Two out of the three of the Philadelphia 76ers rookies have made news this past week. One in a positive way and one in a negative way. Out of the two, the rookie who has concerns around him is the bigger story.
21st pick, 2020 draft
Tyrese Maxey is the rookie who has struggled this past week. To put it simply, it appears that he has hit “the rookie wall”, meaning that most NBA rookies have struggled at some point in the season. It usually happens when teams have figured out what they do well and the first year players haven’t figured out a counter move to teams adjusting to them.
It’s sad that Maxey has hit this rough stretch, especially with Shake Milton missing this past week and Maxey had an opportunity to shine, as I wrote on in the past. He shot 10-26 from the floor in three games and scored a total of 22 points. He also only had three assists, all coming against the Chicago Bulls. It will be interesting to see when Maxey will get past these struggles.
Season averages: 8.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.1 blocks, 0.7 turnovers, and 1.2 fouls. Shooting 44.7 percent on field goals, 27.8 percent on 3-pointers, and 88.0 on free throws.
49th pick, 2020 draft
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Isaiah Joe was actually rewarded with minutes this past week and appeared in all three games. However, he struggled to shoot the ball for the week. He went a combined 1-7 from the 3-point line and 1-9 from the field. It’s hard to see when Joe will get his next shot considering he failed to capitalize on this past opportunity.
Season averages: 4.7 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.2 blocks, 0.3 turnovers, and 1.2 fouls. Shooting 37.0 percent on field goals, 36.8 percent on 3-pointers, and 100.0 on free throws.
58th pick, 2020 draft
As I wrote in the previous rookie report, as well as what Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense wrote recently as well, Paul Reed has been going off the G-League and won G-League player of the week.
In the four games since the last rookie report, he had four double-doubles, while also averaging 25.0 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game. The only issue is that he averaged 5.5 fouls this past week.
G-League season averages: 23.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.3 steals, 1.7 blocks, 2.5 turnovers, and 5.0 fouls. Shooting 61.6 percent on field goals, 40.9 percent on 3-pointers, and 72.7 on free throws.
It was a good week for Reed, it wasn’t for Joe and especially Maxey. It looks like they both perimeter players have hit the rookie wall. For the Philadelphia 76ers need more from the rookies on the active roster moving forward.