The Sixers beat the Brooklyn Nets in the preseason Monday night and Tyrese Maxey left the game early due to back spasms.
After sinking a string of corner three-pointers during his pregame workout Monday at Barclays Center, Patrick Beverley held a theatrical pose, right hand frozen above his head.
And after being ejected from the Sixers’ bench early in the fourth quarter of the team’s preseason win over the Nets, Beverley didn’t pause. With minimal dallying, he darted back to the locker room.
Those two moments were appropriate bookends to the evening for Beverley, who’s immediately brought a constant and distinct energy to the Sixers.
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The headline of the 35-year-old guard's night was that he got tossed from a preseason game. On its face, that was absurd and attention-grabbing. His podcast subscriptions may very well get a nice bump.
The circumstances surrounding Beverley’s second technical foul are significant, though. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he celebrated 23-year-old Filip Petrušev’s three-pointer like it was a clutch playoff jumper.
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A few minutes later, Ben Simmons fouled Petrušev hard, the Serbian center didn’t like it, and each picked up technicals. On the next possession, Beverley spoke his mind to Simmons from the sideline.
“He’s got my back there,” Petrušev said. “Not just there, in practice, too. And not just for me, but for everybody. He’s bringing crazy energy and he’s there for everybody, supports everybody.
“After that three, I felt he had my back and he was supporting me, so that gave me confidence. And in that particular situation, just stood for me like a real vet. Thanks to him.”
Beverley is clearly fine with confrontation and habitually impassioned about defending his teammates. He doesn’t appear to fully agree with the perception that he’s a talkative, spotlight-stealing leader, though.
“I’m not the in-the-ear type,” Beverley said Monday morning following the Sixers’ shootaround. “I just kind of lead by the way I prepare and attack the game, attack the game plan. But it rubs off on guys; guys see it and I guess they adopt the same habits, too.”
However, it would be dubious if Beverley claimed he sits back and hopes for the best.
Already, he's felt an obligation to push third-year guard Jaden Springer.
“Just how hard he plays. He reminds me a lot of myself, actually,” Beverley said. “It’s just about improving in this league. You don’t improve by major steps. It’s year after year after year, keep building. Since I’m here, I’m going to make it my duty to make sure he’s on top of his s--- every day.”
De’Anthony Melton called Springer “an ox” last week.
Over a stellar first three preseason games, Springer has indeed shown Beverley-like defensive qualities. He’s found legal ways to disrupt ball handlers, prevented pick-and-rolls from running as intended, and maintained effort and focus. In 66 total preseason minutes, Springer has also scored 35 points on 14-for-22 shooting (5 for 6 from three-point range) and pulled down a team-leading seven offensive rebounds.
So will Springer get his first real NBA rotation shot this regular season? Could Springer and Beverley work at times as a defensive duo off the bench? And if Springer keeps trending up, how might that impact Beverley’s role and minutes?
For Sixers head coach Nick Nurse, who’s known Beverley since he unsuccessfully recruited him to play for the D League’s Iowa Energy, those are interesting questions. For Beverley, it seems safe to assume that he’ll be the same person regardless.
“Just his tenacity to win, his attention to detail and his pride as a player,” Tobias Harris said Sunday of his former Clippers teammate. “You talk about locker room guys and culture guys, he’s one of them at the forefront. I tell people all the time … he’s one of my favorite teammates because he supports every guy on the whole team. He wants to see every single player be as successful as they can be. And he’s not one of those guys who just talks. He really means it.
“If he sees you lacking or not bringing it in a certain area, he’s going to let you know. He’s willing to have uncomfortable conversations and be a guy that many people aren’t used to. But he’s somebody that cares about every single teammate, every single person who works in this building, works for this organization. He’s one of the best guys out there and that makes him an amazing teammate as well.”
Nurse has described Beverley as “all-in.”
That might somehow be an understatement.
“He really got himself in tremendous shape, so he’s got the physical tools where he can back up some of that leadership," Nurse said. “You’ve got to be able to go out there and still play and make plays, right? And he’s done a good job of that. … He’s putting in a tremendous amount of work. He really, really does a good job of organizing, and that’s important. We need a veteran guy that gets us organized, settled down, all those kind of things.
“And then he’s got a little bit on the other end, too — when we’re too settled down, to get some fire into the action. He’s capable of doing that as well.”
