In-Depth with Tyrese Maxey, Plus Bball Paul Checks In

I'm Sorry's Mexi and you're listening to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast.

This podcast is part of the seventy six Ers podcast network, presented by Stern and Cohen Law.

Search seventy six Ers Insiders Wherever you get your podcasts. Have you suffered a work injury? You need a lawyer called Stern and Cohen Workers Compensation Lawyers Sterncohenlaw dot com. The consultation is always free. We will ring the insurance company's bell. Go Sixers Welcome in through Sixers in sixty. Matt Murphy, Lauren Rosen the seventy six Ers Insiders from the Center in South Philadelphia as the Sixers have a game on this Tuesday evening, Lauren, So it's different for us.

First of its kind, thanks of course to Marty Dickerson who makes this all possible. Thanks to you, Matt Murphy, and what a thrill you mentioned it. Nick Nurse said before the game. It's colorful and it is certainly colorful here inside the Center tonight, looking forward to talking about the week that it's been for this team over the next slightly less than an hour, hearing from you and some of your favorite Sixers as well.

Yeah, if for those who haven't been with us so far through the first few weeks, I'm sure you're aware of the sixers hot start to the season at eight and one, entering Tuesday Night's action as the only team in the NBA with just one loss, hence the best

Shall we call it Class of twenty twenty Draft Night and draft episodes?

Weird drafts too, because they weren't in person.

Weird draft which made it possible for the seventy six ers to draft Tyrese Maxey and with the twenty first overall pick, Matt you said it. I spoke with him just before his fis fifty point outing and so unfortunately, in a forty five minute conversation, we actually weren't able to cover him scoring forty five points or more, which became his new career high the other night, hitting that fifty ball for the first time.

That one of my favorite.

Things that he said after the game was how badly his teammates wanted it for him. Took him a second to catch up to what exactly was going on in the last few minutes.

Of the game.

Tobias Harris talked about it coming off the court. Joel Embiid talked about it postgame. They were fired up trying to get Tyrese to fifty, and Tyree said it seemed like they wanted it more than I did. I just wanted to get out of the building.

With a win.

True to form, Tyree's just looking for the dub, but his teammates wanted that one for him really badly.

He's been the player of the Week already this season, so has Joel Embiid. In the fifty point game from Maxi, Embiid had a phenomenal outing himself with thirty seven points, thirteen rebounds, eight of those offensively seven assists. Every time you look up, Joel Embiid has seven assists this year under Nick Nurse, which is so so impressive. Maxi did Edgeman blocks three to one, though, and the points fifty to thirty seven, as Tyrese became the ninth seventy six

Nick Nurse said prior to the game that maybe Tyrese Maxi is closer to a true point guard than everybody thought except for Tyres but said he was closer to a point guard than we all thought he was because he certainly looks very, very good.

Now.

Matt a couple of stats to support Tyrese Maxy averaging seven point two assists per game.

That's good for twelfth.

Best in the NBA. But he has the fewest turnovers among the top thirty nine assisters. Let me say that again, he's twelfth overall and assists seven point two assists per game, but among the top thirty nine ball sharers in the NBA, he is the one with the fewest turnovers.

He has ten total assists this season.

That's good for about one point one assists per game. That he has done such a good job of taking care of the ball, a great job of sharing it as well, And to those who underestimated him, shame on you.

Let's hear from his draft classmate and teammate on what it's been like to play for this sixer team with that teammate in Tyrese Maxey. Here's the ball, Paul, Paul Reid.

Paul Reid, thank you for joining us on Sixers in sixty the Sixers.

At this point eight and one. What exactly is working so well for you guys right now?

I think what's working well for us is the fact that we have good team chemistry. I think everybody knows what their role is and what they can do to help the team win, and we all are doing that.

I mean, especially myself.

You know, I'm just going out there doing whatever I can to get my teammates open, to get offense, rebounds, rebounds in general, and get defensive stops, and I feel like I'm not the only one out there doing that, so it's like we're all on the same page, and I think that's just really helping.

