As the James Harden saga lingers on, Maxey is poised to become the Sixers' point guard. In addition to remaining an electrifying scorer, Maxey will be asked to distribute more to teammates.
Tyrese Maxey ran pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll inside a Dallas-area gym, drilling how to react to the “tag” help defender. If that player shifted over from the perimeter to stop the big man, Maxey zipped a pass to childhood teammate Chris Harris in the corner for a three-pointer. If the defender stayed with Harris, Maxey delivered a pocket pass from his hip to the roller mimicking Joel Embiid.
Now, Maxey is again likely to spearhead the Sixers offense during a crucial 2023-24 season. Conventional wisdom says demonstrating he also can be a consistent playmaker for teammates — while still putting up 20 shots per game, as new coach Nick Nurse has stipulated — will take his game to the next level. Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, told Maxey as much at the beginning of the summer, vowing, “If you learn how to make those pocket passes, you’re going to be an All-Star.
Maxey idolized Dwyane Wade as a child, but also studied Allen Iverson and Kyrie Irving as score-first point guards, along with Jrue Holiday’s passing and Chris Paul’s pick-and-roll mastery. Meanwhile, Maxey developed into a speedy ballhandler with a blossoming floater and wicked spin move “that no one could stop” to get to the rim, Harris said.
Maxey played sporadically for most of his rookie season while Simmons held point guard duties until a stunning Game 7 loss to Atlanta in the 2021 playoffs. A messy divorce between Simmons and the team then propelled an inexperienced Maxey into that lead guard spot the next season. Although he had spent the summer studying where teammates preferred the ball, today Maxey acknowledges, “mentally, I was not prepared” for what accompanied that responsibility.
Then uncertainty surrounded Harden’s status for the 2023-24 season. He could have opted out of the last year of his contract and signed with another team as a free agent. Instead,, requested a trade, called president of basketball operations Daryl Morey “a liar” when it went unfulfilled, briefly returned to the Sixers, and is now absent.
“Forward” has been Nurse’s initial buzzword with Maxey. That means grabbing more rebounds and shifting from defense to offense, instead of slowing the pace or waiting for teammates. And using early pick-and-roll sets to pull help defenders and create openings for him to drive to the rim. And taking those 20 shots per game.
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