Where would the Sixers be without the 2020 bubble heroics of Mike Muscala? A couple of seemingly irrelevant threes in a game that August for Muscala’s Thunder in a win against the Heat allowed the Sixers to keep their first-round pick in that year’s draft. With the 21st pick, the Sixers landed Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey.
For all the high picks the Process years lent the Sixers, they finally hit on a perimeter player with a pick not just outside the top three, but outside the lottery all together. If the NCAA Men’s Tournament proceeded as usual that spring instead of being canceled due to the pandemic, Maxey’s clutch shot-making and clutch playmaking ability would’ve been on display for the whole country to see. He didn’t get enough opportunities at UK on the biggest of stages to showcase the player he truly is, tumbling down the draft board. Now? He’d go top three in a redraft alongside Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton.
On Tuesday, Maxey turned 25 years old. Scoring nearly 34 points per game on this young season, he looks primed to make his first All-NBA team this season and eventually establish himself as one of the greatest guards to ever play for this franchise.
Maxey has already been an All-Star and has a pair of seasons where he’s averaged 26 points per night. He possesses an unparalleled combination of speed and shooting prowess. As he ages and his basketball IQ and leadership skills match up with those on-court tools, anything could happen for the Sixers’ franchise guard.
There’s nothing that would surprise me about the way Maxey’s career turns out other than it being a disappointment. Maybe he wins a couple scoring titles. Maybe he helps lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals for the first time in decades as the franchise’s 1A or 1B player. Maybe he’s even hoisting the Michael Jordan Trophy come one spring.
Over the course of the last dozen years where endless promise hasn’t even resulted in a Conference Finals appearance, I understand any Sixers fan that is reluctant to let their imagination run wild when it comes to the team and its players. Believe me, I get it. At one point in time, I put all my faith in Markelle Fultz being a superstar guard for the Sixers only for that to evaporate in front of all of our faces. It’s wild that Maxey has turned into the player Fultz was supposed to be for this franchise and maybe even more, a running mate for Joel Embiid _and_ the guy to guide the franchise into its next era.
I had grown to be a Sixers curmudgeon over the last couple of seasons, but I’ve found myself gladly letting my guard down the last two weeks when it comes to this specific team and Maxey, along with rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, is driving that. As the film Rudy once said, “Having dreams is what makes life tolerable.”
I want to believe. With Maxey doing what he’s doing for the next half-decade in Sixers red, white and blue (and black throwbacks…), I’ll continue to dream of the Sixers reaching heights they haven’t hit in over 40 years.
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