Getty Tyrese Maxey #0 and James Harden #1 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers have struggled to put together the right backcourt combination over the last few seasons.
Generally, the team went with Ben Simmons and the two-guard of the moment — Danny Green, Seth Curry, JJ Redick, Markelle Fultz, etc. — but to only limited success. Simmons, while an electric playmaker, never developed as a shooter. And the rest of those other guards are long gone from Philadelphia.
This season, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, could be different. In lieu of Simmons and Curry, the Sixers will trot out James Harden and Tyrese Maxey in the backcourt. There should be no shortage of playmaking and scoring between the two. Harden dished out 10.5 assists last season while Maxey drained 42.7% of his threes.
There’s no denying that James Harden, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey will dominate the league next year 💪
But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect. As Rich Hofmann of The Athletic pointed out, the two players could struggle defensively.
“So much of playoff basketball comes down to hunting a mismatch. As Boston proved, having no major weak spots on the defensive end is one way to put a team in position for a title. The Sixers are going about it differently. They have a two-way menace at center and beefed up the rest of the rotation with players who have the skill sets to hold their own defensively, but two of the team’s top three players could struggle at the highest levels on defense,” Hofmann wrote on September 19.
Hofmann also explained why Maxey and Harden might find themselves hunted in the playoffs.
Harden and Maxey’s Size Could Make Them a Liability
Teams that feature two undersized guards rarely go far in the postseason. Even when those two guards are stars, their defensive inefficiencies are often exposed in the playoffs. It’s why the Atlanta Hawks got the longer Dejounte Murray this summer to pair with Trae Young, for instance.
Harden, who stands at 6’5, is a giant compared to the 6’2 Maxey. It’s no knock against shorter players; after all, Allen Iverson (6’0) made the most of his stature during his time in Philadelphia. But according to Hofmann, one undersized player like Iverson can be masked. But two?
“More than anything, the duo’s lack of size makes that so. One weaker defender can be worked around — I can still picture JJ Redick frantically hedging and recovering against Toronto in 2019 — but two are tougher,” Hofmann explained.
“This is the philosophical trade the Sixers made in swapping Simmons out for Harden. After witnessing Simmons’ repeated postseason struggles, it’s a reasonable decision to trade the proven weakness for this potential one. Embiid’s unfortunate injury made it difficult to answer this question last season. Hopefully, that isn’t the case this time around, whatever the result may be.”
With Maxey and Harden struggling defensively, could the Sixers look to swap out another starter for a player who thrives on that end of the court? The idea has been floated, at least.
Could the 76ers Swap Tobias Harris Out of the Lineup?
Even with Maxey and Harden, the Sixers boast no shortage of defensive talent. Joel Embiid is a monster in the post, while Matisse Thybulle was named to an All-Defensive team last season. But Thybulle’s shooting woes make him borderline unplayable for stretches.
The Sixers also added PJ Tucker, who should slot in as the starting five’s lead defender. With Tucker, Embiid, Maxey, and Harden locked in, that leaves Tobias Harris. Harris is a capable defender, but the perfect world might involve Harris on the bench, swapped in favor of summer addition De’Anthony Melton.
“Without Harris, the roster does theoretically make more sense: imagine the big bruising frontcourt of Embiid and Tucker, complemented by the jarring contrast of Maxey and Melton’s athleticism, with all of it orchestrated by Harden’s shimmering basketball brain. That’s the ideal that the most optimistic of Sixers forecasters have in mind,” wrote RealGM’s John Wilmes on September 15.
If Harris is indeed the odd one out, it might expedite the forward’s departure from Philadelphia. The $180 million Harris was rumored to be on the trade block all summer, and that isn’t expected to change any time soon.