Maxi Kleber
Dallas Mavericks

Player Facts

Height: 6'10"
Weight: 240lbs.

Wingspan: 6'10.75"

Date of Birth: Jan. 29, 1992
College Experience: N/A

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 6
Physical Strength: 8
Positional Size: 10
Positional Wingspan: 8
Paint Scoring: 8
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 9
Dribbling: 4
Passing: 4
Perimeter Defense: 7
Interior Defense: 8
Rebounding: 7

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Popper Extraordinaire

> Dynamic Dives

> Running the Floor

> Defensive Duties

> Post D & Other Man Defense

> Erasing Layup Attempts

> Blocking Out

> Not a Post Threat

> Just a Play Finisher

> Flimsy Facilitating

> Vulnerable to Mass

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of NF Highlights & Smart Highlights (YouTube)

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Maxi Kleber is a stretch four/five with a rare skill mixture. The high-effort 6'10" big will block shots in addition to canning threes for his squad. He's also an above-average rebounder and paint finisher despite having a more perimeter-oriented playstyle. The German big is also a sneaky effective and versatile perimeter defender.

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Popper Extraordinaire

The German player is an awesome pop man out of the ball screen. He likes to set ghost screens, slipping out quickly before ripping the chords on a triple. Maxi isn't a high jumper on his shots but at 6'10" gets them off with ease, nailing 42.1% of his spot-up treys in 2020-2021.

Creator teammates, such as the magnificent Luka Doncic, benefit meaningfully from playing beside a guy like Kleber. Maxi's shooting stroke pulls out the big man, leaving them far from the basket and thus neutralizing their shot-blocking abilities. Playing in lineups where his frontcourt mate(s) can also shoot, such as next to Dorian Finney-Smith, makes for five-out groups that are challenging to defend.

2019-2020 saw him have 250 spot-up points with the Dallas Mavericks. That was a higher count than wing shooters like Danny Green and Evan Fournier. It also outpaced fellow stretch bigs Brook Lopez and Myles Turner.

The beauty of Kleber is that he is not simply a corner shooter à la P.J. Tucker. While nailing 41.2% of his corner treys in 2019-2020, the bulk of his three-balls were made above-the-break. He hit 37.2% of these further-away three-pointers as a popper and general catch-and-shoot guy.

Dynamic Dives

Maxi pairs his pop ability with some instances of strong straight-line rolling. Kleber is a lob-catcher and will roll down the gut of the defense for alley-oops. He can even make some rudimentary reads on the short roll here (i.e. swing to corner shooter).

Kleber has some athletic springiness to him that he uses most notably as a finisher. His size of course helps as well and he's predominantly an above-the-rim player. Maxi's 51 dunks in 2019-2020 are a welcome sight for a guy also providing 119 made threes.

Between his stellar rolling and popping, Maxi Kleber was an analytics darling here in 2019-2020. He was in the 92nd percentile scoring as the pick-and-roll roll man. An unreal 71.9 eFG% was propped up by his three-point marksmanship as a pop man. Across 2020-2021, he was still solidly in the 75th percentile scoring as the diver.

Volume-wise, his 87 buckets as a 2019-2020 screen-setter edged out Jonas Valanciunas, Christian Wood, and Steven Adams. His interior finishing clips are a helpful portion of all this as well. Maxi connected on 67.1% of his rim attempts that season.

Running the Floor

Kleber runs the floor gracefully at his size. He throws down some dunks this way but his shooting travels well here too. Maxi will flare to the wing for a transition triple try.

That floor-running of his holds true when he plays a defensive role. The shot-blocking Kleber plays hard and this is a prime example of it. He tends to surprise players with how quickly he can get up to snuff/alter their shot.

Defensive Duties

Maxi adds value by being the impactful, versatile defender he is. He's a serviceable pick-and-roll defender and has some positional flexibility. 2019-2020 had him check mostly forwards, but also guards for about 145 minutes and centers for another 124:11.

He is very mobile at his size. This allows him to not look out of place checking even the more talented perimeter guys in the Association. The lateral mobility he houses is very impressive in a 6'10" frontcourt player. He will at the very least make these players work.

Post D & Other Man Defense

Kleber is a good post defender thanks to his size and strength. 2018-2019 had him in the 56th percentile for post defense then the 72nd in 2019-2020. This ability allows him to take on bruisers at the five-spot despite being a nominal power forward himself.

His man defense is good on the whole as he slides his feet to stick with his assignment. He's sound positionally and is generally a low-mistake player who rarely gambles. In 2019-2020 he was in the 64th percentile guarding isolations.

Erasing Layup Attempts

As a clever team defender, Maxi plays the "free safety" role at times. The coaching staff may stick him on a medium-threat shooter weakside so that he can help off. This empowers Kleber to use his length and athleticism to tally some blocked shots.

Opponents shot -5.0% compared to their typical averages within 6 feet when Kleber was there (2019-2020). He offered 1.6 blocks per-36 minutes that campaign. Furthermore, Kleber's verticality tends to be on point which ordinarily keeps his fouling under control.

Blocking Out

Maxi both blocks out well and nabs defensive boards himself. He was inside the top-15 for most box-outs in 2019-2020. In each of his first four NBA seasons, Kleber snagged 7+ boards per-36 as the four-man.

WEAKNESSES

Not a Post Threat

Maxi's number isn't called for post-up chances. This part of his game is underdeveloped, and he can't burn teams that stick a smaller guy on him through this avenue. The well-built 6'10" big should theoretically be an at least moderate threat with his back-to-the-basket.

Just a Play Finisher

Shot creation in general is far from a strong suit for the German besides the odd closeout-attack. He must be handed a clean look or an open runway to the hole or else scoring will be a challenge. Only 20 of his 237 baskets were unassisted in 2019-2020.

Besides some better post play, Kleber's growth as a self-created scorer would be valuable on his offensive rebounds. As it stands, he's more likely to kick it out while having a relatively open look for the taking. In terms of putback scoring, he was in only the 8th percentile in 2019-2020.

He rarely draws fouls that would be earning him some easy points at the stripe. Even on a 36-minute basis, he gets to the line merely 1-2 times on average. A silver lining is that he's an unreal shooter there when he does get the opportunity.

Flimsy Facilitating

Kleber's team would benefit from a higher comfort level as a DHO delivery man. Non-star bigs like Jusuf Nurkić and Mason Plumlee can have DHO offense funneled through them dependably. Maxi is not quite as good here and is clearly a less talented pure passer/ball-handler than players such as these two.

Vulnerable to Mass

As much as Maxi can defend centers, the game's sturdiest five's can give him fits. For instance, Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns both shot above 55% when matched up with Kleber (2018-2019 + 2019-2020).

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Beacon Bacon

Maxi shares the same hometown as NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki – Wurzburg, Germany