Preseason Game Notes: Sixers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Some notes as we get ready for the regular season.

Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.

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The Sixers returned to the Wells Fargo Center Wednesday night for their preseason home opener, in which their presumptive starting lineup made its debut against a new-look Cleveland Cavaliers team. 

It’s the preseason, so take everything with a grain of salt, of course. But there were some interesting things that stood out to me tonight. Let’s discuss.

Is the Maxey All-Star leap happening?

After an excellent preseason debut in Brooklyn on Monday night, Maxey continued to score at a ridiculous level, torching Cleveland’s defense for 21 first-half points on 9-11 shooting from the field. 

Making a substantial leap the way he did last season will be very difficult. But at what point do we stop making assumptions about Maxey’s development? There’s clearly something special here. As he enters year three in the NBA, I firmly believe that catapulting into All-Star consideration is absolutely in play for Maxey.

Is Paul Reed the frontrunner for backup center?

Reed was in line to be Joel Embiid’s primary backup all summer, until the Sixers signed Montrezl Harrell. Given Harrell’s reputation and history with Doc Rivers, and his seamless fit with James Harden, it seemed likely that he’d be second in the depth chart.

Harrell is probably a slightly better regular season player than Reed right now. If Harrell does end up being the backup, I think he will be more than serviceable. But Reed’s apparent ascension is a sign of organizational faith in him that didn’t seem like it existed last season. 

While Harrell might be better right now, I view Reed as more viable in a playoff series. We’re far away from that point, but the third-year big getting the opportunity to assert himself as a rotation piece is intriguing.

How does Matisse Thybulle fit in?

Several members of the Sixers organization have spoken at length about the work Thybulle put in during the offseason to improve on the offensive end. And yet, in the team’s first game with every player active, he did not see a single second of playing time in the regular rotation during the first half.

Danuel House Jr. supplanting Thybulle in the rotation is not a surprise given House Jr.’s two-year contract at the full bi-annual exception. Shake Milton playing over Thybulle, though, was surprising to me. 

It is entirely possible that Milton and Thybulle will compete for the final rotation spot. Furkan Korkmaz could be in the mix as well if he impresses. Tracking this during the rest of the preseason will be fascinating.

PJ Tucker and the little things mattering

Tucker was as advertised, doing a whole bunch of little things to impact the game in a positive manner, including pulling two signature offensive rebounds on the same possession.

Tucker spent some of his playing time defending Donovan Mitchell. Considering he will likely open the season defending Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, it is pretty remarkable. Tucker provides the kind of defensive versatility that the team lost with the departure of Ben Simmons -- someone who can truly guard one through four, and maybe defend some centers as well. 

Where I enjoyed Tucker the most, though, was on offense. He didn’t attempt any corner threes, but on several occasions he set excellent screens to free up shooters. He and Harden clearly have a rapport in the two-man game, but Tucker was also setting impromptu flare screens, which the basketball nerd in me enjoys tremendously.

Staggering from last season remains

After the Harden trade last winter, the Sixers did some experimenting with how they staggered their best players. Ultimately, they landed on Maxey/Embiid and Harden/Tobias Harris as the pairings. Based on tonight’s rotation, it seems like they’re sticking with those pairings to start the season.

In case you’re interested, you can see the entire first half substitution patterns from the game with a bunch of notes sprinkled in here. 

Second unit lineups

De’Anthony Melton and Georges Niang were the first two players to substitute into the game, which is what I expected. Those two add a nice blend of defense and shooting to a lineup with starters and reserves involved.

Melton is far from polished offensively, but he continues to show tremendous defensive instincts and versatility, causing some problems for Cleveland’s ball-handlers. 

Doc, if you’re reading this, please try a three-guard lineup with Melton, Harden and Maxey. It is my only request.