How Labaron Philon Jr. Will Contrast With Tyrese Maxey

Take the base of Bona's screen and the way Maxey reads the defense out of the screen. He sees the big dropped. So rather than apply rim pressure with a direct downhill attack out of the pick, he punishes the defense by stepping away from the drive for a 3 instead. The angle created is this wide open face, like you'd see when a golfer doesn't square the ball.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with taking that approach to ball screens, especially if you're an exceptional shooter like Maxey is. The one thing you don't want to do is dance with the ball coming off the pick, and he doesn't do that. If Maxey isn't opening wide off the screen to create some space, he's just triggering a 3 quickly:

Developing a dangerous floater was just one contributor to Maxey's leap to superstar in 2025-26. His ability to change speeds to manipulate defenses off the dribble was another huge development. But that took years to grow.

Maxey thrived for years just being a straight-line driver who could blow by anyone and then punish sagging defenders with long-range shooting. But there's more than one way to create rim pressure.

Enter Philon, who is already pulling strings off a live dribble. Whereas Maxey has a habit of taking the more round, open-faced angle out of the pick, Philon has demonstrated a straighter but slower angle to the rim.

He's not blazing quick, an already stark contrast to Maxey's style. He's leaned more toward chewing up pockets of space immediately in from of him than he has toward proving his pull-up 3 in summer league. Philon is remarkably smooth and balanced as he transitions from one speed to another, comfortable getting his assigned defender on his back and probing his way into the paint to draw the big to the ball.

Maxey only grew really comfortable with his mid-range game this past season. It's something that Philon regularly uses right now.

That mid-range game makes for another stylistic difference between Maxey and Philon. The rookie goes at smaller defenders with the intention of getting to that jumper. And because he has it in his arsenal, he is adept at creating space to get to that shot. But, again, it is that change of speed at the right moments that opens the floor for him. In the clip above, he freezes for a moment, causing the big man to step out of his driving lane to tag Johni Broome. That, in turn, give Philon a few steps forward before he separates for the baseline jumper.

Lots of guards dance with the ball. Dancing with the ball is ineffective if you don't create marginal advantages by doing it. This is a moment in which dancing with the ball is a value-add:

Having comfort with his off hand creates all sorts of possibilities for Philon. He can leverage his herky-jerky pace to get a defender a step behind in any direction.

Philon will see single coverage as a rookie quite often. It is imperative that he has the tools to unsquare his defender's hips and beat him to the paint. Doing so will cause rotations in the paint, and that's when his abliity to manipulate defenses with a live dribble will actually result in high-value shots.

Using Philon in relief of Maxey doesn't just make for individual stylistic differences. It makes for a change in identity, either of which is difficult to guard in its own unique way. Simons fits into the picture with his shooting, but the question shouldn't weigh Simons against Philon.

The changing of the guards should be dictated by the differences in styles of play.

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