Tyrese Maxey has become a “founding part” of the Sixers franchise. He is ready to do more.

When Tyrese Maxey was a child, he wrote down academic, spiritual, and athletic goals at the start of each school year. The 23-year-old has kept that tradition going as he approaches his fifth NBA training camp.

“My main goal is, for me, to be able to help this team come together,” Maxey said Monday at Sixers media day. “I say it all the time: 1% better every day, but I really mean it. This team is going to have to improve by 1% every day. We’re going to have to move in the right direction towards the end of the season to achieve the goals we want.

Maxey is coming off the best season of his young career. He was named Most Improved Player and All-Star for the first time after averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 37.3% from deep.

That effort paid off when Maxey signed a five-year extension worth $204 million to stay with the city that drafted him in 2020.

But with this extension comes more responsibilities. Even with veteran newcomers Paul George and Reggie Jackson joining the roster, Maxey will be seen as a leader this year. He stands alongside Joel Embiid as the longest-tenured Sixers and the one who best understands the franchise.

He will also need to play a bigger role on offense, and last season showed a glimpse of what that would look like. Maxey had to fill the void at point guard after James Harden was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and carry the scoring load as Embiid injured his knee in the NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks – let’s not forget Maxey’s 46 point performance in the game. 5.

“The first year of my career, when (Embiid) wasn’t playing and James (Harden) wasn’t playing or whoever wasn’t playing, I would go out there and score a lot of points and it would be easy because (teams) didn’t have that kind of scouting report on me,” Maxey said. “Now I feel like they have a scouting report on me. They’re trying to base their defense around me and me. make people do things I don’t like to do.

“I had to figure that part of the game out, but once I figured that out towards the end of the year, I feel like we had more success.” But it takes time, man. …It’s not easy. I didn’t see any traps in high school, I didn’t see a box and 1 in high school. I certainly didn’t see it in college. The first time I saw him was in the NBA, the highest level of basketball.

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Maxey knows his strengths and weaknesses. He came up with a list of three to four balls to work on before the offseason. While he didn’t want to give away his “secrets” by revealing what he wrote, he said strength and conditioning made the list after playing an average of 37.5 minutes in 70 games played.

The nurse is even more excited for Maxey. The second-year coach said Maxey took a step forward defensively, which was an area of ​​emphasis for the 6-foot-2 guard.

“He really had an incredible summer, laser focused on his body, his skills and his work,” Nurse said. “I just don’t want to think about this guy’s ceiling. He’s so good, his speed, his deep shot. … I give a lot of credit to Tyrese as now being a fundamental part of this franchise.

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On paper, the Sixers have what it takes to be championship contenders with the addition of George, a nine-time All-Star, and the progression of Embiid and Maxey. But Maxey isn’t ready to predict how this team will compare to other Eastern Conference teams, like the defending champion Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers or Knicks.

As the team heads to the Bahamas for training camp, Maxey said the first priority is to “work on ourselves.”

“We have to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, that will be our main goal,” Maxey said. “Then we can worry about these teams, when we play them. But for now, we have to get on with it. We have to know how we want to play. You have to know who is going to play with whom.

“But when you have a squad of this caliber, you try to win.”