The Philadelphia 76ers are the feel-good story of the young NBA season. The depression of Joel Embiid’s real-time demise and the buyer’s remorse on Paul George’s contract have been pushed into the shadows as the league’s most electric young backcourt has stepped into the spotlight.
The Sixers are 4-0. Rookie VJ Edgecombe is a revelation. And, oh my god, has Tyrese Maxey made the proverbial leap. Anybody with an NBA pulse already knew Maxey was awesome, but what he’s done to start this season has officially stamped the super next to his star.
There is probably no faster player in the league than Maxey, not just in a full-court sense but particularly as a downhill penetrator; this guy goes from logo to rim before you even know it happened. But we have seen speed before. Russell Westbrook. Ja Morant. Derrick Rose. De’Aaron Fox. All human jets.
But Maxey is setting himself apart as an elite shooter, too. That’s a combination we’ve rarely seen. If ever. It’s like a pitcher with both a 100 mph fastball and a lead-balloon changeup. You defend against one, and the other makes you look foolish.
That’s what Maxey is doing to people right now. He’s making 47% of his 3s, with virtually unlimited range, at high volume (over nine per game), and even crazier he’s at 54.5% (12 for 22) on off-the-dribble 3s, all of which means defenders are forced to play way too tightly, and way too far from the basket, to have even a fighting chance of staying in front of him when he hits the turbo button.
In other words, because he can do this:
You have to come up on him like this:
Because he has maybe the filthiest step-back in game:
You can’t help but bite when he shows it to you:
And it’s not just off the dribble. There is some real Steph Curry stuff happening off the ball, too. Maxey is flying off of screens, and again, because he’s such a lethal shooter, you are forced to chase him over the top of the action. And when you do that, he has a red carpet to run the corner into the paint.
This is the difference with some of the speed demons mentioned above. If a prime Westbrook or Morant comes off a screen, you just cut underneath and catch him as he comes out the other side because you’re not worried about him settling behind the road block and firing a 3.
But with Maxey, you can’t do that. The threat of his 3-point shot forces you to honor the high side of every action. And then he back-cuts you:
Conventional NBA wisdom says there are certain scorers who are, in essence, indefensible. You can make things difficult on them, but in the end it’s usually just a matter of whether they’re making or missing their shots that night, because they’re going to get what they want. They have too many shots, from too many spots, they can go to. If they don’t get you one way, they’ll get you another.
Maxey is now in this class. If his shot isn’t falling, he’ll just blow past you. Or vice versa. But when he has both aspects cooking, as he has to start this season, forget about it. You might as well sit back and watch the show like the rest of us.
