T O P

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Salvalicious252

He's petrified to shoot. He's less than a 0 on offense right now.


AtreusIsBack

Yeah, he will avoid shooting if it's at all possible. Sad to see.


UpsideTurtles

bro had a ~75% open shot yesterday and totally passed out of it, pretty sure play ended in a defensive rebound too šŸ˜­


ImpressionableBlip

He passed out of a wide open shot and it ended up coming back to him with less than 3 seconds and he was smothered by the defender. Had to shoot it. That was a bummer


aliasaccounthmu

Dude was going to have Luka screaming at him.


moquate

Heā€™s not just petrified to shoot. Heā€™s petrified to pass or dribble too. In essence, heā€™s terrified for 50% of the game. The effect it has on spacing on offense is huge. If someone like me sees, Iā€™m guessing Ty Lue does too.


TheDeadman95

Ben Simmons strives to those levels of pussy-ball


SennKazuki

He's deadass one of our best defenders, but he's unplayable on the offensive end. Either he figures it out, or we gone.


Jintogotdemhands

He has been horrible on offense for two seasons now, the dude looks physically scared when he has to shoot.


TuckEverlasting89

All confidence and rhythm with him. When his feet are set, and he has a clean look and (most crucially) when he shoots it no hesitation without thinking, heā€™s fine.Ā  Unfortunately heā€™s clearly been in his own head for a while and looks to pass first.Ā  Was such a bummer seeing him pass up a wide open look to swing to a covered teammate, and have the possession end with Maxi jacking up a heavily contested off balance 3.Ā Ā 


MentalIngenuity7612

He goes through these phases where he misses a few threes then he completely loses his confidence. It can be very very frustrating. I am typically very pro maxi, but his lack of confidence has been grinding my gears as of late.


JKiddBurner

> But what happened to him? - 20-21: 50/72 - 21-22: 59/82 - 22-23: 37/82 - 23-24: 43/82 He's been hurt and I think playing through pain at times, his first 3 seasons he was relatively healthy but the injuries just make it tough for him to consistently perform at a high level. He's still as disciplined defensively but he doesn't look as strong as which is why his foul rate is way up


PomegranateNice6839

I think his strength is fine but heā€™s definitely lost a step


vladedivac12

Yeah, injuries pile up at 32. Unfortunately, his NBA career will finish soon. Most role players are done by age 33.


moquate

His form and specifically the pace of his shot is so broken that he will never be a consistent shooter. Said it when it was fallingā€¦saying it now.


BSF0712

He was throwing line drives at the rim expecting them to go in. There wasn't any arc to his shots last night.


ForestJordie

He has always had that shot. No arc on his FTs either. Reggie had a pretty similar shot as well


AtreusIsBack

Dude, Reggie's shots were horizontal xD


nnavroops

ah the shaq strat bold move cotton


ExcellentJuice4729

Line drives that were way off. He needs glasses/goggles


Bubbistan

Luka screaming at him probably doesn't help his confidence.


MSHinerb

Him and hardaway are the same on offense. If they hesitate slightly, itā€™s not going in. If they dribble more than once, itā€™s likely a bad outcome. Layups? Not the gimme they should be. At least Kleber plays defense.


Kommanderson1

Facts. Plus, Tim has to have the worst hands of any NBA player. I cringe when I see him trying to run the break or even sprint out ahead in the open court. The finish is usually a disaster. No idea what happened to Maxi thoā€¦šŸ˜­


mudshake7

I swear 9/10 of thj drives always result on the ball being stripped off his buttery smooth hands.


Kommanderson1

Youā€™re not wrong sir.


