Philadelphia 76ers have to alter the offense to maximize talent

Despite the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers have played 23 games so far this season, they are still trying to figure out the best way to maximize their key players on offense. Granted injuries have severely hampered the team’s ability to find a consistent identity on offense.

Key players like Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Seth Curry have all missed time due to injuries or COVID protocols. This in turn allowed second-year point guard Tyrese Maxey to flourish. He looked like an All-Star, but since the team has returned to health, Maxey’s role has diminished on an alarming scale and the other players just don’t look like they are meshing well on offense.

It’s clear with the emergence of the Maxey, the team can’t completely run the offense through Embiid. However, it can’t run like it did when Embiid wasn’t available either. Sixers’ head coach Doc Rivers has to make an adjustment.

The Philadelphia 76ers need to alter their offense moving forward.

Their mere suggestion that Rivers needs to alter the offense made my co-host Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense Podcast make a joke at mine and more importantly, Rivers’ expense on our most recent episode. Rivers isn’t known for making many adjustments, just rewind to the 76ers playoff run last season for proof.

Still, Rivers has to find a balance to make sure that Embiid, Harris, and Maxey are maximized on offense. The first adjustment he should make is to stagger Embiid from the other two. Embiid is an offensive force of his own and doesn’t need to be paired with the other duo throughout the game. He can carry the offense on his own. Surrounding him with shooters plus Shake Milton who can create a little bit off the dribble should be enough to make the offense effective.

Surrounding a Harris and Maxey with Andre Drummond plus two shooters should also be a good offense. Maxey could run the pick-and-roll with either Drummond or Harris at a high rate. Harris is an underrated roller in that offensive scheme but since arriving in Philly has rarely been used in that role. That has to change moving forward.

When the trio does share the court, the offense needs a mix of dribble handoffs between Maxey and Embiid in the mid-range. Maxey isn’t a great outside shooter but if he and Embiid run the dribble handoff at the elbow, Maxey is a good enough mid-range shooter to make that an effective play for the team. Harris can take Maxey’s place in this offense as well.

The other half of the offense should be pick-and-rolls between Maxey and Harris. Embiid isn’t a good pick-and-roll big man. It’s probably the weakest part of his offensive game. On the flip side, it’s probably the strongest part of Maxey’s game. Maxey should be able to use it often and having Harris as the roll man works, especially because Embiid can space the floor.

Don’t be mistaken, Embiid should still be the focal point of the offense, but having diversity within it allowing Maxey and Harris to get to their spots more often is important too. The Philadelphia 76ers can very easily fix their offense. It’s just up to Rivers to make the proper adjustments.