⭐️ Tyrese Maxey is the constant -- Tom's Title Tiers #8
Tyrese Maxey's omnipresence is keeping the 76ers in the title hunt
For just the second time this season, the Philadelphia 76ers featured their three stars — Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey — in the lineup. Finally. Can they turn around a disconcerting trend of absent stars?
Welcome to another edition of Tom’s Title Tiers! A reminder: This is my subjective list based largely on objective data. This is not a pure, analytical ranking. You’re here because you want to know what I think, to get inside my brain a little bit. Consider this a weekly report of what I see on film; what I glean from the numbers; what I hear on the phone; what I read in the news; what I feel.
This week’s featured squad: Philadelphia 76ers.
A reminder that teams are listed within each tier in alphabetical order, not in order of strength. Here’s a quick rundown of each tier:
Tom’s Title Tiers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a complete team, no notes.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just missing that one thing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ One move away from being one move away.
⭐️⭐️ So much has to break right.
⭐️ Sooo you’re saying there’s a chance.
Are we sleeping on the full squad 76ers? Should we still consider the Milwaukee Bucks a title contender?
Let’s get to it.
Note: Stats shown through Sunday night 8 pm ET.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is a complete team, no notes.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Record: 23-1 | 119.0 aORtg (5th), 107.4 aDRtg (1st), +11.6 aNet (1st)
Check out last month’s post about OKC’s clutch supremacy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Just missing that one thing.
Denver Nuggets
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Record: 17-6 | 122.5 (1st), 116.2 (20th), +6.3 (3rd)
Are we seeing the end of Nikola Jokić’s infamous teammate streak? I say yes.
Houston Rockets
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Record: 15-6 | 119.9 (4th), 111.1 (3rd), +8.8 (2nd)
Check out last month’s piece on Houston’s BullyBall!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
One move away from being one move away.
Detroit Pistons
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 19-5 | 115.8 (10th), 113.0 (6th), +2.9 (9th)
Check out last week’s profile on Detroit’s new throwback lineups!
Los Angeles Lakers
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 17-6 | 118.1 (6th), 116.0 (19th), +2.1 (12th)
Minnesota Timberwolves
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 15-8 | 116.4 (9th), 113.5 (8th), +2.9 (8th)
New York Knicks
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 16-7 | 120.1 (2nd), 114.2 (14th), +5.9 (4th)
⭐️⭐️
So much has to break right.
Boston Celtics 📈
Last week’s rating: ⭐
Record: 15-9 | 120.0 (3rd), 115.1 (17th), +4.9 (5th)
Cleveland Cavaliers 📉
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 14-11 | 116.8 (8th), 113.5 (9th), +3.3 (7th)
Golden State Warriors
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐
Record: 13-12 | 113.8 (20th), 111.0 (2nd), +2.8 (10th)
Orlando Magic 📉
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Record: 14-10 | 115.5 (11th), 111.1 (4th), +4.3 (6th)
Let’s see Franz Wagner’s injury update.
San Antonio Spurs
Last week’s rating: ⭐⭐
Record: 15-7 | 117.6 (7th), 114.8 (16th), +2.8 (11th)
Check out last month’s piece on Stephon Castle’s star turn!
⭐️
Sooo you’re saying there’s a chance.
Atlanta Hawks
Last week’s rating: ⭐
Record: 14-11 | 114.7 (13th), 113.7 (11th), +1.0 (14th)
Philadelphia 76ers 📈
Last week’s rating: N/R
Record: 13-10 | 114.2 (19th), 114.1 (13th), +0.1 (16th)
Tyrese Maxey hosted LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. You probably didn’t think much of it.
But it’s very much a big deal.
Maxey has not missed a game this season, a mammoth achievement when you consider the team he plays for. Maxey finally got to play with Joel Embiid and Paul George at the same time, in the same game, something that has only happened twice this season.
Here’s why Maxey is so unique. It’s not yet Christmas and there are only five stars who have played in every game this season. Maxey is one of them. Nikola Jokić is another. Julius Randle, DeMar DeRozan and Scottie Barnes are the three others. And that’s it.
Your mileage may vary on the “star” designation but in the interest of consistency, I’m using the NBA’s definition of a star: a player who has been named to an All-Star or All-NBA in the previous three seasons.
There are 45 such players this season and 40 of them have already missed games.
We entered Sunday’s games with seven stars who had not yet missed a contest, but the presumptive MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sat out with an elbow injury and Utah’s Lauri Markkanen was a late scratch with an illness.
We started with 45. We’re down to five.
To put that in persective, at this time last season, there were 17 star players who had yet to miss a game. We’re looking at less than a third of that total right now. At this rate, the list will be zero by Christmas.
If it feels like this season has been one prolonged preseason, you’re not alone. Maxey has played in every game and yet it’s hard to make sense of the Sixers because entering Sunday, we’d only seen Maxey, Embiid and George play together for 19 minutes. After LeBron James closed them out on Sunday, the Sixers are 0-2 with their star trio in uniform. In the latest game, Maxey, Embiid and George shot 18 of 53 combined.
This was Embiid’s shot chart:
That’s what shooting 2 of 17 outside the rim looks like. Oof.
It’s hard to make worthwhile music when the bandmembers almost never play together. It’s disjointed and unfamiliar. That’s what it’s like watching the Sixers. That’s what it’s like watching the NBA these days.
It’s been three weeks since I sounded the alarm over at Yahoo about the unavailability of NBA stars. The league found itself in an injury crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen in November. After a brief respite where star participation rose to 73%, it’s tumbling and tumbling again.
The NBA needs more Tyrese Maxeys, not Kawhi Leonards. Stars are only playing about two-thirds of their games, which means that there are anywhere from 10 to 20 stars in street clothes on any given night. Kawhi has played about 60 percent of his games this season. That’s juuuust below the norm for star players.
Embiid has missed 14 games. Paul George has missed 15 of his own. All the while, Maxey has been plugging away on an MVP campaign that hasn’t gotten off the ground because his teammates haven’t been there.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse can barely bring himself to take Maxey off the floor. He’s averaging an NBA-high 39.9 minutes and no one is particularly close. Maxey has logged 917 minutes this season. That’s 99 more minutes than the next star player, Evan Mobley at 818. A couple more games like this and Maxey will be the NBA’s leading scorer in total points.
I had to relegate the Milwaukee Bucks after Giannis Antetokounmpo’s latest calf injury, so some team has to be promoted onto the list. The Sixers are on here because a) Maxey has been unreal and; b) it SEEMS like Maxey, Embiid and George are starting to get some traction ahead of a softer schedule. They were +9 in 16 minutes together against LA on Sunday. As one of only two teams officially with a star trio (Cleveland is the other), I wish I could see more of the Sixers’ best playing together. I think we all do.
Where would the Sixers be without Tyrese Maxey? I hope we never find out.
Miami Heat
Last week’s rating: ⭐
Record: 14-10 | 114.5 (15th), 112.6 (5th), +1.9 (13th)
In alphabetical order:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ OKC
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ DEN, HOU
⭐️⭐️⭐️ DET, LAL, MIN, NYK
⭐️⭐️ BOS 📈, CLE 📉, GSW, ORL 📉, SAS
⭐️ ATL, MIA, PHI 📈
Sorry: BRK, CHA, CHI, DAL, IND, MEM, MIL, NOP, PHO, POR, SAC, TOR, UTA, WAS.
A word about the data: I’m using offensive and defensive efficiency data from DunksAndThrees.com, which is adjusted for strength of schedule (aORtg and aDRtg). Raw offensive efficiency may be skewed based on opponents, and Taylor Snarr’s data site does a good job of leveling that out.