Tyrese Maxey has grown by leaps and bounds, flourishing into an MVP-caliber player for the Philadelphia 76ers so far this season. He has been their best player without a doubt, and the single biggest reason as to why the team even boasts a winning record almost month into the regular season.
Really, an argument could be made that Maxey has been the best backcourt player in the entire Eastern Conference this season. He is third in the league at scoring with 32.3 markers a night while also tallying 7.6 assists per outing. Even better, his high scoring is coupled with above-average efficiency, having drained almost 47 percent of his shots and nearly 39 percent of his three-point tries.
However, the consensus is still that Maxey is not in serious contention for MVP. And for him to really cement himself as a bona fide MVP candidate. He must fix his two obvious flaws, although doing that will be borderline impossible for the 76ers.
The 76ers have an unfixable Tyrese Maxey problem
As good as Maxey is on offense, absolutely no one will be pegging him as a two-way player. Defense is clearly not one of his strengths, and aside from that, his playmaking needs a lot of work. But he is averaging a career-high in assists this season! Well, that makes it all the more frustrating that histable-setting skills have not really taken a step forward.
Unfortunately, given how the 76ers operate, it is very difficult to envision a scenario where Maxey becomes an entrenched two-way player. The team is asking way too much from his on the scoring end for him to even think of exerting much juice for defense, His size is also not very conducive to having a decent ceiling as an individual stopper.
On the playmaking side, the same reasoning applies. Philly wants him to focus on scoring for the most part, and if we are being honest, his very respectable assist numbers stem from him having such a high usage. He is bound to rack up assists, especially with opposing defenses now more committed to throwing doubles at him.
For better or for worse, the 76ers will have to embrace the fact that Tyrese Maxey is of this particular ilk. There is no changing what he is on the inside, although with a more ideal roster around him, he can become even more unstoppable. Hopefully, the front office pulls the right strings when the time is right.