Tyrese Maxey is masking obvious developmental issues with Philadelphia 76ers

The rise of Tyrese Maxey has been a key to the Philadelphia 76ers season, particularly with all the uncertainty around Ben Simmons and then question marks on the form of James Harden.

Maxey has been a glowing constant for the 76ers, but his presence is masking a devastating issue. Aside from he and Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s development inadequacies may be costing them an NBA championship.

Excluding Embiid, the 76ers’ early draft selections in recent years make for bad reading – Evan Turner (pick two, 2010), Jahlil Okafor (pick three, 2015), Ben Simmons (pick one, 2016), and Markelle Fultz (pick one, 2017). It’s easy to point at these players as signs of team development issues, but that’s already been discussed ad nauseam, so let’s dive deeper into more recent times.

Tyrese Maxey is masking obvious developmental issues with Philadelphia 76ers

I want to focus on three players specifically, all between the ages of 24 and 25, with three to five years of experience  – Furkan Korkmaz, Shake Milton, and Matisse Thybulle. None were lottery picks, with Thybulle taken at pick 20 in 2019, Korkmaz at pick 26 in 2016, and Milton at pick 54 in 2018.

You’re not necessarily tearing roofs down at ‘missing’ on these selections, but the issue is that for a long time, these looked like great value, astute selections by the 76ers. But in a period where players should be getting exponentially better across their first few years, why have these three plateaued and decreased in terms of production?

In his third season, Korkmaz had career highs of 9.8 points per game on 43% shooting from the floor and 40.2% from three-point range. Fast-forward to his fifth season, and that production reduced to 7.6 points per game on 38.7% from the floor and 28.9% from three.

Last season (his third), Milton averaged 13.0 points on 45% from the field and 35% from three. Yet, those numbers dwindled to 8.2 points a game this regular season on 42.9% and 32.3%.

Thybulle’s always been an elite defender, but the question has always remained on whether his offense can become sustainable enough for the defense to be worth it. He saw a significant minutes increase over the regular season, however the three-point shooting finished at just 31.3% after a career-high of 35.7% during his rookie season.

No one expected these players to become stars, but their lack of development leaves a hole that has the 76ers on the brink of playoff elimination again. Philadelphia is last in bench scoring this postseason at 18.9 points per game, well less than half of the number one ranked Golden State Warriors at 43.2 per game.

Philadelphia’s opponent, the Miami Heat, ranks fourth in bench scoring after ranking number one last postseason. This is a distinct battle between two differently built rosters – the top-heavy, star-reliant Philadelphia 76ers and the deep, defensive-minded Miami Heat.

Philadelphia’s reliance on their starters is fine should they be fit and out there and playing at an optimal level. They stood no chance in Games 1 and 2 of this series without Embiid, and they stood no chance in Game 5 when he, Harden, Maxey, and Tobias Harris combined for 19-for-49 from the field.

Milton is the only Philadelphia bench piece with a positive net rating in these playoffs (minimum 20 minutes played). Meanwhile, Thybulle and Korkmaz join DeAndre Jordan in the bottom three for net rating on the team.

Regardless of their final playoff result, Philadelphia needs to address both their team depth, and the development issues hindering the likes of Milton, Thybulle and Korkmaz from fulfilling their potential.

This entire piece may sound harsh, and who knows, maybe the trio will carve out long, successful careers. But this is a 76er team with Embiid in his MVP-caliber prime and an aging Harden whose time at the top seems limited.

Their time should be now, yet lack of individual development (outside of Tyrese Maxey) remains an underrated aspect of what seems destined as another playoff failure.