PHILADELPHIA — James Harden did good things while he was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. His numbers were solid: averages of 21 points and 10.6 assists in his 1 1/2 seasons in Philadelphia. And he helped the development and play of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
Maxey, especially, has taken a lot from his time with Harden. The fourth-year guard was a first-time All-Star and showed off his skills in a 108-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Maxey went toe-to-toe with Harden and put up 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the loss. The young guard gave abundant praise to Harden for helping him with his development.
“It was a game when he came to our team and he didn’t play in Milwaukee and — right before the All-Star break — and I remember like coming down in the first quarter and just like kind of just throwing the ball to Joel, throwing the ball to Joel, just passing, not really being aggressive,” Maxey recalled from his time with Harden. “He just pulled me to the side and was like, ‘You do understand, like, you’re a special player and you can go out there and you can play your own brand of basketball and still defer to Joel.'”
Essentially, Harden wanted Maxey to understand that he has to find that balance of scoring as well as making plays for others on the floor. Yes, he had to defer to Harden and Embiid, but he had to score as well to make life easier for everybody on the floor.
“‘You have to go out there and you have to be aggressive for Joel to get open,'” Maxey continued on the advice from Harden. “‘If you’re just going to come off the pick-and-roll, you’re going to come out there and just throw the ball to Joel every single time, then the defense is going to be on him and it’s going to make it harder for him.’ So after that day, even when he came and started playing, I still had to defer those guys, but when I had the ball, he wanted me to be aggressive, and I think Joel was the same way so both of those guys have really helped me in my development.”
It’s obvious Harden and Maxey still have a great relationship. The two were messing with each other early in the game when Maxey was called for a foul on a Harden 3-pointer.
“Much love to James,” Maxey smiled. “It’s funny, just messing with him throughout the game, I was telling him that when I fouled him, I didn’t try to hurt him. He was like, ‘No, you tried to hurt me!’ I said ‘No, never bro. Never try to hurt you, man’, but it was great.”
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