Tyrese Maxey got a serious kick out of coaching Sunday afternoon.
He happily wielded the clipboard for the Sixers’ annual Blue x White scrimmage at Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Delaware. And Maxey put on a show of his own from the sidelines.
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“Really good,” Nick Nurse, the Sixers’ actual head coach, said with a smile. “Geez, he had three draw-ups that worked. He was complaining to the refs. He was trying to sub guys that wouldn’t go in.
“He said, ‘We don’t listen very well, do we coach?’ I said, ‘No we don’t.’”
Maxey the player wasn’t part of Sunday’s fan-centric, highly casual scrimmage, though he did work out alongside Joel Embiid prior to the official start of the event. Maxey also participated in a couple of light team drills.
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Nurse did not indicate any lingering concern about Maxey’s health two days after the All-Star guard left the Sixers’ preseason finale because of a right thumb contusion.
“He’s OK,” Nurse said. “He’s fine, just real precautionary. He got hit on his hand. Nothing there. He’s feeling pretty good.”
Embiid (left knee management), Paul George (left knee bone bruise) and Jared McCain (pulmonary contusion) were also not among the scrimmage participants. George recently said on his podcast that “it won’t be a long timetable” for his return. He’s set to be re-evaluated in the coming days and the Sixers’ regular-season opener is Wednesday vs. the Bucks.
McCain has “progressed really well,” Nurse said. “He’s gotten out on the court and moved, and he’s run hard on the treadmill and stuff like that. … We’ll see how he is tomorrow and whether he rejoins us (for practice). I would assume he’ll rejoin us for portions of tomorrow, but we’ll see how far he gets.”
With the Sixers’ stars watching and coaching, players like rookie center Adem Bona got to shine Sunday.
Bona certainly impressed the crowd when he threw down a big dunk over Kelly Oubre Jr. His teammate immediately gave him a high-five.
“I was like, ‘I’m sorry’ … because I know that’s going to be out there,” Bona said, laughing. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t know he was going to jump.
“But it’s just fun for the fans; we were all having fun out there. It’s just friendly fire.”