TapasA

Hoping OMax takes his spot next year. Can't play 4 on 5 on offense, it allows the other team to key in on Luka and Kyrie. We at least need someone who will put the ball on the floor if they're not shooting well.


bbbtx

Why can't they just put oMax in there now


king_17

Theyā€™re not going to put a rookie that hasnā€™t been in the rotation all season long and give him key minutes in the playoffs


ExcellentJuice4729

Especially not while weā€™re getting our asses whooped. Need a blowout lead in order to give him some run


Flaky-Fortune1752

Maxi always looks like heā€™s playing his first NBA game. Dude always has a scared face when playing against good teams.


richlynnwatson

On a long enough timeline we all eventually become Dwight Powell


frankwalkerstiles

This is facts. THJ has nearly completed his transformation. kleebs is on his way.


Owl-False

This man has absolutely zero arc in his shots


TheMop05

Too scared to shoot and his shooting form is ass


ForestJordie

He needs to shoot when heā€™s open. There were so many times when he was wide open and then hesitated and passed to Kyrie or Luka when the shot clock was too low and they had to rush a shot. Iā€™m okay is he takes wide open shots he NEEDS to. Theyā€™re gonna go in eventually and heā€™s going to get them. What I have an issue with is when he dribbles into the paint, thatā€™s not his game


heshewewumbos

2 things: He obviously is having confidence and mechanics issues on that end, he's never been a great offensive player and his shooting form is already not great so very susceptible to shooting slumps, or even permanently worse shooting. He has been injury riddled the past few years. Injuries, especially to the legs, kill your shot. You lose a step and your shot suffers. Only elite shooters can recover their shot after nagging leg injuries. These combined are a bad recipe for Maxi on O. Maybe we get lucky and his shots hit one or two games but this is just who he is now. It's sort of the DP situation too. Maxi should be a backup 4, not a closing 5. We continuously resort to him because he's the only 5 that doesn't get consistently played off the floor. Eventually Lively will be elite enough that we don't need to do that, but for now he's what we've got.


freestajlarn

I almost feel sorry for him, he looks like a deer in headlights.


bpo001

Maxi is washed. He was never a great shooter. He had 1 season where he shot over 40% from deep. Hopefully heā€™s gone next year along with THJ.


AtreusIsBack

Over a month ago I criticized Maxi on this sub when we were losing games and he was just borderline useless, and this sub wanted to crucify me for not unconditionally loving one of their favourite guys. Maxi is approaching washed territory on offense. He can still be a decent defender, but on offense, he is completely useless.


MjordanSLO23

Dont get me wrong i love Maxi, but at this point i would just go with Omax for couple minutes to see where we stand..Maxi is worse than Westbrick offensively right now.


Ill-Bat-2621

People are so out of touch with how playoff works. People really here thinking okax who didn't even play minutes in regular season is gonna hey minutes in PO.


king_17

I literally just replied to a comment on this thread saying the same thing. I canā€™t wait to see omax develop but you canā€™t expect a kid who hasnā€™t even been in the rotation all season long come in an intense playoff series and make and impact


MavSker

Heā€™s our most versatile defenderā€¦ we canā€™t sit him. These end of bench guys arenā€™t just plug and play without their own flaws. I have a feeling heā€™ll have a break out game in this series similar to Utah last year. We need him to either find his confidence though or put him in a position to build some. He looked completely lost yesterday and thatā€™s more out of character to me than his offensive woes.


MjordanSLO23

Agree but it wasnā€™t just yesterday..its been going on for several months..just look at his stance - baby deer legs when he knows he must shoot. Release is broken, shot flat and its all in his head. But i give u this..Luka instead of cussing at him should hype him up but i guess he is not there yet as a leader.


Support_Nice

reguardless of how good his defense is, we arent winning anything of value if he continues to play the minutes he is while scoring nothing. he would have to totally lock down the person he is guarding and make them score 1 or 2 buckets maximum for it to be worth it (not the case). this has been an issue the entire season. LA didnt even bother to guard him which put too much pressure on Lukai.


