Philadelphia 76ers rookie Tyrese Maxey is coming into the league and he still has a lot to learn. This has been a truncated season where he was drafted in November and less than a month later, he was making his NBA debut. That is a lot for anybody to handle.
Luckily for him, he landed on a team that has a lot of NBA veterans such as Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Dwight Howard, and others. Those guys have seen a lot in the league and they can lend a hand in helping him get to where he wants to go.
“Picking different guys’ brains like Tobias’ brain, Ben’s brain,” said Maxey. “Those guys have been in the league for a while so they know how it works. They know how it works on and off the court so I’ve been being a sponge and soaking it all in.”
Specifically, Maxey wants to learn how to draw fouls and get to the line as often as he can. That is when he goes to Embiid, who is one of the best in the league at getting to the line and scoring efficiently. The rookie out of Kentucky has been paying attention to what the superstar big man has to say.
“The way Joel knows how to get to a spot,” he explained. “I ask him a lot how he draws fouls because I want to add that to my game for sure. Just picking his brain.”
Maxey is having an impressive rookie season averaging 9.6 points off the bench and he averages less than one turnover per game. Despite his aggressive style going to the basket, he only averages 0.8 free throws per game so that is why he has been going to Embiid for more advice.
That is something that is going to help his career going forward as well as the number of resources he has on the team. There are a lot of people he can turn to from players to coaches.
“They’ve been great,” Maxey beamed. “They always stay on me. They really helped me. We have a great coaching staff, coach Doc (Rivers), coach Sam (Cassell), Dan (Burke), all those guys stay on me, and I really appreciate them. It just makes it like a warm welcome.”
Rivers has been a guy who has enhanced a lot of the talent on this roster and the same goes for the rookie. There is a reason why he won Coach of the Month for January.
“It’s been great,” Maxey said of playing for Rivers. “It’s a dream come true and he’s tough on all of us. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything, he always tells us how it is, keeps it 100. I think that’s one reason why he is who he is today and now he’s the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for a reason.”
The Sixers take on the Charlotte Hornets at 7 p.m. EST on Wednesday on the road.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=ICjBPHMWcD-1137154-7498&autoplay=on&V=2&format=json
[lawrence-related id=42073,42069,42056]