Is Tyrese Maxey The Key For Philadelphia 76ers? - The Fast Break Podcast
In last week’s episode of The Fast Break Podcast, Fastbreak on FanNation NBA insider and reporter Brett Siegel was joined by All76ers on FanNation’s Justin Grasso and The Painted Lines’ Austin Krell to discuss all things Philadelphia 76ers, a team that has high championship aspirations.
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Philadelphia 76ers Start To 2022-23 NBA Season [2:40]
Beginning the season 1-4, the Philadelphia 76ers got off to a very slow start, which had the “City of Brotherly Love” restless given the success of the cities’ other teams in the NFL and MLB.
The 76ers responded winning their next three games to pull to 4-4 on the season, but still, things have not looked right with this team early on. Defensively, they have lacked energy and effort in transition and on the offensive-end of the floor, it seemed like this team gave up at times when shots were not falling or when they did not get a foul call from the referees that they were looking for.
Justin Grasso [2:40]: “Everything boils down to effort. Everything for this team starts on the defensive-end of the floor and they kind of saw that last year. If they are getting stops on the defensive-end of the floor, then they move the ball on offense. For whatever reason in transition defense, the 76ers tend to struggle a lot and at the end of the day, it just comes down to effort.”
Tyrese Maxey's Worth To Philadelphia [3:35]
Tyrese Maxey’s strong start to the season is a direct carryover from where he left off during the 2021-22 season. The emergence of Maxey for the Sixers has been huge and all of a sudden, he is beginning to look like a true All-Star type of player alongside Joel Embiid and James Harden for this team [3:35].
Siegel: You know who has looked good for this team? Tyrese Maxey. His impact to this team has been tremendous thus far… Maxey just looks so locked in both offensively and defensively, which is something we did not necessarily see last season. I think he looks much improved on the defensive side of things and he seems a lot more aware of his surroundings. Is it wrong for me to say that Maxey is the second-most important player on this roster behind Joel Embiid?
Grasso: I think at the end of the day, Maxey is the X-factor for this team. When it comes to the playoffs, obviously your stars have to be the ones to step up, but it is kind of hard to not consider him a star at this point. He has really just inserted himself into the conversation of “maybe he is the second star on this team.” It is kind of interesting to look at Tyrese because obviously when he came into the NBA, there were a lot of question marks around him, but everyone assumed he had a high ceiling. Now, it is kind of interesting looking at him because everyone is asking “well, how high is the ceiling?” It is interesting to see how much he actually can improve here as the season goes on.
Later on in the episode, Austin Krell gave his take on Tyrese Maxey’s emergence and what his production means to the Philadelphia 76ers pertaining to the playoffs and possibly competing for a title.
Austin Krell [16:10]: “The 76ers need Tyrese Maxey to be his aggressive self and the best version of himself in order to win a title just because they need a different flavor to their offense. They can’t win a title having just [James] Harden spamming pick-and-rolls and [Joel] Embiid posting up and trying to draw on double teams in order to kick the ball out to open guys. It has to be Tyrese Maxey using his speed and getting downhill; finding ways to blow past his opponents and get to the rim with craftiness.”
Philadelphia 76ers Loss Of Draft Picks Due To Tampering Violations [20:20]
The Philadelphia 76ers were recently a part of an investigation by the NBA in regards to possible offseason tampering pertaining to free agency, specifically their deals with P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr.
Teams and pending free agents are only allowed to talk and negotiate new deals in a specific time frame where everyone has the freedom to contact free agents, but the 76ers violated these rules and as a result, the NBA punished them by taking away their second-round picks in 2023 and 2024.
Tampering is a big problem in the league and has been for quite some time. Brett and Austin talked about the league’s tampering rules and how there really is no right answer for the league to have in regards to trying to stop teams from following in the Sixers’ footsteps [20:20].
Krell: There are teams that are not worried about second-round picks because they have their eyes set on winning now and not developing young players. Tampering is a cost of doing business in this league that everyone knows about. DeAndre Jordan got signed within the first five minutes of free agency opening and it’s clear that deal was agreed upon in advance. The difference is that the media did not really tweet about it and report it. There was a lot of information out there in advance to P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr. signing and everyone kind of knew this was happening for the 76ers. The loss of draft picks is a loss I think teams are comfortable with if it means landing a guy that can boost their chances of winning.
Siegel: Here is my whole thing on the whole tampering rules. I don’t understand them because at the end of the day, Adam Silver and the NBA are basically saying that they don’t want these guys talking to each other about upcoming deals and contracts, but what do you think they do all offseason long when they are in the gym together? Donovan Mitchell and LeBron James were in the gym together at multiple points in the offseason with a ton of other players, I think this was at Chris Brickley’s gym. Do you really think that Mitchell or someone else didn’t bring up the point that he was on the trade block or that he was going to be dealt at some point? And it goes back to other things as well. P.J. Tucker played with James Harden in Houston for years, Daryl Morey was with P.J. Tucker and James Harden in Houston. You can even go back further and look at the whole James Harden potentially going to the Philadelphia 76ers situation before he was dealt to the Brooklyn Nets due to Morey being there. Am I crazy for thinking that these guys are not talking during the season because it happens and there is no way to prevent it?
Krell: No, it is ridiculous. I get why they have to do it because you cannot just let it happen. You have to give a slap on the wrist when someone violates the rule, but having said that, the fault in the process is that the draft comes before free agency. So basically, you have agents and executives that are commingling in the gyms together “evaluating draft prospects” and there is inevitably going to be conversations pertaining to things other than the draft. The best way to mitigate this or if there is any way to mitigate these issues, the first step involves moving the free agency period ahead of the draft. At least, that’s how you begin to solve this in my opinion.
Siegel: It is just such a gray area. They know what they are supposed to do and what they can’t do in quotes. They know the rules, but at the same time, like you mentioned earlier, nobody really cares if the penalty is just going to be a loss of second-round picks. This is not to say that second-round picks are not valuable, but to your point, you get a guy like P.J. Tucker; he went to the Milwaukee Bucks a few years ago and helped win them a title. Who is to say he could not do the same for the 76ers and I believe that was kind of the thought process that was going on in this front-office.
