Doc Rivers Assesses Tyrese Maxey's Second Training Camp So Far

Last offseason, Tyrese Maxey had a strange start to his NBA career. Coming into the league amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Maxey didn't have a Summer League to participate in and had a shortened offseason and regular season in general.

This year, everything mostly returned to normal. Not only did Maxey participate in the Summer League, but he's also preparing for the season in a typical training camp. Coming into the 2021-2022 season, Maxey has high expectations attached to him.

After showing significant improvement throughout his rookie season, Maxey is looking to take the next step in his journey as he could find himself starting for the 76ers with Ben Simmons holding out from the team.

Lately, Maxey has been playing with guys such as Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, and Seth Curry, as he's running as the point guard for the starters. How has he looked so far in training camp? Doc Rivers discussed it on Saturday.

"This was his best day," Rivers said following Philly's fourth practice session of the offseason. "I don't think he's had necessarily a great camp thus far. But he hasn't had a bad one either. He's just trying to find his way, trying to find where to be aggressive. I want him to continue to be aggressive as a scorer, but now he has to run the team."

Coming off of a stellar two-game showing in Las Vegas this past summer, many expected Maxey to turn heads at training camp this offseason. While his teammates had a lot of positive things to say about his progress so far this year, Rivers seems to keep realities in check for a moment as he reveals Maxey could be a lot better.

"If that's what Coach said, that it was my best day, then he's right," Maxey stated. "I just tried to focus on defensively doing whatever I could to help the team get stops. And then just working on my spacing. Whenever Joel gets the ball in the post, whenever Tobias gets the ball in the post, trying to be in the right spots."

Maxey will have an opportunity to showcase his improvements starting on Monday when the Sixers face the Toronto Raptors for their preseason opener. Barring any unexpected changes, the second-year guard will likely get the nod to start at point guard. If and when Maxey's running the point for Philly's starting five, the young guard will have the opportunity to turn his not-bad training camp into a great one by continuing to prove he belongs on the floor with the key contributors.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.