Before last season I posted to a small Bluesky following how Tyrese Maxey would most likely break Allen Iverson’s franchise record for three pointers made. During the season I provided updates with how many more he needed. It may have been the catalyst to this blog series.

Maxey broke the record against the Miami Heat. 

It’s a day I will never forget, and it has nothing to do with Maxey.

That morning my son was born. We watched part of the game together. The first of many while I spent the rest of the season on paternity leave. (I legitimately returned the Thursday after the Knicks swept the Sixers).

Milestones are easy to follow. It may be a record-breaking performance. Or reaching an arbitrary number that only a certain group of players have experienced.

This exercise highlights the variety of milestones I am keeping tabs on this season.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Three-point tracking might be my favorite one to follow for an obvious reason. I know the majority of the players that comprise the list. They’re the players I grew up watching, or now watch. Among the franchise leaders in most threes made, only eight players were drafted before 2000 (Dennis Scott, Joe Dumars, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, Reggie Miller, John Starks, and Paul Pierce). 

KCP has the 49th most three pointers in NBA history with 1588. (Random but 26 percent of the top 51 long-range shooters will have played for the Sixers as soon as KCP steps on the floor. Danny Green is 51st, which is the reason to include such a abnormal number). Now since this list includes many active players it fluctuates. Devin Booker isn’t too far behind KCP, but KCP can easily surpass retired players such as: Mike Miller, Trevor Ariza, and Jason Richardson. Assuming the minutes are there for KCP, 112 threes aren’t out of the question. 1700 threes have been made by 39 players. Although Luka Dončić, Zach LaVine, and Jayson Tatum should also eclipse 1700 threes this year as well.

LeBron James

Stats and LeBron James are synonymous. Every season he reaches a milestone. Seemingly every game he breaks a record. As he enters his 24th season, LeBron is 537 assists away from moving ahead of Chris Paul for second most in league history (which means he’d pass Jason Kidd for third, too). John Stockton’s record will never be broken, but first in points and second in assists isn’t too shabby. LeBron is 265 rebounds away from 20th most in NBA history (21st if ABA stats are included. Flowers to Artis Gilmore). Finally, he is 29 steals away from supplanting Gary Payton for fifth most.

Joel Embiid

Counting stats will never be favorable for Joel Embiid for clear reasons. Despite being drafted in 2014, he has played fewer games than 11 players drafted in 2018, including Josh Okogie and Aaron Holiday. It helps that the NBA does scoring titles based on points per game rather than total points. His per game numbers rival basically anyone, but when it comes to careers the total is the focus. Nobody knows Embiid has the fourth highest PPG in NBA history. More know that Kobe Bryant has the fourth most points in NBA history (although it will be Kevin Durant soon).

Embiid is 641 points shy of fifth most points in Sixers franchise history.

Labaron Philon

The best game of Michael Carter Williams’ career happened to be the first one. The Sixers shocked the Miami Heat with LeBron James on the floor. It was special. The first game of the Sam Hinkie era (They’d go on to win 46 games over the next three years). The performance told a story. How a rookie performs in his first game, or during his first season, isn’t always an indication. Philon’s role on this team should be limited. A guy like Jared McCain, drafted higher than Philon, logged four minutes during his debut, while playing for a team that started Eric Gordon and KJ Martin. 

Whenever he does play his first minutes I am seeing if he can be the 32nd player in franchise history to score at least 10 points in his NBA debut. Only eight players (VJ Edgecombe, Allen Iverson, Jerry Stackhouse, Jahlil Okafor, MCW, Speedy Claxton, Joel Embiid, and Hershey Hawkins) scored at least 20. 

Tyrese Maxey

Since Tyrese Maxey became a starter during his second season, he has scored at least 30 points in 84 games. It is the 17th most in the league, so I’ll be watching to see how many 30-point games he’ll add. I wrote a couple weeks ago the benefits of playing alongside the passing of LeBron James and the attention Jaylen Brown demands will do for Maxey’s career. His catch-and-shoot volume should explode.

Side note: Nic Batum retired. His shooting in the play-in game win over the Heat will forever be iconic. One of the bigger bummers is that he couldn’t play more than one season in Philly. His son’s favorite player is Maxey, which is pretty sweet. Shout out to one of my all-time favorite players. 

Dean Wade

Ever since I saw that Dean Wade committed 16 turnovers all season, I have been enamored with his career. It makes sense as to why he does not turn the ball over. He rarely has the ball. He either shoots or makes a quick decision. I have a feeling his turnover number will continue to be low on a team featuring many players capable of scoring 20+ points with the ball in their hands. 

Among the 10 players with fewer than 200 turnovers while playing at least 6000 minutes, only Sam Hauser has fewer turnovers (122) than Wade’s 124. Wade has played nearly 200 more minutes, too. (As a note, the NBA did not record individual turnovers until 1978). 

This isn’t a milestone that I’m watching, but I am fascinated to see how many turnovers Wade commits this season. 

VJ Edgecombe

Stephen Curry, LaMelo Ball, and Donovan Mitchell reached 200 threes and 150 steals within their first 100 games. VJ needs 51 threes and 43 steals in the next 25 games he plays to join the list. Edgecombe will have plenty of catch and shoot opportunities to add to his impressive rookie season. The steals may be more difficult to reach as he’d need to average more than last year to match those numbers, but it is certainly on the table.

Today LeBron will be introduced as a Sixer. Media day should be an absolute frenzy. Training camp begins tomorrow. I will next post two weeks from today, and it’ll be a predictions post. A couple more ideas are in the works as well ahead of the regular season. 

Feel swell, friends!