CHARLESTON, S.C.–Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey has been on the rise since he entered the league. Ever since his debut, the young man out of Kentucky has made big steps forward as he continues to develop and morph into a star in this league.
As he heads into his third training camp, the 21-year-old is feeling much more comfortable than ever before in a training camp. His rookie season camp was disrupted by COVID while in his second season, it was disrupted by the Ben Simmons saga.
To begin camp in his third season, coach Doc Rivers sees a different Maxey.
“Just more confident,” explained Rivers. “The first year, he had no chance. It was unfair to him because of COVID and then he got COVID. He didn’t have a summer league, he didn’t have the two weeks of working out with the guys, to say he was behind would be an understatement. That was probably all the guys who went through the same thing.”
Heading into his third season, Maxey now knows what’s expected of him. There isn’t much uncertainty this time around. He knows he will be starting next to James Harden in the backcourt and he has to be able to score the ball on the offensive end to help the team succeed.
“I think this is finally my first year knowing what my role is going in,” said Maxey. “The last couple times, I always told everybody that I’m prepared for whatever coach Doc throws at me, but now, I know exactly what he wants from me. I know what I have to bring. I think this year, I’ve been trying to be more vocal, be more of a leader. Talk more defensively and offensively.”
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The biggest aspect that Maxey and the Sixers can take away from this experience is that they are able to build that camaraderie. They can hang out and they don’t have to worry about any restrictions like there were in his first two seasons in the league.
“We’re just having a lot of fun, man,” smiled Maxey. “Being away from your family, being away from what you’re used to. I was telling somebody today that after practice yesterday (Monday), I spent from like 4:30/5:00 until 11:00 with Joel (Embiid), James, PJ (Tucker), D-Melt (De’Anthony Melton), and Tobias (Harris), and Georges (Niang), like you don’t do that when you’re in Philly. So just doing that for five or six or seven hours, that’s big. That’s big for team camaraderie and it’s been great for us so far.”
Now, what did those guys do during that time?
“Played the game, laughed, talked, ate,” Maxey finished. “All those things. We played FIFA and Madden and they’re way too competitive in those things. It was fun though.”
The fact that the Sixers are able to have fun away from the court and build their chemistry together during this week of training camp is going to be a great thing for them as they move forward with their title aspirations.
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