Tyrese Maxey became a ‘foundational piece’ of the Sixers franchise — but he wants more

When Tyrese Maxey was a young student, he wrote down academic, spiritual, and athletic goals at the start of each school year. The 23-year-old has maintained that tradition as he approaches his fifth NBA training camp.

“My main goal is, for myself, that I can help this team rally around each other,” Maxey said Monday at Sixers media day. “I say it all the time — 1% better every day, but I really do mean that. This team is going to have to get 1% better every day. We’re going to have to step in the right direction come toward the end of the season to accomplish the goals that we want.”

Maxey is coming off the best season of his young career. A first-time All-Star, he was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player after averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 37.3% from deep.

That effort paid off when Maxey signed a five-year, $204 million deal to remain with the team that drafted him in 2020.

But with that deal comes more responsibility. Even with veterans Paul George and Reggie Jackson joining the roster, Maxey will be considered a leader this year. He stands alongside Joel Embiid as the longest-tenured Sixers with the most understanding of the franchise.

He’ll also need to play a bigger role on offense, and last season showed a glimpse of what that would look like. Maxey had to fill the void at point guard after James Harden was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and carry the scoring load as Embiid suffered a knee injury during the first round of the NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks — let’s not forget about Maxey’s 46-point performance in Game 5.

“The first year of my career, when [Embiid] didn’t play and James [Harden] didn’t play or whoever wasn’t playing, I would go out there and score a lot of points and it would be easy because [teams] didn’t have that kind of scouting report on me,” Maxey said. “Now, I feel like they have a scouting report on me. They try to base the defense around me and try to get me to do things I didn’t like to do.

“I had to figure out that part of the game, but once I kind of figured that out toward the end of year, I feel we were more successful. But it takes time, man. ... It’s not easy. I didn’t see traps in high school, I didn’t see box-and-one in high school. I definitely didn’t see it in college. My first time seeing it was in the NBA, the highest level of basketball.”

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Maxey knows his strengths and weaknesses. He made a list of areas to work on heading into the offseason. While he didn’t want to give his “secrets away” by revealing what he wrote, he said strength and conditioning were on the list after he averaged 37.5 minutes in 70 games.

Coach Nick Nurse is even more excited for Maxey. The second-year coach said Maxey has taken a step forward defensively, which was an area of emphasis for the 6-foot-2 guard.

“He’s really had an amazing summer, laser focused on his body, skills, and his work,” Nurse said. “I just don’t want to put any thoughts of any ceiling of this guy. He’s so good, his speed, his deep shooting. ... I give Tyrese a lot of credit as being now a foundational piece of this franchise.”

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On paper, the Sixers have the assets to be a championship contender with the addition of George, a nine-time All-Star, and the progression of Embiid and Maxey. But Maxey isn’t ready to make a prediction on how this team will stack up against other Eastern Conference teams, like the defending champion Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers, or Knicks.

As the team heads to the Bahamas for training camp, Maxey said the first priority is “working on ourselves.”

“We have to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, that’s going to be our main focus,” he said. “Then we can worry about those teams, when we match up with them. But right now, we have to get ourselves right. We have to know how we want to play. We have to know who’s going to play with who.

“But when you have a roster of this stature, you are trying to win.”