That's one of these ball games.

Last time out, your draft classmate from the twenty twenty draft, Tyrese Maxi and friend, dropped his first fifty piece. You called him in spal Why is he an inspiration to you?

I mean, you know, the dude that got drafted with me going out there dropping fifty.

I just I just love to see it, you know.

I love to see him be aggressive man and make all his shots like that. I feel like that's tough, and uh, you know, I think that's just inspirational. It makes makes me feel like, you know, I can go out there and do the same thing if I put my mind to it.

You and Tyrese together are part of these second and fourth quarter lineups where you guys, like you say, are holding it down without Joel out there. Does how does that play differ from from when Joel is out there? And what are you enjoying about playing with that group in the second and the fourth.

I feel like as long as I set him the screen, get him open, I mean the rest he's going to take care of. He's going to go to the room and do whatever he has to do the finish, and a lot of times the defense is going to step up and he's going to make the right decision. He's either gonna hit me on the road, make the skip pass, or whatever. And that's kind of what it comes down to. And uh, he's not the only one. Pat Bell, you know,

You've said that part of your success this year is due to the fact that coach Nick Nurse is encouraging you to really crash the glass. Right, How is that different from from years past? And how much are you enjoying being able to showcase part of that game.

I mean, it's not very different from years past. But you know, I'm not the only one that he's telling the crash and glass. So when you got two three guys crashing the glass, it makes it easier for one of us to come up with the rebound. You feel me and I like how he has the whole team. You know our chemistry. I feel like we weremoving the ball a lot better this season, and.

You know we're playing more unselfish.

I was last but not least, the second of two games against the Indiana Pacers. This one counts for the in season tournament. How much are you enjoying playing in the league's first in season tournament, Paul, I.

Mean it's fun.

It's fun because normally we would be competing and then try to win regardless, but now it's a little bit more extra on the line, which makes it even more interesting and more fun because it's like, Okay, we got you gotta get this dub, not only because really the best team really better team, but also because it's money on the line, and I think everybody want that extra

Paul Reid aka be ball, Paul, thank you so much.

Will you will extra check on the line? Lauren? And should fans stick around, I'll hear from Tyrese MAXI maybe in the next segment.

Absolutely they should.

We have a couple secon moments from Tyrese himself. This is the first time anyone is hearing these conversations from immediately prior to his fifty point outing. But if you want to learn more about everybody's new favorite player, you should stick around.

Thanks again to be Ball, Paul. Paul reads Tyrese. Maxi is up next. This is Sixers in sixty In Season Tournament NBA in Season Tournament basketball is in the air. Here at the center Matt Murphy, Lauren Rosen, the seventy six Ers Insiders here on Sixers in sixty every Tuesday live on Tuesday nights on the Fanatic. You can hear our interviews with players throughout the season on the seventy

Those who don't know what that means, when the Pacers miss too consecutive or rather a pair of two free throws at.

The line, people win free.

Chickens starts with a five count nugget and goes up from.

There and it builds right tonight.

Usually that starts in the second half, third quarter, and fourth tonight that starts in the first quarters, So.

We'll be going all night.

Make sure if you're in the building, your extra loud for any of the home in season tournament games in Philadelphia. Breaking for Chicken is happening all night long.

Awesome stuff. The Sixers have been awesome to start the season at eight and one currently as we speak pre game on before Tuesday night's slate of action across the NBA, including here in Philadelphia. We're about to hear from Tyrese Maxi in a few minutes. But one thing that has been on everyone's mind is the health of Kelly Oubre Junior, who last weekend was a pedestrian struck by a vehicle in Philadelphia and has now missed games due to a

YEP, the latest on Kelly Ubray Junior. Nick Nurse was able to visit Kelly in his home in Philadelphia yesterday. Nick added that Kelly Ubray was able to come into the facility this morning that he rode the exercise bike for a little bit and that he is quote in good spirit, so of course as always sending nothing but the best to Kelly Ubray and his family.

Such a scary situation.

