This one skill from Max Strus has opened up Cavs offense

Strus’s versatility has unlocked Cleveland’s offensive attack.

When Kenny Atkinson was first hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the one thing he emphasized was that he wanted to celebrate the team’s depth. He has done that this year, as the Cavs have run a 10-man rotation for most of the season.

Cleveland is built around their core four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. They will go as far as those four take them. However, depth is the name of the game in the playoffs. How many guys can you rely upon on a game-to-game or series-to-series basis?

Luckily for the Cavs, their depth is peaking at the right time. De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome have been two super-subs for Cleveland, but one guy has arguably been the team’s best role player this postseason is Max Strus.

Strus is known as a spot-up shooter and he’s done a great job of that this playoffs, shooting 50% from three-point range and averaging 13.7 points.

In this series against the Heat, though, Strus has shown off his offensive versatility.

An underrated aspect of Strus’ game has been his ball handling and with Garland missing Game 3 due to a toe injury, Strus took the brunt of the playmaking responsibility. He finished with five assists in the game, but what was encouraging was his controlled aggressiveness in pick and roll. Take this play for example.

Strus is hounded by Andrew Wiggins in the corner, and instead of dribbling out and dishing it to Mitchell for a reset, he kept his dribble. Allen then sets a hard screen to free Strus for a moment and rolls to the basket. Strus sees Kel’el Ware is playing drop coverage and threads the pass to Allen for an easy dunk.

Here, Strus initiates the play, with Mobley setting a ball screen. Instead of forcing the lob to Mobley, who has Bam Adebayo in close proximity and was having a strong game in the paint, Strus goes all the way to the basket for the layup.

Take a look at a similar play later in the fourth.

Strus had two options coming off Allen’s screen and then Mitchell’s ghost screen: he could have lofted the ball over the top of Tyler Herro to get Mitchell a three, or hit Allen at the key. Strus chose the latter after he picked up his dribble, passed it to Allen, and immediately cut to the basket. This set up a pretty give and go between the two, getting Strus an easy layup.

Strus, being a ball handler, sets up a lot of easier looks for the Cavs’ offense. He has great synergy with Mobley and Allen and has shown incredible IQ and patience in pick-and-roll sets. With Garland, Mitchell, and Jerome getting a lot of attention as ball handlers when they are on the floor, having a secondary guy who can initiate offense allows for the Cavs’ offense to continue its flow.

Cleveland may have depth now on the wing in Hunter, Strus, Dean Wade, and Isaac Okoro, but along with Hunter, Strus is the most important piece in that group. His offensive versatility and defensive toughness are what make him the ideal fifth starter for the Cavs, and as the team looks to advance deeper in the playoffs, they are going to need the Strus to be loose in all aspects of the offense.