Thanksgiving is a time of thankfulness for most. From changing Autumn leaves to massive helpings of food, this time of the year is generally more joyous. This is no different for Sixers fans. While the season has not been perfect for the Sixers, as they currently sit at 9-8 on the season and were just crushed by the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night, Sixers fans can still find reasons for thankfulness this Thanksgiving.
All offseason long, the Sixers and restricted free agent Quentin Grimes played a waiting game. Grimes, who played the best basketball of his professional career for the Sixers. Averaging 21.9 points a night for the injury-riddled Sixers, Grimes felt he deserved a big contract. However, the Sixers didn’t want to commit a large sum of money based on 28 games. This resulted in Grimes signing his qualifying offer and rejoining the team right before the start of the season.
Since then, Grimes has been one of the most prolific scorers off the bench in the NBA. In 15 games off the bench, he is averaging 16.9 points and 4.1 assists per game, both of which are top 3 among players who have come off the bench for at least 7 games this season.
In these same 15 games, Grimes has been extremely efficient as well, shooting 46.5% from the field and 40.2% from beyond the arc. While he isn’t going to be a world-beating superstar, his excellence on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball cannot be overstated enough, and I’m sure that both the Sixers organization and fans are incredibly thankful for him this Thanksgiving.
Early in his career, Kelly Oubre Jr. was often looked at as an empty calories scorer. Someone who would produce, but wouldn’t necessarily be a driving force for wins. That changed when he signed his first contract with the 76ers and was immediately one of the most important players for the Sixers. Now, Oubre, in his age-30 season, is playing his third year with the Sixers and is having his best Sixers season to date.
Through 12 games, Oubre has been averaging 16.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals a night on 49.7% shooting, which would be his career high. Oubre has also molded himself to fit perfectly around this iteration of the 76ers, raising his three-point percentage to a much more serviceable 34.3% on the season.
While Oubre may not be dominating the box score every game, the Sixers quite simply would not have won 9 games this season without him, especially considering his game-winning layup in the final seconds against the Boston Celtics.
The 76ers had a truly awful season last year, winning only 24 games on the season. It was the first losing season of Daryl Morey’s career. It all became worth it, though, when the 76ers jumped up in the draft lottery to the third overall pick. While there were fans screaming for the team to select Ace Bailey from Rutgers, the Sixers opted to go with the young guard from Baylor and selected V.J. Edgecombe third overall. Since then, Sixers fans have been very thankful.
Edgecombe started out fast for the Sixers, scoring the most points in an NBA debut with 34, since Wilt Chamberlain had 43 in 1959. While Edgecombe has yet to top that number, he has remained a highly effective and relied-on player for the Sixers, averaging 37.3 minutes per game in 15 games this season.
In those games, Edgecombe has season averages of 15.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists a night. While his field goal percentage is low (40.7%), the 18-year-old guard will surely continue to improve and impress as the season goes along.
Tyrese Maxey has been the single best player for the Sixers this season. The former Kentucky Wildcat is legitimately earning some attention in the MVP race this year, and it's not hard to see why. He is the single biggest difference between last year’s Sixers squad and this year's. Where last year Maxey struggled to carry the offensive load with the Sixers' injuries, this year Maxey has proven that he can be an efficient and effective scorer no matter who’s on the court with him.
Joel Embiid and Paul George have both dealt with injuries to start the season, putting the same weight on Maxey this year as last year. Whereas last year, Maxey was shooting 43.7% from the field and 33.7% from beyond the arc and struggling to remain effective with teams targeting him, this year he's averaging 32.2 points per night on 47.0% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the arc.
Tyrese Maxey, lovingly nicknamed “The Franchise,” has officially ascended this season to a superstar before Sixers fans’ eyes. He is second in the league in scoring and is single-handedly propelling his team to victories time and time again. He scored 40 points in the season opener, and that was only his third-highest scoring total. He dropped a career high of 54 points against the Milwaukee Bucks in an overtime win.
