‘I call him my son’: Cassell, Spencer Rivers all in on Maxey’s growth originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Asked in January about Sam Cassellโs impact on his vocal leadership, Tyrese Maxey lit up and flashed his signature grin.
โOh, heโs vocal,โ Maxey began. โHeโs very vocal.โ
Indeed, the Sixersโ 52-year-old assistant coach never seems to struggle matching Maxey energy. When Cassell and Sixers skill development coach Spencer Rivers run the 21-year-old through his pregame routine, Cassellโs jokes look like they tend to land. Thereโs zero dead air.
โHeโs very quick-witted,โ Rivers, the youngest son of Sixers head coach Doc Rivers, told NBC Sports Philadelphia in a phone interview this month. โAnd heโll call you out, too. If you mess up or BS it a little bit, heโll call it out. And the way he calls it out, itโs funny; heโs just very straightforward. For whatever reason, when heโs straightforward it just resonates, because everybody respects him as a player so much โ and also as a coach so much โ that it just sounds different coming from him.โ
Rivers celebrated the Celticsโ 2008 NBA title as a kid in Bostonโs locker room, watched Cassellโs work with his brother Austin Rivers, and now calls the three-time champion โlike an uncle, almost, to me.โ
Cassell feels the same way, describing himself as โclose to the whole (Rivers) family. Not just Spencer, but also Austin and Doc and Callie โ all of them. Iโm like an uncle to all of them. Docโs like a big brother to me.โ
His job now requires tons of time alongside Spencer โ theyโve been holding workouts this summer with Maxey and James Harden in Los Angeles โ and he clearly doesnโt mind that at all.
โSpence is like a sponge, man,โ Cassell told NBC Sports Philadelphia in a phone interview Tuesday. โHe picks up everything I show him. We talk frequently about how weโve got to make not just Max better, but other guys on our team better. I think Spence enjoys my vision. He enjoys how I approach player development. He enjoys me being, like they say these days, just very, very real with these guys.โ
Has Cassell ever worried that realness is too harsh for Maxey?
โNo, Iโm not that hard on guys,โ he said with a chuckle. โDealing with a guy like Tyrese Maxey, itโs like โฆ a workout guru or โthis is how you should work out.โ If every player in the league had his intensity and his work ethic โ wow. This league is…