'It's his team': Tyrese Maxey is making impact as the Sixers' lone star so far this season

DETROIT — Some days it’s with boundless energy and a great smile, others it’s by taking teammates to task following a bad loss.

On a snowy Saturday morning in Detroit, though, Tyrese Maxey was singing old-school Motown tunes to gin up energy for the Philadelphia 76ers' shootaround. The music was blasting and Maxey, who wasn’t born until 2000, some 30 years after Motown’s heyday, was going as if the hits were released yesterday.

“My grandmothers, man,” he said.

There’s a maturity about Maxey that belies the energy, that accepts the responsibility of the 76ers' plight even though no one in their right mind would dare say he’s not holding up his end of the bargain.

That night, Paul George made his return following a three-game absence; his debut in Philadelphia has been riddled with injuries to sap the excitement the franchise began the season with. Joel Embiid missed Saturday’s game, like he has so many others, with the knee ailments that have dogged his career and will likely continue to do so as he goes deeper into his 30s.

That leaves Maxey as the lone star trying to keep the 76ers afloat, as only the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz have worse records to date.

Maxey was supposed to be part of a top-heavy, well-constructed unit, a sonic-like change of direction from the deliberate George and plodding Embiid. Now, he’s sliding to the top of the scouting report every night.

“I wouldn’t say I was gonna be sliding into anything,” Maxey told Yahoo Sports. “I had a special season last year, so I knew after Joel, I was right there at the top." But Maxey acknowledges having to play different ways when Embiid and George are not in the lineup, while also adjusting to new guys on the roster. "So we have to figure out how we want to play, who goes well with who. That takes time.”

But it’s getting late very early for the 76ers. In their next eight games, four are against powerful teams: The surprising Orlando Magic (twice), the conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and the champion Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.

“I mean, there’s not much further (down) we can go than we are right now,” Maxey said. “Honestly, the only way we can go is up. It’s gonna be on us. I think we’ve gotten better, man. The last three games, we really competed.”

That’s the bar now, just competing, at least until the 76ers figure out how to patch things together with the Embiid situation still seemingly in flux. The point differential of minus-7 per night lines up with the 4-14 record, and when the frustration reached an inflection point two weeks ago, when the 76ers blew a 19-point lead and lost by 17 to Miami, it was Maxey who spoke up in an impromptu team meeting.

According to sources, the 24-year-old guard challenged Embiid to be on time, to take this season as seriously as the expectations call for. Maybe it should’ve been head coach Nick Nurse or team president Daryl Morey, but Maxey felt compelled.

“I feel like the reason why when I say things, it kinda travels only because I work extremely hard,” Maxey said. “I work extremely hard, man. Everything I say comes from a good place. All I want to do is win. I don't care about anything else, honestly. All the individual accolades, all the other stuff, that don't mean anything to me if we’re not winning.”

Maxey was leading the league in minutes per game before injuring his hamstring against the Clippers on Nov. 6 in Los Angeles. Naturally, his efficiency was affected due to the added load, so when he returned, the 76ers put him on a minutes restriction and, “that didn’t sit well with me,” Maxey said.

“As much as I can play, I’ll play,” Maxey said. “I’m trying to do different things, not on game days — I have to scale back a little bit just because I wanna play on the floor when it matters. I’m always gonna give 110 percent effort.”

His first game back on Nov. 20 was rocky, but in the four since, production hasn’t been a problem. After talking the talk, he’s been doing the walking (27.5 points on 47-50-92 splits with 6.3 assists and 3.3 steals).

“It’s his team,” 76ers center Andre Drummond told Yahoo Sports before amending his statement. “His and Joel’s team. They’ve been here the longest, lifted this team up in the years they’ve been here. It’s good to see our point guard be vocal. Tyrese isn’t one to say much, he does it in his play. So it’s cool to hear him say certain things to certain guys and make demands. He makes demands of me too. He wants to see the next guy be great.”

Even if those demands are made of Embiid, the franchise cornerstone. Drummond said Maxey doesn’t hesitate to stop practice and correct teammates if something isn’t done right.

“The maturity has been huge. He’s a lot more vocal. He speaks his mind,” Drummond said. “Just watching his growth as a leader has been amazing.”

It’s important to remember Maxey, who signed his rookie-scale extension this summer, waited a whole year so the 76ers could preserve salary cap space to sign George away from the Clippers. He would’ve been well within his right to lock down his own future and not take the chance of injury or anything else occurring in the meantime.

Even if it’s a bit cringey to have a player make that sacrifice in real time, it certainly gives his words a lot more weight in the locker room. So while he’s making sure he keeps everyone else’s spirits high, Maxey has to keep his cup full, too.

“Honestly, I'm blessed now. I'm so happy to be playing basketball,” Maxey said. “The couple of weeks that I didn't get to play, I was down. I was upset. Because that hurts, man, you don't get to be out there with your teammates and try to go out there and go to war with them, help them win games.

“So you never hear me complain. Man, I'm always trying to bring positive energy, and have fun while doing it.”