Cavs Notes: Max Strus, Georges Niang, Jarrett Allen, Preseason

CLEVELAND — Already, the Cavaliers are seeing the impact made by additional outside shooting during this training camp and preseason.

It’s coming mainly from Max Strus and Georges Niang, their primary offseason targets. How have they already helped the Cavs?

“You can be more dynamic,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following last week’s preseason game vs. the Magic. “You don’t have to be as stagnant. Even in that, there are lessons to be learned there. When those guys are moving and creating gravity, the guy with the ball in his hand has to get comfortable enough to know what they’re going to do and where they’re going to go and be as outlets.”

In other words, guards such as Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and others are likely still getting accustomed to having true blue perimeter threats, and getting Strus and Niang the ball when they’re open. There is always an adjustment with new teammates. 

“It’s a good problem to have. So much benefit to it,” Bickerstaff said. “But it’s part of the process of us learning one another and learning how we play together.”

Strus, 27, averaged 11.5 points and shot 35 percent on 3-pointers in 80 games with the Heat last season. Niang, 30, is coming off a year in which he averaged 8.2 points and shot 40 percent on threes in 78 games with the 76ers.

Cavs Notes

• The Cavs are back in action for their final preseason home game on Monday, when they will face Israeli club Maccabi Ra’anana. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. 
• This marks Cleveland’s first international opponent since facing Argentina’s San Lorenzo de Almagro back in 2019. Overall, the Cavs have squared off with five international opponents in the preseason since 2009.
• Former NBA big man Dwayne Bacon and ex-NBA guard Quinndary Weatherspoon are among the names you may know for Maccabi Ra’anana.
• Cavs center Jarrett Allen (left ankle) remains out. “He’s making progress,” Bickerstaff said. “Where he is doing more stuff is on the AlterG, which is the anti-gravity treadmill. So he’s making progress from that standpoint as well.”