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Although the Philadelphia 76ers are not entering this season with a brand new supporting cast like in years past, it's the first full season with James Harden. Doc Rivers is working to integrate him into the Sixers' Joel Embiid-centric offense so that the two stars can work effectively together.
In a discussion with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on the Woj Pod (at 12:52 the mark), Rivers dropped an interesting assessment of Harden's game and his first impression of it as his coach with the Sixers. In doing so, he revealed a pretty interesting stance regarding Tyrese Maxey.
“I always knew James was a good passer, you knew that, but he was such a great scorer, you didn’t see his ability to see the floor and playmake,” Rivers said. “So, that’s what hit me first, like, ‘Man…we don’t have a point guard. This guy can be a scoring point guard — and I use the word [sic] scoring Magic Johnson — for us.’ But, the trick is to get him to do that plus score. And that’s hard to do.”
Rivers mentioning Magic Johnson is pretty interesting. Harden is certainly a great playmaker but has never been considered to be on Johnson's level. His floor-general tendencies were on full display last season after landing with the Sixers but it came at the expense of his scoring. Rivers wants him to feel comfortable doing both roles simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Rivers' take that the Sixers had no point guard when Harden arrived suggests that he doesn't see Maxey as one. This take isn't a slight toward Maxey at all, though, as his plays style works perfectly well as a shooting guard. The young guard is a budding star and a massively important piece for the team now and moving forward.
Doc Rivers sees Tyrese Maxey as the Sixers' two-guard while James Harden is the one, which are both fitting for their respective skills. He wants to make sure that both guards and Embiid find a rhythm in the offense together.
