Tyrese Maxey praises LeBron James’ impact on the 76ers: “LeBron’s here and he has made everybody willing passers.”
I’m more impressed with his defense. Surprise surprise, the guy, even at his age, that consistently ups his defense every postseason is now clamping since he only taking around 12 shots a game. Sixers look very scary. They are playing ‘bad’ offensively too, which is wild
No one HAS to score that much so they’re all stepping their game up on defense.
The flair 🔥
The Sixers need to win a title for all the Process Sickos that have stuck it out for over a decade at this point.
they should leave one ring for Hinkie if they win it as a FU to the NBA
Tony Wroten 2k legend
Tony Wroten got one of the best high school mixtapes ever
His defensive numbers are godly right now, aren’t they?
What’s funny is he hasn’t been particularly physical or even fast. Just pretty fundamental. Moving to stay in front of the offensive player, taking mostly smart risks, and late game he tells everyone where they should be on both sides of the court. Even if he’s standing in the corner he’s organizing everyone else
Lebron is an on floor coach and its a cheat code
Small ball Tim Duncan
Being a great defender is mostly effort and technique. You don’t need godly athleticism to play good defense. It helps, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll take an average NBA player that can give it his all on defense than an amazing athlete who saves most of his energy for the offensive side of the court. (Defensively of course)
Game sense is pretty important. Some guys just always seem to be in the right spots or lanes like they are a step ahead.
Yep. Even when Tim Duncan was old and could only score if he was right near the basket, he was still able to defend well in the Finals
Agreed and I’ve seen him looking around/scanning during defensive possessions. It’s just fun to watch him reading the offense.
hes like third
The entire team defense has blown my mind. We even got Anferer Simons looking competent on that end
This isn’t exactly what’s happening because of Embiid but I always imagined end of career LeBron turning into a small ball center Draymond type
Not quite the defender but a better scorer and passer
41 year old lebron really regressed to prime draymond green impact lol
Sixers LeBron is in fact the LeBron James of Draymond Greens
Edit - While I appreciate the award and the up votes, I did not come up with this lol. You can credit Sixers Reddit.
sixers reddit passed you the ball bro. we’re all willing passers.
If he can get his 3 ball back, he’s gonna be the LeBron James of Aaron Gordons
Better scorer and passer is an understatement.
True
But also prime green was in a whole different defender tier to this version of lebron
His brain is a real machine, I watched a reel dissecting what he does defensively, knowing the plays running, directing his teammates, incredible
Btw, if anyone knows a good show that does the same thing, pointing at the things you don’t catch to have a better understanding of the player/team?
Literally watch LeBron’s Mind the Game podcast!
agree, especially the first season with JJ
Maxey is loving having a serious team leader in LeBron.
LeBron’s got this team passing like the 2000s Spurs right now. Everyone’s bought in. It’s been a joy to watch.
Probably the best sign is the guy that gets the least to eat, VJ, seems to be having the most fun. When you have a guy like that excited to soak it all in, instead of worried about his stats…you’re in good shape
Loving VJ, just seems like he’s happy to be there, but he’s also playing super hard.
Honestly an incredible situation for him. He’s got the starting minutes, but still has to face incredible accountability. Gets to learn from the smartest basketball minds.
Everything is set up for him, as long as he puts in the work, we should be seeing an allstar career ahead of him.
His mentor history is crazy for a 2nd year player: Kyle Lowry, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George, and now LeBron James and Jaylen Brown
VJ comes from extremely humbling beginnings, no ego, and I think he understands these years where he “sacrifices” is only going to teach him things that will make him much much better in just a few years (around 2nd contract time no less)
VJ is a human golden retriever. Bro is just stoked to be in the car with his family.
He is getting a good amount of shots every game and he’s not being very efficient. He should be humble. He’s got so much good to his game that he can wait on the efficient offense to come to him as he gets experience and skill in the league.
VJ is going to be one of the best players in the league in 2-3 years. He has all of the natural talent he needs. This is great development time for him.
