PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers insist that they like the shots Paul George has been taking this season. After a certain point, however, they have to reconsider what constitutes a good shot for George and whether his approach to offense is truly good enough to excuse the poor results.
George shot horribly in the Sixers' 109-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns. He was not the only one but he has too often been part of the problem instead of a solution. That’s what stars need to be and what George, at least on the offensive end, has not been for his new team. George shot 5-18 from the field against the Suns, scoring just 13 points.
Tyrese Maxey put some of George's struggles in perspective with his injuries and his newness to the 76ers. He also explained his approach to making sure George and Joel Embiid get involved in the offense as early as possible.
“I'm just trying to get him open and run stuff for him and make sure he's involved,” Maxey said. “Even earlier in the game, I'm sacrificing myself trying to get downhill to score so I can try to get him going. Even when Joel plays, get him going, too. I think it feels good for those guys 'cause I have the ball so much, just because I'm playing point guard and I play a lot of minutes so I know that I'm gonna get my shots and my shots are gonna come.
“I also have to do a good job of getting guys good looks and making other guys feel good,” he continued. “It's difficult sometimes but I am always gonna try to get those guys shots, especially Paul.”
76ers looking for ways to get Paul George going
Nick Nurse didn’t have any problems with the shots George took in the 76ers' loss to the Suns.
“Just from a shooting standpoint, again, I think that they weren't all super open tonight but a lot of 'em were,” Nurse said, stating that he believes George's shooting will rebound to his previous career averages. He estimated that he approved of 13 or 14 of George's 18 shot attempts.
“He’s in there with a lot of the guys tonight as far as generating good shots and shots that we want them to take — and for whatever reason, they just weren’t going in tonight,” Nurse said.




Sorting through each of George's shot attempts reveals how difficult his shot diet is and why performances like these are commonplace.
Only four of George's shots came in the paint — and only two came inside the restricted arc, one of which was a breakaway dunk off a steal. That defensive playmaking is certainly valuable but George's lack of volume on rim attempts in the halfcourt remains worrisome. Zero free throw attempts and assists on just two threes where he created an advantage with his drive further illustrate how little he got into the paint to collapse the defense.
On 12 of PG's shots, the same defender guarded him when he received the ball and when he shot it. Translation: he failed to shed his defender on two-thirds of his shots. There were a few possessions where he scored in transition and a few others where he used screens to shake himself free, though even on those, the defender in drop coverage contested him.
There were eight non-fast-break possessions where George dribbled the ball the whole possession and/or controlled the ball for five seconds before shooting. Only one of those possessions resulted in a bucket. If someone who commands the ball that often isn’t generating high-quality looks for the team or shooting the lights out, things get ugly in a hurry.
The 76ers expected George to keep the team going when Joel Embiid sits out and elevate both him and Tyrese Maxey when he plays. Although those goals have been disrupted by injuries and other freak occurrences in Philadelphia's bizarre 2024-25 campaign, there is enough of a normal sample size for PG to work with. He and the team have to learn what to keep doing and what to start moving away from.
While George has certainly disappointed, plenty of responsibility lies at the feet of the coaching staff. Continuing on this path, where George is tasked with creating shots without any window dressing to make things easier, is madness. It's not just that he's missing shots but that he's struggling to create ones that are easier to make. The problem goes deeper than the veteran star simply missing a handful of shots he has historically been okay with.
Paul George signed a four-year deal with the 76ers this past summer, so the first few months of his tenure don’t have to define all of it. However, if he and the team can’t find a way to turn things around, they just might.