CAMDEN, N.J. -- It's still early days for the Philadelphia 76ers as they continue to learn and grow with each other before a championship journey, but star guard Tyrese Maxey continues to be the leader for this group.
Entering his seventh season, Maxey is a 2-time All-Star and somebody who is looking to get the Sixers over the hump in the Eastern Conference. He has done a lot in his career, but the young guard is hungry for more. His work ethic and leadership has begun to make an impact on two of the team's new additions.
"He's a great teammate," Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said of Maxey. "He listens. He tries to explain a lot. I've been asking a lot of questions about, just the city, and what's going on in this gym. He's been great, explaining and being
that vet and that leader. I love that about Tyrese, he's competing every second. Whether it's practice, or a game, he's competing, so I love that about him."
Coming off a season in which he averaged 28.3 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 46.2% from the floor and 36.7% from deep, Maxey is the obvious leader of this group as he has reached out to all of the newcomers to welcome them to the team. He is still only 25 years old, but he has such wisdom about him and is somebody who can set the tone for the team in workouts. That hasn't been lost on somebody like Dean Wade.
"I mean, when he is pushing the pace, like I mean, from the jump, he always is kind of like a hard tone setter," Wade said. "When he's aggressive, we’re at our best. I think he's one of our hardest workers. Like absolutely one of our hardest workers. So having one of your best players be your hardest worker, I think, kind of sets the tone for everyone else, and everyone else kind of falls in line, and everyone else is working just as hard."
It also helps that Maxey is not just a great basketball player; he's an even better human. He is always smiling. He's always welcoming. He's always somebody who will talk to anybody and look to make a positive impact on anybody on his team around him.
"He's one of the most solid humans I've ever met," Wade finished. "He's a great person, and so just kind of learning about him and kind of making a relationship with him has been really fun. He's hilarious. He's one of the funniest guys. But yeah, when he's your hardest worker, it's a trickle-down effect. Like everybody's in the gym later, working on their game, and then when he says something, everyone's listening because he puts that work and he gets in, gets extra work. When he says something, it kind of holds extra weight."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: New Sixers additions give early thoughts on star guard Tyrese Maxey
