Tyrese Maxey opens up on LeBron James recruitment, Sixers hierarchy

[ASFN Admin]

The Philadelphia 76ers, obviously, have had one helluva summer with the additions made by President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey and the front office. The Sixers were able to boost their bench unit with the additions of Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons, and Ariel Hukporti, but then they swung the deal for Jaylen Brown, and that changed everything.

The Sixers were thrust into the race for LeBron James at that point, and after weeks and weeks of waiting, they were able to land the future Hall of Famer. They then added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as well, which is another move to improve the bench unit for the future.

Tyrese Maxey, a close friend of James, was believed to have a huge part in the recruitment to get the 41-year-old to Philadelphia. He hopped on the "Numbers on the Board" podcast and explained his part in the push to get James:

I don't blow up no man's phone. Did I call? For sure. I didn’t know, at first, if it was possible or not. I don’t know if he was a free agent two years ago or last year and we work out in the morning. So, I was like give me LeBron’s number. I’m about to mess with him real quick. Just like on some funny stuff. I hit him, like 'Yo you always welcome to come to Philly if you want to, you know what I’m saying?' Before he re-signed back with the Lakers. We knew he was going back to the Lakers but I’m just messing with him.' And then this time, RP (Rich Paul) is like, 'I don’t know what he’s going to do. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do. So, man. Holla at him if what you’re thinking.' So I hit him and was like, 'Yo, pull up, like I think we got a good chance. I feel like you can help us. You're arguably the greatest of all time. So it’s like why wouldn’t we want you on our team?' You know what I mean? Just gave him a rundown on that and I probably talked to him at least three or four times. He called me one time and just chopped it up. Asked certain questions. We're working out. It is what it is. I just talked to him like that, man.

As far as the offensive hierarchy is concerned, Maxey isn't worried. Winning is the only thing that matters at this point. Scoring isn't at the forefront as he stated:

At the end of the day, I want to win. You know what I mean? And I have played with a lot of different people and a lot of different roles. So at the end of the day, I am going to have to change some of the things, but because of the dynamic of our team--and like we don’t expect Process (Joel Embiid) to play 70 games. If he does, we'll be happy with that...you're gonna have games where I may have 20 or I may have 18 and we win or I may have 35 and we win. It's gonna be games when Process don't play. Bron don't play and I may have to get 45 and we win. JB may have to get 45 and we win. So, I ain't trippin too much on the PPG.

The Sixers will certainly have work to do in order to make it all work, but Maxey may be correct on the "nobody cares about the points per game" conversation. Winning is going to be at the forefront for this group and Maxey is going to set the tone for this group in terms of winning and making sure that's the main goal.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Tyrese Maxey opens up on LeBron James recruitment, Sixers hierarchy

Continue reading...