3 goals for Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey: Double free throw rate
Last season, Tyrese Maxey averaged 2.7 free throw attempts per 36 minutes — less than half of what Ben Simmons averaged. That’s not exactly a fair point of comparison, as Simmons is a 6-foot-10 bludgeon who gets more “star calls” than a 19-year-old rookie might. That said, Simmons is also notoriously unsure of himself at the rim. A better point of comparison is Shake Milton, who averaged 4.3 attempts per 36 minutes from the charity stripe.
Maxey should far exceed Milton’s numbers in the future (and, frankly, he should far exceed Simmons’ numbers too). Maxey’s speed and shiftiness makes him a complete handful for opposing defenders. He has no trouble slicing through defenses and changing speeds to get his man off balance. That’s without really forcing defenses to pay him attention on the 3-point line, which could change next season.
And yet, despite his elite first step, remarkable downhill speed, and natural agility, Maxey’s free throw rate was middling as a rookie. He improved dramatically as the season went on, but Maxey spent far too much of his first NBA season settling for floaters and touch shots, rather than getting all the way to the rim and embracing contact.
Free throws are the most efficient form of offense in the NBA. Maxey hit 87.1 percent of his free throws, so there’s no question of whether or not he can make them. The NBA’s best slashers live at the free throw line. That should be Maxey’s goal every time down the floor. Collapse the defense and compromise them at the rim.