Philadelphia 76ers: For at least today, Tyrese Maxey gets a chance to start

Welp, it’s official: The 2021-22 NBA season is finally upon us.

That’s right, after months and months and months of anticipation, speculation, and enough trade fodder to fill the Library of Alexandria, we will finally find out if Daryl Morey stocked the cupboard with enough talent to bring a parade down Broad Street.

And yet, there’s still a 6-foot-10, 240 pound Four’ N Twenty beef pie salesman that looms over the Wells Fargo Center, one who was just thrown out of practice and eventually suspended by Doc Rivers for “content detrimental to the team.”

*sigh* Why can’t we just have a normal offseason? Why can’t the team just add a few quality free agents and head into the regular season in a cautious state of optimism?

But do you know what? Tonight isn’t about Ben Simmons. It’s not about who he will be traded for or what sort of return he’ll be able to garner. No, tonight Tyrese Maxey is the Philadelphia 76ers‘ point guard, and that, my friends, is going to be fun to see.

The Philadelphia 76ers get a glimpse into a potential future on opening night.

With Ben Simmons suspended and Shake Milton out for opening night with a right ankle sprain, Tyrese Maxey is the Philadelphia 76ers’ lone point guard as they travel down to New Orleans for a 8 pm tip-off versus the Pelicans.

What doesn’t that mean for the Sixers? Well, it means Maxey will play a lot of minutes versus Devonte’ Graham and the rest of the Pelicans’ point guards, and he’ll get every opportunity to sink or swim without another guard waiting in the wings to take his spot should he mess up.

Assuming the team sticks with their preseason strategy, the Sixers will likely supplement their point guard position with a two-shooting guard pairing of Furkan Korkmaz and Isaiah Joe, which worked very well against the Nets in preseason game three and could be similarly effective against the Zion-less Pelicans.

But ultimately, those minutes are supplemental for a reason. If the Sixers want to win in the Big Easy, they’ll do so because Maxey takes positive steps forward as a point guard; both as a scorer and a facilitator.

Since joining the Sixers as the 21st overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Maxey has only recorded five-plus assists in eight of his 61 games and has yet to record a single game with 10-plus assists either as a pro or during his 31 game tenure at Kentucky. While Maxey isn’t likely to develop into the second coming of Chris Paul anytime soon, he has to at least double his assist total from two to four as a full-time starter, especially when playing off of a dominant post presence like Joel Embiid who needs a steady diet of dimes in the paint.

Furthermore, to really optimize Embiid’s ability to cook in the paint, Maxey will need to consistently take open 3 point shots when they present themselves on the wings even if he doesn’t make that at a 40 percent clip, as his spacing will be vital to keeping the paint less clogged and present more open looks on double teams.

Fortunately, Maxey does present that upside as both a passer and a shooter and will certainly give opposing teams different looks than what they are accustomed to when the Sixers come to town.

When Shake Milton and (maybe) Ben Simmons return, Tyrese Maxey’s role will undoubtedly change. While he will surely still play plenty of minutes and perhaps even start depending on the situation, his margin for error will greatly diminish for better or worse. But tonight? Versus the New Orleans Pelicans on the road? Well, the Philadelphia 76ers are going to put the ball in Maxey’s hands and tell him to go, with one eye affixed on the present and another looking to the future.