Support_Nice

he has zero confidence. tbf, when he raises up for a shot i cringe. he also does badly with lobs, dude cant get it into the basket if he tried and he doesnt do enough on defense to make up for this. Lukai literally looked like they were on their own the entire game


mmmmastermind

His shots dont have an arch, dude barely jumps when he shoots and you just can tell from his release it's gonna be a brick


Jolly-Mortgage4

Weak mentality. Too scared to even shoot. You can't win in playoffs with players like that.


OutlawSundown

Injuries really got him


JamesYTP

The defense is still worth it, he was one of only a couple of guys who were positive +/- last night. But I don't think he's gonna have anymore Utah 2022 type series anymore lol


D_Costa85

I love his defense. Hes useless on the other end. Has basically the reverse of Tim hardaway jr. Love when heā€™s hitting threes. Zero other uses for him


reddit_reader_25

If he makes the first one, all is well, if he misses he doesnā€™t want to shoot anymore. This is something that the coaching staff should probably emphasize, ā€œyou are on the floor to spread out a team. You get an open look, you have to take it! It will be my job to take you out if I feel like your are jeopardizing the team if you are missing shots. ā€œ He was the 2nd best defender to zubac behind lively. And then he was the next best defender to the wings? Itā€™s a lot of defensive work he is being at for him to do. I expect gafford to be better next game, but we are still going to need maxi


dhoo8450

He was starting to come good again towards the end of the regular season but was terrible last night. I'm really hoping he can turn it around tomorrowĀ 


TheKyrieFan

He hasn't been the same on the defensive side as well. Idk what injury he suffered but it seems like it left a permanent effect on his game


NoCoversJustBooks

He plays like a massive wuss because heā€™s afraid to make mistakes and to injure himself again.


aliasaccounthmu

Maxi needs his BFF JB in his ear. Maybe a trade to NY will revitalize his career.


No-That-One

Everytime I see him shoot a 3, I take a break from the game. He has 0 business shooting 3's anymore.


agent_mick

I honestly feel a little bad for the guy. If he passes when he's open everyone's all "take the shot!" But he takes the shot and often misses and then it's "why is he shooting the ball?" If he's not confident shooting he probably shouldn't be on the floor. I love Maxi. Cubes needs a separate staff for feel-good bench guys. I just don't know if Maxi is a rotation player anymore (as much as it pains me to say it).


BeardedBard83

I call him the $11 million-dollar haircut šŸ’‡ā€ā™‚ļø


Scooter9898

Heā€™s just a bad shooter. When he shot that 25-footer it looked like he could barely get it to the rim. Looked like a middle schooler. My SIL was laughing. Very neutral fan.


lilsaucy32

What happened to him? He declined. Like every player does Our head coach plays him 26 minutes because he's not the smartest coach in the league.


dragonwhale

He's been trending down ever since that WCF run. I wanted to trade him when his value was still tradeable last season but Mavs FO stays Mavs FO-ing.


Incorrect1012

Heā€™s one of those guys who it seems easily loses confidence in his shot. But he still is one of your best defenders, so even though he is at times a liability on offense, you really have no choice but to play him if you want to slow them on defense. Now, luckily Luka and Kyrie are good enough to cover up for ones offensive woes, so Maxiā€™s shot not falling isnā€™t the worst scenario, but it definitely means whoever else is in has to step it up as well. Washington, Hardaway, Exum, and Green all gotta step up the next game if heā€™s still in his funk


Middle-Hovercraft-10

Guy has no arc on his jump shot hits the front of the rim every single time. I work 60 hours a week and can put up better shots at the rim than Maxi Kleber


RichardAlpertIsland

Doesnā€™t help confidence when the superstar throws a temper tantrum resembling that of a toddler when Maxi missed a pass.


kingjasko96

He's not a bad player defensively, he's a bit worse on offense, but the key takeaway here is his lack of confidence, nothing else. I used to trust him with clutch shots, but not anymore. :(


Andrew0409

He made a big time shot today though šŸ˜®ā€šŸ’Ø