It was scary for the locker room, it was scary for the coaches, and we're just so glad that Kelly is okay. Tyree of course, dedicated his fifty piece after the game to Kelly Ubray Junior. He said, I just met him, but I love him, and I think that that's how this whole team feels about Kelly. So great to hear that he was able to get into the facility this morning and cnbccen right, and that he's on the.

Road to recovery.

He has been a part of a Sixers group this season in twenty three twenty four that has had already shown has already shown great chemistry, great team chemistry. And here avid listeners of the Sixers radio network know that postgame after wins, we hear from the players. They throw a headset on and they speak with Tom McGuinness after the win, and I wanted to call back to one.

It's everything, man.

You know, realistically, he's been here the longest tenure. You know, I obviously I don't know one hundred percent facts, but he's been here a while, man, and you know, he puts into work.

He's very professional.

I'm his locker mate, so you know, I kind of give him some missing pieces about his recovery and just the things that are going on within his mental man.

Because we're we're all the family.

So I'm just happy to see him come out here and be a sol And he always that was Kelly Ubray a couple of weeks back talking about fer Cohn, Korkmaz and this Sixers family. All the best to Kelly Ubray Junior. And he always ends his interviews in a unique way as well. He always mentions love often times or something along those lines. I forget exactly what it is, but you're gonna hear the word love a lot with Kelly Ubray. So a lot of people in Philadelphia are

It was an awesome conversation. Tyrese and I laughed.

At the beginning of the interview, we were getting ready to break down some highlights for our new series presented by Nerd Wallets out now Side Comparisons. Episode one with the Anthony Melton dropped today. That's available on the seventy six of YouTube and.

Clips on at sixers.

But all that is to say Tyree sat down for episode two, which is in production. We were getting ready to break down some highlights for a section that you won't hear tonight on sixers In sixty that'll be on court side comparisons presented by Nerdwallett, and Tyree said, we've done this a bunch of times, and I said, I know, Tyrese, but now so many people are paying attention and the

So we covered his great play as of late.

And because so many eyeballs and of course ears are watching and listening to Tyrese Maxi right now, I wanted to give him a chance to sort of reintroduce himself tell his story. In this first clip, you're going to hear a little bit about his upbringing. His father coached him as a kid, he played up and that sort of taught him to battle adversity and doubters really really early on. And then in the second clip, we'll dive

First, without further ado, here's part one with Tyrese Maxey.

I wanted to start with how far we've come. Right, So I want you to answer some questions with some questions when you were drafted twenty twenty season, what was the big question about Tyrese Maxy.

Oh, so you're saying, like, people, so I can't shoot?

Correct?

Twenty twenty right, people, so I couldn't shoot? And then you proved that I can shoot? Okay, twenty twenty one. What do people say?

Now you're getting to it? I don't remember this. What was it? It?

Twenty twenty one was the first time that you stepped in?

Oh, it started for started for us, started at point guard for.

Us, and people asked if you could do it, and you proved that I could do that.

Twenty twenty two, she.

Was they play out the ball with James, come on with the bench score twenty one night, play defense, some everything, and you proved I think I could do good job at that.

So what I want to know is why in year four people are still wondering, can Tyrese MAXI make another leap?

Will he be able to run this team?

And in weeks one and two you've proven with flying colors that you can.

Why do people continue to question you? Do you think.

You know?

I think they were sent here to motivate me, honestly, and it works and I appreciate them. Not that I need any more motivation than I put on myself and like pressure that I put it for myself, but I appreciate them. You know, people saying that I can't do stuff and motivates medi Gia jim Ey secret day during the summertime, and I keep saying, it's find ways to get what sit better, and it's worked for me so far.

You're very much in sort of the national media right now. Everybody's talking about you and what you and Joel have been able to do and what you and this team have been able to do, but not everybody knows the backstory that you've told me five thousand times since you were a rookie, right So I sort of want to go back in time, but I don't want to bore you by making you tell the story the same way

When I was young, I used to play up a grade, so I started playing AAU basketball when I was in the I want.

