammates.

And if he’s not shooting from deep, he’s doing so very close to the basket and making an extremely high percentage of those looks too. In those same 15 games, Max has made 23 of the 26 shot attempts he’s taken in the restricted area (88.5%), many of those dunks and layups on cuts or on rolls to the rim after running inverted pick-and-rolls with either LeBron or AD.

Max’s size, athleticism, explosiveness and ability to finish with force — even when taking some contact — makes him an ideal screen partner not just because of what he can do after catching the pass, but also in helping to free up the ball handler in the first place by being physical when setting those screens.

But even beyond these sorts of spoon-fed buckets, Max can also get downhill when attacking closeouts or even when using a simple ball screen to snake his way into the paint and then finish using his physical tools.

Against the Heat, two of his three made buckets inside the arc came on these exact sorts of plays: one on a nice drive and euro-step finish after getting a ball screen from LeBron and the other a tough finish through some contact that easily could have been a foul after racking a closeout from the right wing.

What we’re seeing, then, is a player morphing into the type of prototypical 3-and-D guard whose shot profile is nearly exactly what you’d want in an era influenced more and more by analytics and favored by his head coach.

(Side note: After Max scored a career-high 28 points against the Blazers back on Jan. 2, JJ Redick was asked about Christie’s strong performance, but before he issued Max many deserved compliments, he jokingly said he wanted to “wring his neck” for taking two early mid-range jumpers.)

Yes, there’s still much for Max to learn and improving for him to do. Mistakes of youth and needing to improve his feel and skill work are very much still a part of his development plan.

For example, in a recent loss against the Rockets, the Lakers were trailing by three and had a chance to tie the game on their final possession, but Max threw the ball away when facing a potential five-second call even though he had a timeout in his pocket.

LeBron tried to call the timeout when he recognized the play was not open, but as the inbounder, Max needed to recognize what was needed.

There are also times when he’ll rush a 3-pointer off a quick swing pass or, as Redick cited, work his way into a tough mid-range jumper rather than moving the ball to a teammate to keep the pressure on the defense.

On the other side of the ball, he can sometimes be too eager to help when it’s not necessarily needed, can get lost when tracking off-ball actions against high-level shooters, or can get caught in the blender of decision-making when switching everything and the defense is running a lot of screen actions.

Overall, though, there has been much more good than bad on both sides of the ball, especially since his move to the starting group. And after a very rough start to the season that saw him lose his rotation spot entirely, this stretch is not only encouraging for the production he’s offering but for the mental toughness and resiliency he’s shown to get to where he is now.

And, as a third-year player who is still a few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, some growing pains are a natural part of the pathway toward becoming the player he can be. The hope — and, from the Lakers side, the belief — is that this growth is coming.

And considering the strides he’s already made this season, there’s reason to believe that will indeed be the case.

You can follow Darius on BlueSky at @forumbluegold.