Mavericks should start Max Christie to prevent shooting struggles from returning

The Dallas Mavericks ranked 26th in the league in 3-point percentage last season, and while Kyrie Irving's return to the lineup will certainly help Dallas' shooting struggles, they still don't have a starting five full of prolific shooters. This is exactly why Max Christie needs to start at shooting guard for the Mavericks, as he was Dallas' best outside shooter percentage-wise last season.

There's been debate among Mavericks fans over who should start between Christie and new addition Zaccharie Risacher, but starting Risacher would be detrimental to Dallas' starting lineup due to how hard-pressed they'd be to stretch the floor consistently.

Mavs need Christie to start because of the shooting and gravity he brings

For comparison, Christie shot 40.4 percent from outside on nearly six attempts per game last season, while Risacher shot 36.8 percent on roughly four attempts per game from outside. While the percentage difference between Christie and Risacher's 3-point shooting may not seem drastic, that's what separates an elite shooter from a league-average shooter, especially since Christie shot a higher volume than Risacher.

With Klay Thompson leaving for the Miami Heat, this further supports why Christie should be starting and playing a majority of the shooting guard minutes, as the Mavericks will be hard-pressed to find shooting on some nights through their starting lineup outside of Christie and Irving.

P.J. Washington shot just 32.5 percent from outside last season, and Cooper Flagg shot under 30 percent from downtown. Plenty could change between now and the start of the season, but most Mavericks fans and media members think Washington will start next to Flagg, which isn't the most promising development from a shooting perspective.

Mavericks don't have as much shooting as it looks like on paper

There's definitely hope Washington can rekindle his ability to be an above-average outside shooter with more space and playmaking back in the lineup, and many people think Flagg will take a leap as a 3-point shooter, but both of these things aren't guarantees. Dallas will almost certainly start Daniel Gafford at center to start the season as well, and it's long been known that Gafford isn't a floor-spacer.

The Mavericks added a lot of shooting on paper, but there's certainly a world in which that doesn't translate to the court. Players like Jett Howard, Tarik Biberovic, and Marcus Sasser are relative unknowns in terms of how important they'll be, as well as how many minutes they'll play, and those are basically all the good shooters Dallas added this summer, outside of Santi Aldama.

Regardless of how long and versatile Dallas wants to be defensively, they can't afford to bring Christie off the bench, as it's abundantly clear the gravity he draws as a shooter will be too important to Dallas' best five-man lineup. Christie has gotten better and more confident in his shot each season since he's been in the league, but the Mavericks will need the biggest season from him yet as a shooter, and there's no reason to believe he isn't up to the task.

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