"You can see the rare three points that our defender has thrown, and then look at the situation on the court. At this time, it's about shooting 3 points, Maxie is fantastic", after beating Eastern Conference rivals nets, Embiid praised second-year guard Maxie. Maxi deserves that accolade because he not only scored three-pointers in quick succession at key moments, but also scored 25 points. The score was second highest for the team after Embiid's 34 points.
Embiid's words kill two birds with one stone, and in addition to praising Maxi, there is also a hint of irony against Simmons. Because Simmons has almost no three-point ability, he is often left empty on the court. Not only did he not dare to shoot three points at key moments, but at the last moment of the game, he did not even dare to shoot under the basket. Last season's Eastern Conference semifinals were seven battles, and Simmons gave up empty baskets under the basket and chose to pass the ball. At the time, Simmons' choice was bombarded by public opinion, and Embiid and 76ers head coach Rivers publicly expressed their dissatisfaction.
The chain reaction has not yet come to an end. Because of embiid and Rivers' criticism, Simmons had a rift with the team and refused to return to the team for a while. Even after returning to the team, Simmons found various excuses to refuse to play, and still watched from the sidelines. Simmons' absence was bad for the 76ers, but good for Maxi as he seized the opportunity his teammates left behind.
The 2020-21 season was Maxi's debut season, with he played 61 games and had only 8 chances. So far this season, Maxi has played 32 games, with only 1 not starting out. The stats also skyrocketed, averaging 8 points and 2 assists per game last season, and Maxy's average this season rose to 16.8 points and 4.5 assists per game. Maxi became the NBA's fastest improving player contender and was considered to be able to replace Simmons as a qualified substitute.
But in fact, this is not the case, Maxi and Simmons are not a type of player, he is not even suitable to start with Embiid. In the nine games embiid missed, Maxi averaged 23.7 points, 4.6 assists and 4 rebounds per game. When playing with Embiid, Maxi averaged only 13.1 points per game, and his shooting percentage also dropped a lot.
That's because Embiid is the absolute core of the 76ers, and Maxi needs to adjust to him. It was also because Maxi was used as Simmons, and Rivers asked him to put the pass first. It's just that Maxi is a natural scorer and his talent for organization is not obvious. As a result, Maxi did not become a Simmons and Rondo-style player as Rivers expected, and the offensive firepower declined.
For the 76ers, to maximize Maxi's role, it should be used separately from Embiid. In this way, the 76ers can always maintain an offensive point on the court, and the certainty of winning is greatly increased. Maxie can become a strengthened version of Simmons, which is what the 76ers want to see most, but this is something that Maxie can't do, at least not now. Instead of letting Maxi tie his hands and feet, let go and attack.