With the All-Star break officially underway for the Sixers, now is as good of a time as ever to zoom out and reflect on what each player has shown and proven in what has been a disastrous season for the team so far. During All-Star weekend, we will be handing out player grades for each Sixer to start the season with the organization and remain in Philadelphia beyond the trade deadline.
Up last: the Sixers' trio of stars, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, the three players who have been tasked with leading his team to the greatest of heights and so far have been unable to demonstrate that capability:
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Joel Embiid: D+
I anticipate many questioning the idea that Embiid is not automatically deserving of an F, and I surely understand those qualms. But I have not been dinging grades significantly because of injuries, and even in a diminished state, Embiid has averaged 24.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while making all of his teammates better. He has also transformed a defense which has been brutal without him into a very good one when he is on the floor. Embiid is still an excellent player.
With five pairs of eyes glued to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr. finds an opportunity to cut to the basket. Embiid finds him for an easy basket: pic.twitter.com/BdvzIe5czV
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) January 3, 2025
And then there is the "but." Embiid has only been on the floor 17 times this season, missing 37 contests due to a suspension, foot sprain and, predominantly, management and swelling of his left knee. And despite the aforementioned examples of him maintaining a steady two-way impact on the game, his production in all aspects of the game is down from the game-wrecking levels it had reached for the earlier years of this decade.
Embiid is still an excellent player, yes, but is he impactful enough to warrant the second-highest salary in the NBA, especially when his availability is more of a question than ever? Without significant improvement, the answer is clearly no. If Embiid was still playing at an MVP-level in fewer games — or more like the All-Star-caliber player he has profiled as this season, but was available consistently — it would be easier to find a rosy view of his outlook. But his games played and per-game production are down.
The most ominous part of it all: Embiid is due for significant pay raises in each of the four seasons following this one, slated to earn in the vicinity of $250 million over the next four years. The idea debating of whether or not the team should consider trading him after this season is likely pointless, as no team in today's NBA salary cap environment would take on such a massive financial commitment with the significant health questions that exist with Embiid. The Sixers are probably tied to trying to make this work for the foreseeable future.
Tyrese Maxey: B
When you zoom out, Maxey's fifth NBA season has arguably been a clear success. First of all, he has added a completely new element to his game. Never an impact defender before, Maxey is now one of the better defensive playmakers in the NBA. Maxey is third in the NBA in steals per game because of his mastery of opportunistic gambles:
Tyrese Maxey has become incredibly good at knowing when to gamble for steals: pic.twitter.com/Zin6lEToEe
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) January 30, 2025
Maxey, who has also made real strides to be a consistently passable one-on-one defender, has a much higher ceiling as an overall player if he is consistently making any sort of defensive impact at 6-foot-2.
Meanwhile, Maxey's scoring volume is at a career-high (27.6 points per game) and he is getting to the free throw line with success. After a hellish start to the season without Embiid or George in which Maxey could not make any of the shots he typically cashes in, the blazing guard has miraculously recalibrated his overall efficiency numbers on the season with a six-week heater that came to a halt right before the break.
Perhaps the next step for Maxey is becoming a more consistently effective creator of shots for his teammates. He has shown it in flashes, and during the last two months has had the strongest blend of as excellence a scorer and aggression as a facilitator as he has ever shown in the NBA. That stretch may have started with a masterpiece on Christmas, when Maxey torched the Celtics for 33 points and 12 assists:
In his first 15 games of 2024-25, Tyrese Maxey averaged 4.6 assists per game. In seven games since, he's up to 7.1 per game, including 12 to go with 33 points for the Sixers today.
Maxey's assists vs. Celtics by recipient:
Embiid: 4
George: 2
C. Martin: 2
Yabusele: 2
Lowry: 2 pic.twitter.com/EMisODf68g— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 26, 2024
So, why only a B for Maxey? First of all, that rough stretch to begin the season was very real, and it coincided with the team losing 14 of its first 17 games of the season. Additionally, this season has arguably driven home the fear of many: Maxey, who has done so much to lift the ceiling of Embiid-centric teams, cannot be the lone star of a winning team.
That statement is not as much of a condemnation of Maxey is at sounds; that is an incredibly difficult level to reach in today's NBA and Maxey began the season as a 23-year-old playing for a team with over $100 million tied to Embiid and George for just this season. But what the Sixers have looked like without Embiid and George should serve as a warning sign to the many calling for the team to discard those players in order to hand the keys to Maxey on his own.
Paul George: D+
Again, why a D+ and not an F? George has ostensibly been a good player whose production in every aspect of his game other than scoring has surpassed expectations. His defense has been particularly very strong, on the ball and especially off the ball, helping the Sixers stay afloat on that end of the floor (when George and Embiid have shared the floor, the Sixers have been awesome on defense). George's passing and shot creation for others have also been helpful for much of the season.
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However, it is hard to find the words to explain just how disappointing George's scoring has been. Since his major breakout season as a fourth-year player in 2013-14, George has been one of the most consistent scorers in the game. The nine-time All-Star has averaged at least 21.5 points per game in every full season for 11 years. This year, he is averaging 16.1 points per game.
But it is deeper than that. George's volume is down tremendously, but his efficiency has cratered as well. His true shooting percentage is six percent below league average according to basketball-reference, his lowest mark relative to his peers since 2012-13. His average shot distance has increased in each of the last five years and this season is the highest it has ever been in his career.
Could some of this be chalked up to a pair of untimely knee injuries, a bothersome finger injury which has effectively given him nine fingers to work with over the last five games and a rotating cast of teammates? Sure. But even before George's left pinky was immobilized by a splint, he was fading into the background far too often. But what is much more concerning than that is the frequency with which George has been unable to create off-the-dribble advantages.
Father Time is undefeated, as they say, and George's efficiency downturn has largely been caused by an inability to get to the rim:
Paul George fails to create any separation off the dribble, then turns the ball over: pic.twitter.com/kJdyzJveFb
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 22, 2024
Star players are star players because they can put the ball in the basket over and over. George has always been known for having a well-rounded game, but his dynamic production in that department was what gave him a strong baseline in terms of overall impact. Now that George has looked incapable of consistently creating his own shot for months, the Sixers may find themselves seriously reconsidering how he fits into this puzzle.
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