To say second grade.

So in second grade I was playing against third graders. I think my third grade year, I was playing fourth grade. And what happened was I just remember one of the coaches and because I was young, they we lost our point guard from the year before.

He was like, well, is rich going to be able to step.

In and play point guard and run his team and do all these different things with all these older guys, or do I need to go out and get a point guard?

I dreamed my dad tell him, like, man, that's what he does.

He's talking about fourth graders like GMS talk about NBA players.

Like my dad was crazy though, so like we used to do things like in second and third grade where we played a tournament. We'll come back home and watch the film of it, all eight games as me seven eight years old like that, I want to play video

So it's been great.

You told me once that haters sort of make you relevant and that means that you're relevant, and that stuck with me. I'm obviously way less relevant than you are, but that whole message, that's not true.

You're pretty relevant.

We're doing an interview, but that message, like sticks with me, sticks with you. And I've found that over the course of my career in the NBA, no shade, but smaller guards have all sort of shared that same experience. How have you found that being smaller than other NBA players as a chip on your shoulder? How how does being smaller play into how successful you've become.

You know what's funny.

When I'm actually out there on the court, I don't I don't feel small like it's that's the funny part about it. I only feel small when I'm watching, like rewatching games on film or when I'm like watching games on TV.

That's when i feel small. But when I'm actually out on.

The court and I'm defending somebody or somebody defending me and I'm looking at them, I promise you, I feel like I'm looking at them.

Eye to eye and it's the weirdest thing ever.

Like I don't know if I just like raise my shoulders up or something, but like so it doesn't really bother me. But I think me knowing, like my dad was small, my dad's smaller mom small, Like I come from a smaller family. Like I'm probably the tallest in the group. So I knew that I was going to be a shorter guy. I knew I was gonna be a.

Shorter basketball player, and I knew that I was going to have to find creative ways get my shots off.

So I know a lot of trainers like Tim when I my high school trainer and my dad, they taught me different ways get my shots off inside the paint still going because I'm fually just going to the rim. So being able to shoot, you know, right for the right hand lays crazy les go off full speed.

I know they're pbut to do those things, so you know, it's pretty good.

What else have you observed about yourself watching yourself on TV? Besides being small?

You know, I don't really like watching myself play on TV.

I like, I like watching philm like when it's no commentation stuff, but like actually rewatching the game. It's kind of weird sometimes. But I noticed that always I do smile a lot. You know, I know that I knew that I smiled a lot, But like when you're actually watching yourself play, like and you're just smiling out there for absolutely no reason.

It's like, man, I do smile a lot, but it's great. I love smiling. I love what I do, and I'm an extremely happy person.

So well, Sixers fans have been smiling a lot watching the play of Tyrese Maxi in year four. We thank him for joining us here on Sixers in sixty Tuesday nights, typically at six pm Eastern. I'm Matt Murphy with Lauren Rose in more with Tyres coming up in just a moment. But the stats tell us that Tyrese the basketball player we already know Tyrese Maxi the human is delightful. The stats tell us he's been delightful on court this season.

Joel Embiid's second in scoring as of Tuesday thirty two point four points per game, sixth in rebounding eleven point seven rebounds per game. The two of them have been absolutely phenomenal together. One of the best, if not the best picking roll duo in the league. And just again doing such a good job is Tyrese Maxey at taking care of the ball. Nick Nurse said it pre game and I've said it already on this show, but those who doubted him, shame on them.

I talked about this post game against Indiana, Game one against Indiana, and it's the idea that everybody can learn something from what Tyrese Maxi has done with his approach to his career, because he's taken what people perceive as weaknesses and turn them into strength. And so many athletes in particular will just stick to what they're good at, and I guess people in general, and that's that's not the case with Tyreese. It doesn't have to it doesn't

Absolutely, he said it in that interview, like we just heard.

He uses the weaknesses or the perceived weaknesses as motivation, and one by one he's plucking them all.

Shooting, defense, playmaking.

There's not gonna be a lot of doubts left to throw at him in a few more games.

