PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse sounds like Kylo Ren with the way he wants Tyrese Maxey to shoot more.

The Sixers coach is looking for even more growth from the rising star as he takes on more responsibilities for the team. So far, through five games of the 2023-24 season, the results have been great. In Philly's latest win against the Phoenix Suns, though, Maxey was brilliant for only a portion of the contest.

Maxey scored just nine points on 4-12 shooting from the field in the first half. He exploded in the second half, mostly in the fourth quarter, for 13 points on 5-6 shooting. While Maxey did take a lot more shots in the first half, they weren’t of a high enough quality. With Embiid resting, he led a run to put the game out of reach. But although Nurse is happy with how he stepped up, he is urging Maxey to remain at that level of aggression and confidence.

“Yeah, it's not enough. It's not enough,” Nurse said bluntly after the Sixers' win. “He's too good to have a quiet first half. He's gotta not get into those modes where he's not being more aggressive. I'm not criticizing him, I'm just trying to keep him employing that he needs to be more aggressive. He's too good at beating people off the dribble. He is too good a shooter to not take more chances, his own chances. So we're gonna keep working on that a little bit. But I'm glad that he bounced back.”

This isn’t the first time Nurse has requested that Maxey keeps being aggressive and it won’t be the last. Maxey was still two shot attempts short of the goal Nurse previously set for him. While Philly's lack of reliable ball-handling/individual shot creation necessitates a big role for Maxey, his talent is putting him on a rare trajectory.

Nurse said that Maxey had some “outstanding” play-calls that led to good looks for the Sixers and that he's doing a “good job” of being more vocal. He said previously that this is his chance to develop his game and show he’s a bonafide star. Nurse will echo it constantly, when Maxey is as aggressive as he wants and when he’s not, that he wants Maxey to take every shot he has to fire on the hoop.