PHILADELPHIA — On Jan. 15, the Philadelphia 76ers altered their starting lineup, moving Tyrese Maxey to the bench. The Sixers moved De’Anthony Melton into his place because coach Doc Rivers was looking for more balance between the starters and the bench.
In 18 games since, Maxey has produced a mixed bag of performances. Count Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics as one of the down performances. The young man out of Kentucky had eight points on 4-for-10 shooting, and he missed both of his triples off the bench.
“He didn’t have the ball in his hands much,” said Rivers. “We got to get the ball in his hands more and then what happens when he doesn’t, then he forces a little bit, but you don’t blame them. He’s fighting defensively. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do, but we got to get him more involved.”
In the team’s previous game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Maxey was 0-for-6 from deep. That marks an 0-for-8 start from deep for him since the All-Star break.
“I just want him to be aggressive,” said Joel Embiid of Maxey. “It’s funny, because after the game, I was talking to him, I was like, ‘What can I do to help you?’ We’re just having a conversation, trying to figure it out, which ways I can help him. We had a good conversation.”
On the season, Maxey is averaging 19.4 points, but the numbers coming off the bench for him are not great, and it’s something the Sixers have to figure out with him.
“I think, my main thing for him is to just be aggressive,” Embiid added. “Obviously, everybody watches film and everybody knows what he does best. I was just giving him an example about how I’m sure people watched film on me and then they probably know what I want to get to, but then again, there’s so many ways you can, even if they want to take it away, there’s so many ways you can set them up and still being able to get to whatever shots you want or whatever spot on the floor.”
The Sixers need Maxey to get back to who he was before the move to the bench. He has shown flashes. He scored 27 off the bench against the Brooklyn Nets back on Jan. 25 and he did so again against the New York Knicks back on Feb. 10.
“He’ll be fine, but I told him, we’re not going anywhere unless he’s aggressive and he just plays freely,” Embiid stated. “So that’s all I want for him to play freely. Not think about anything. Whether it’s coming off the bench or starting, just want him to be aggressive and play freely.”
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