Perhaps he's eleventh in scoring as of Tuesday twelve, and assists with those numbers that I gave a minute.

Ago, insanely impressive.

All Star is not all NBA worthy at this point, Matt, are we ready for segment two with Tyrese?

We are, But I just want to explain to the listeners what's about to happen, because we're giving you more time with Tyrese, Maxi and Lauren Rosen, but you won't hear from us again, well, Lauren until her birthday show next week on six Ers and sixty. The cancel that twenty first, I suppose, and you'll hear from me for the Sixers pregame show here on the Sixers Radio network after that. But we've got more with Tyrese in Part two with you which has even more highlights.

Yeah, Part two was awesome.

Again, we tried to make sure in a long form interview to be seen on many platforms, that people were able to get to know Tyrese Maxi either a new or for the first time.

We talked about the matriarchs of his family.

This was one of my favorite conversations I've had in my now three plus years with Tyrese Maxi, his mother, his grandmother's all together in the house helping raise Tyree's of course, along along with his father who coached him, and we heard about in part one, but in Part two we learn more about the matriarchy, all of whom had a huge influence on the Turkey Drive that with this weekend and the now annual Tyrese Maxie Foundation Turkey

So let's go one by one. Let's start with your mom, right.

Talk to me about what she taught you growing up that turned you into the man that you are today.

And my mom taught me a lot. I think she taught me.

A lot of different things that normal like moms like, different than like moms teach you.

She's tough. He' shome me tough. A lot of people don't see that, you know.

They see her smile and see her happy, they see like the stuff that she posts whatever, but like she's extremely tough. And it was like she taught me how to be disciplined. She taught me how to love other people. She taught me how to be myself, and she taught me that you know, no one's ever going to give

So it started from grades to school.

You know, if I was getting all a's when I was young young, it was a issue for her.

And then when I started getting.

Into basketball and sports, she always wanted me to be the very best I could possibly be. And that's what that's what it was. That's what it was of the expectation, and I just tried to follow through on that.

Okay, tell me about your grandmother's now, who grew up in the.

House with you?

Right?

You were a household, you were a matriarchy growing up.

Yeah, I grew with both my grandmother's in the house, both of them, and then my grandfather and my my mom's mother. So her stepfather grew up. He was in the house with us till he passed away. But both my grandmother were there. My dad's grandmother, I'll start with her. She passed away.

That's mom, sorry, right, said grandmother.

My dad's mom, my grandmother, me and me.

She passed away right before I got drafted, so she lived with us all the way from I think when I was I want to say five. And then my mom's mom moved in the house when I was eight, seven or eight, all right. So it's funny that we were talking about this because last night in the game, I had on a new balance to collab with me, like I always have a break. I don't have it on today because it just broke. But uh, this has Ellen d on it, which is leave no doubt. My

That was pretty cool. And they had Ellen d r out there. But that's all topic.

But anyways, my grandmothers, the were great though, honestly, like they set the foundation for everybody in the house. They worked semly hard for what they had. My grandmother she did a lot of different things with the World Trade Center. She did a lot of different things as far as she she she did stitching and she sold like I don't know I was playing that, but like clothes together and helped me with that.

And then my grandmother she was she did day care.

She did basically everything for me as far as my parents weren't there, so she watched me.

My parents went there. And then she was a big with church, so she shung in a choir.

But they were great. I mean, honestly, they taught me, I'll just say this. They taught me how to treat others trailers with respect. They taught me that again, nothing's given. And then my grandmother who passed away, she always told me, if I was blessed to make it to the NBA, and I was blessed with a platform to be able to give back and to be able to motivate others, then that's what I need to do.

And you know, it's sad that.

She didn't get to see me get drafted, but you know she was there in spirit. You know, we left the chair for her at the little table or whatever. But I just feel like I'm making her proud now, not just because of what I do on the basketball court, but all the things that I try to doing in the communities as far as Philly and as far as Dallas and wherever I'm at Lexington.

I try to go back there too as well.