He’s in good shape… Until he wants that big fat max extension. Then it’ll be “well VJ we appreciate what you’ve done, but your stats don’t support this type of contract“
It’s VJ’s second year right now. Sixers paid Maxey after his 4th year even though he was extension eligible after his 3rd, so they can use that as precedent to tell VJ to wait until Year 4. Lebron’s contract is for two years, so he’s probably retired at that season, and Embiid will be two years older. He’ll at worst be the 3rd option that year, and he can accumulate all the stats he wants that year in a contract year.
But everyone told me they would all want the ball and Brown would be a problem!
2000s Spurs lmao.
Manu could still swing it
Team passing like 2000s Spurs is basically passing to Embiid him posting up or Maxey Iso.
I should have said 2010’s Spurs but most people picked up what I was putting down
He’s not their best player right now but it’s hard to not follow the lead of one of the greatest to ever do it when he sacrifices touches and shots
Sixers haven’t even put it all together yet.
Not even close. All of this to this point has essentially been Basketball IQ and effort, but they haven’t figured much out in terms of how to flow together.
The East needs to pray they don’t.
The only way I can think of them not doing so is if the health falls off quick because otherwise…Bron and JB will definitely work out how to make the offense flow, and Maxey and Embiid will absorb all of that.
Also, random note, it’s really understaed how beneficial it’s been for Maxey specifically to learn under so many solid veterans. Being able to learn from Harden, PG, JB and LeBron, add some of their stuff to their bag, their knowledge and then his own unique strengths is pushing him way further than I ever thought he’d be.
And the West too
No matter how many times this kind of message comes out of the 6ers locker room - I will never get tired of it. For me, this is when basketball reaches it’s highest potential. Rare to see
Makes me think of LeBron’s “Swing swing mudafka” even though it was for different context.
James might be a good coach-GM like Pop later. But that would only piss haters wanting him gone off more.
That would be awesome but no way he wants to dedicate that much time after giving more to the game than any player in history. Savannah might kill him lol
I think he’s enjoying player-coaching though. LeBron could be a functional version of Haslem or Lowry off the bench forever if he likes the group he’s with. But I think he rides out his two years here and retires before the washed allegations can get too serious
He seems to really love the game so I could see him doing camps and stuff but yeah I think he values the family time too much. Also there’s always been the idea that he wants to get more into the entertainment industry
Lol probably right
I always thought players make way too much money now to ever go into coaching but we just heard about Paul Pierce being broke after earning 200M so who knows
Most of them don’t go into coaching for the money, they love the game and feel they have something to offer.
I doubt that Lebron coaches, I think he leap frogs that and goes right into ownership
He could do that but I bet he would enjoy being closer to the action.
I think it’s clear that Lebron wants to be done with all of the time away from his family. We probably see him in Drew League and things like that but that’s about it.
I feel like I could see him in a Tom Brady or Matt Ryan role where he has high authority within the organization without being the explicit coach/general manager of the team.
Yeah, he’s already a billionaire. I see an MJ future, give or take how bad he was as GM. Moreso just the trajectory after retirement: businessman, dabble in ownership, mostly just sit back and make money while golfing (or whatever LeBron does for fun).
his chance at ownership is gone
I think GM LeBron would be very hit or miss.
Coach I simply have no idea. One worry would be his ability to manage egos and get everyone on the same page. Sometimes his teams’ cohesion has been a little off
I know it doesn’t make sense to make comparisons to different sports, but even with all his IQ, Bron is just such a singular athletic specimen that it would end up like Thierry Henry’s experience.
These one-of-one legendary players VERY rarely do well when going into coaching because of performance expectations.
Bron is just such a singular athletic specimen that it would end up like Thierry Henry’s experience.
Not like Zidane’s experience? Great players can be great coaches too
I usually agree with you - the best players often have a poor understanding of how to help others play better. Lebron I think is unique compared to a lot of the all-time greats though. No guarantees he’ll be a good coach but his game and mentality has evolved so much over the years.
First stop in Cleveland, 100% he was just a specimen, no IQ needed just give the man the ball.
