The Philadelphia 76ers have put a lot on the plate of young Tyrese Maxey as a second-year guard. The 21-year-old out of Kentucky is being asked to lead a team that has championship aspirations and replace star Ben Simmons.
That is a lot to handle for any young player at this stage in the NBA. Maxey has begun the season averaging 17.2 points, 4.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds in the first 23 games, but he has taken his fair share of lumps. He is not exactly a true point guard and coach Doc Rivers understands that.
Maxey’s true gift is the ability to put points on the board. Rivers told Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer he understands this, but he will remain on Maxey to help him in that regard:
“Every coach is, whether he plays the position or not, if you have a point guard-oriented offense,” Rivers said. “In my 20 years, half my teams have been a point guard-oriented offense and half have been motion offense. It really depends on the type of team you have.
“With Tyrese, we really don’t have a point guard-oriented offense. He’s not a point guard. He’s a scorer at the point position. We don’t want him coming down and orchestrating like Chris Paul. (Rajon) Rondo ran a point guard offense because they could call the game and orchestrate everything. When you don’t have that, you need more of a motion offense.”
Rivers has coached both Paul and Rondo in his career, so he knows what he is talking about. Being a former point guard himself, Rivers will be there for Maxey as the season continues to help him get going and understand what it takes to be the point guard on this team.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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