And your mom's mom is the one that's really plugged in on Twitter.

Correct, she's really plugged in on Twitter. She knows, you know. I keep saying Twitter is the news now. My grandmother used to wake up every morning at four o'clock and watch the news. Now she gets up every morning at four o'clock and checks Twitter. So she knows stuff before I know stuff.

She's literally broken news about your career to you.

Yes, she yes, she yees she you know. She had She the one who told my mom that I was Player of the Week. My mom told me, and I told them they had no idea what there was talking about until six just.

Tagged me and I was okay, y' all right.

But now she's great though. I love her at the death. She caused me all the time. She shoots me mad text before games. I just got on the phone with her before we came out here, got into playing. My mom's at home, so they were all FaceTime. I talked to her for about twenty minutes. But she's great. I really do appreciate her stuff that she does for my foundations, that she does for my mom, nothing but love.

Last thing before we move into basketball, shortly after you were injured last season, you spent some time coming off the bench and those two things together. Obviously life is much bigger than basketball, but after going through those two things were the first time that you brought up publicly in a media availability situation mental health and how even though you are larger than life, idle to these kids,

It was important to share how hard that was.

And when you did that, I remember thinking, I try to be vocal about it myself as someone that's like dealt with mental health issues in my past.

I remember when Jamar de Rosen and Kevin Love.

First talked about mental health publicly, and how like kind of crazy and brave that was. That was like five six, seven years ago. It wasn't that long ago. So I guess I'm curious, like why you felt comfortable bringing it up, why it was important to you to bring up why normalizing yourself to people was a priority.

And for me, you know, I didn't want it to be like a.

Like I don't know I explained it like I didn't want anybody to feel sorry for me. I just I just wanted to like explain, like you know, us as NBA players, we go through things as well, like people see us, like as far as you know, we love our fans, we really do.

We love people that watch on TV. We love them death. And it's like they see us as just that you know basketball player.

Can't they don't sekik to see us as the personal aspect of it, like us flying from this city to that city, Guys actually being tired, Guys having family, some guys have kids, some guys have why, some guys go through things with their family. Some guys you know, moms are sick. And you know what I mean, it's so

Out to be really really good. I started doing really really strong, because you always do, by the way, try to, but I started doing really really strong.

I felt like I was helping our team win, helping our team be successful.

You get hurt, you come back. I didn't.

I didn't start right away because you don't know normally start right away when you come back for injury.

Then I start starting.

Did they decide they want to bring me off the bench, And it's like, yeah, cook good games off the bench.

Then you're like, why am I come off the bench? Why? They're like why am I stich rights?

But it's like for me, I'm always in the guy, the happy guy, you know what I mean. So I've always been a guy that every time he come a shoot around, every time anybody in order to just see him that, I'm always smiling because I'm I'm a happy person.

But for me, I just as a competitor. You know, you want to be out there, you want that.

You want you work hard for your starting spot, You work hard for that, and that's you know, I just wanted it back and I just wanted to help the team as well.

So you know, it's hard. It was hard.

I can't lie it was. It was difficult for me, but everything ended up working out great. And you know, we tried to do our best last year and things happened.

We talk about it a lot, But in doing what you did, you made it okay in my opinion, for people that are having struggles in whatever career or in school, regardless of how old you are, to be outwardly succeeding or in a good position, but struggling internally. And I think in normalizing that for kids, you probably did more positive good than you realize.

So as one of those former kids, thank you for doing that.

No, for sure, I hope so, man, And I'll just say this last thing about it. You know, it's always somebody out there you can talk to. It's always somebody out there to talk to you. You know, if it's your mom, if it's your dad, your parents, your family, teach your counselor like, don't want anybody flight there alone out there. I had people to talk to, call my mom, call my dad, they call my agent, called some coaches, and you know, they helped me. They help me get back,

You just know that therapist is too hard to find. But like I like to plug that when when you need it, those resources are out there. They're not easy enough to get, but I can second that for sure.

It's tyr SMAXI thank you so much, thank you for having me