In Miami, he realized he needed to pass a lot for the team to be better but I think he was still figuring out the calibration and would famously sometimes make bad passes instead of keeping the ball.
By the 2nd stint in Cleveland I think he really had a good handle on how to combine his athleticism and IQ with his teammates.
In LA his body started to slow down and he really got in the business of picking spots for himself and his teammates.
By the 2024 Olympics playing with Steph/Durant and co. I think he had really achieved full zen mode with his leadership, passing, and pacing.
I think he is really, really obsessed with basketball and while sometimes he thinks he’s smarter than he is, he is continuing to improve his mental game every year. It’s really been amazing to watch because when he came into the league it was because of his speed power and brawn. But the work ethic and willingness to evolve and mesh with others is why he’s still playing over the age of 40.
I think given his work ethic - if he truly wants to coach, he’s capable of becoming good at that too.
Its important to point out that Henry isnt really considered an awful manager, but more that he jumped up the chain way too quickly and once you do that, its almost impossible to go back and work your way up properly
That would be my worry if Lebron went from player to coach. He would jump up the coaching ladder because name prestige
I only disagree in regard to bron bc he already coaches the team through plays on the court. He also has had way more of a hand in roster building than most superstars. I think he has an understanding of what different people are capable of bringing to the game. I don’t think he expects anybody to be him
It has a lot to do with what makes them an amazing player. Point guards are already reading the plays; they tend to make good coaches. Shaq is probably never going to be an amazing head coach. The question is how much of Lebron’s output is reads and how much is physical gifts.
I like what Shump said about the difference between Melo and Lebron. Basically it’s this: Melo will tell you what he wants you to do once or twice. If you can’t do it, eventually he’s just gonna give up and try to do it by himself.
On the other hand, Lebron will tell you what he wants you to do. If you can’t get it, he’ll try to explain it to you another way until you get it.
Now, if you really don’t get it, expect your ass to get shipped out lmao
Nah he’s going full time golf
Last year Philly was 29th in assists and 17th in DRTG. They’ve made a huge jump with their additions while the teams that got Giannis and Kawhi have not seen similar improvement.
Tbf Kawhi isn’t playing…
that’s the Kawhi experience.
LeInfluence
We’re 8-1. Good day yall
Maxey isn’t passing out of generosity, bro. He’s terrified of LeBron’s post-game film session and social media roast.
Luka sees this and thinks “glad that guy left”
LeCulture
Need to know what glasses these are
Saint Laurent
Please make the pain of watching the 26-27 eagles worth it .
You guys have 2 superbowls in a decade lmao, dont be so dramatic
This is true, we can’t whine too much. That being said, from a pure entertainment point of view, this Eagles team really is torturous to watch. Just terrible football from top to bottom.
Yeah it’s actually not fair that during a down Eagles season we conveniently have this sixers team to turn to.
Sucks to say but the Eagles were due for a down year.
Rather have a down year every now and then instead of being mid for 30 years straight.
On youtube, thinking basketball is the most popular but there’s a few others pumping out amazing videos regularly:
Hoop Venue
J.D.
Daniel Li
Half Court Hoops (mostly college but must watch when he does NBA stuff)
Damn so they’re all selfish players before Lebron arrived? That’s why he the goat
He looking like BLou more and more
Isn’t this more an indictment of the team beforehand?
I suppose but sometimes you don’t know the right way to do things unless you see it every day. You ever lived with a roommate or significant other and picked up good habits just by seeing them do it every day?
Maxey still a terrible passer. Hasn’t got the offense clicking once yet
People just looking at box scores. He’s had 1 great game but rest been up and down since last year.
Maxey is much more of a SG than PG. He’s average at passing and doesn’t really project to grow that significantly. He doesn’t have the elite court vision needed like LeBron does.
That’s fine though you’ll take a Steph like role from him where he’s a three level score first PG and averages like 5-6 assists.
yes im aware of this
but as a 6-2 guard u gotta be able to make others better, hes getting alil better at all, but the talent around him helping
his tunnel vision maybe getting improved alil, still not sold on it though
Swing swing motherfucker
LeSwing swing motherfucker