The Sixers are in Abu Dhabi, where three practices, a few community events and a pair of preseason exhibitions against the New York Knicks are on the docket for about a week.

But I am still in Philadelphia, and today still is Tuesday, so I am still answering your questions for our weekly Sixers mailbag.

Let's not waste any time:

From @SixersRy: Has Tyrese Maxey been more vocal than usual with the teammates on the court?

From the sound of it, the answer to this is an emphatic yes. Maxey has used his voice a whole lot more over the last two years; James Harden's departure forcing him into the lead guard role really empowered him to become more of a vocal leader. Many times since then, Maxey has credited Joel Embiid with encouraging him to be as loud as he wants to be as he tries to establish himself as a leader of this team.

At Media Day on Friday, player after player rallied around the idea of the Sixers needing better standards as far as what they bring to the floor each night, regardless of which players are available and which players are sidelined. Maxey seemed like the ultimate champion of that cause.

With Embiid and Paul George having futures riddled with injury-related uncertainty, Maxey is the most stable presence the Sixers have. He knows it. Maxey is now entering year six in the NBA (he was not pleased with me for mentioning this at Media Day, but 24-year-olds are still young), and while there are areas of his game that remain imperfect, he has really come into form as a leader.

Don't believe me? Take it from his teammates. Maxey's growth as a leader was a common talking point at Media Day and after the team's two weekend practices. A few quotes that stood out:

• Justin Edwards: "Tyrese's leadership is really good with the off-court stuff, he's someone I've looked to when I need advice on certain things. We went to the same college. He knows what he needs to do and what he expects from me, so hearing what I have to do from someone that's one of the main guys, it's kind of easy, because I'm on the court with him, so him telling me what I need to do and what I need to get better at is really helpful."

• Kyle Lowry: "I think he's at that point. His maturation is getting there. I think he's starting to realize -- how good of a basketball player he is, he's always known -- but also how good of a leader he is. And once you start to put those two together, it takes you to a different level of your belief in yourself and your abilities. You guys know him, he smiles all day, he's laughing all day, he's happy, he's competitive as heck. And he wants to win. But bringing everybody together is an innate ability that he's starting to figure out that he has, because he's really good at basketball but he's also a really good person, so he can do that and everyone respects him."

• Joel Embiid: "Everybody has their own ways of leading. He's good. His demeanor, always smiling, talking, that's what it is. Obviously I'm a little bit more on the quieter side from the outside... That's why we're such a good match. Sometimes you need that. You need the quiet person that does the little things that might not be seen, and you also need Tyrese, because that's his personality and I like that. That's why it's such a good combination. It goes back to him being a good kid, humble, [willing to] listen. So I think that goes a long way."

From @kevol36.bsky.social: Based on what you’ve seen/heard so far, is it realistic to think that VJ Edgecombe can be in the starting lineup to begin the season?

It is a clear possibility that Edgecombe starts for the Sixers on opening night in Boston in a few weeks, though I would not bet on it if the odds were even. Edgecombe has clearly impressed quite a bit early on, and Jared McCain is almost certainly not going to play to open the season after tearing the UCL in his right thumb. I remain of the expectation that Quentin Grimes will have rejoined the Sixers by Wednesday night at 11:59 p.m., the deadline for him to accept his $8.7 million qualifying offer, but that does not necessarily preclude Edgecombe from starting.

With Paul George's status for opening night very much up in the air, perhaps Sixers head coach Nick Nurse will consider starting all three of Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes. He has already discussed utilizing three-guard lineups on multiple occasions; even without McCain in the rotation for the time being, it is probably something the Sixers should be relying on as a staple of their substitution patterns.

If there is anyone excited about the idea of Edgecombe being thrown into the fire, it is the No. 3 overall pick himself. The 20-year-old carries himself with immense self-belief. While Edgecombe acknowledged that he was initially awestruck by how good NBA players are, he has no shortage of confidence that he can hang.

"That's been my mindset, before I even played in the NBA, that I knew I could compete," Edgecombe said on Saturday. "It's just a mentality thing for me... I was blessed with different abilities to go out there and compete."

In a starting role, Edgecombe would spend the vast majority of his time off the ball. His spot-up three-point shooting, still somewhat of a work in progress, would become the focus. Edgecombe has not wanted to discuss any specifics of his offseason training, but it sounds like reworking his jumper a bit was among his top priorities. Edgecombe explained what he was trying to change.

"I was flat. Like, I had a flat shot in college," Edgecombe said. "So now my arc is going better than it was a month ago... It's weird, it's crazy, now it's weird for me to shoot it flat. I know when my shot is flat now."

MORE: More takeaways from Sixers' first practices

From @common-nocturne.bsky.social: I know you have talked about the Quentin Grimes situation at length, but do you believe that the team's desire to duck the luxury tax is why they aren’t compromising with Grimes for a fair contract? Using their leverage to force him to take the qualifying offer seems to undermine the whole point of having leverage?

I do not believe the Sixers decided that their end goal in the Grimes negotiations is to reduce their luxury tax bill or enable themselves to eventually duck the tax entirely, and then reverse engineered a path to get there. However, I do think one of the benefits of driving down the price for Grimes would be gaining some flexibility as far as the tax is concerned.

Ducking the tax does not provide any basketball benefit, but if an ownership group has any willingness to pay tax bills for contending teams, there is a better chance of it doing so if it has not just paid one for a non-contending team. The savings are also greater than what meets the eye; in addition to no longer having to pay a tax bill, the team becomes a recipient of payments from teams that did stay over the tax. It is why getting under the threshold in the midst of a disappointing campaign is common practice for NBA teams.

On Thursday and Friday, key figures on both sides of the Grimes negotiations were extremely skeptical about a long-term deal being struck. The options, then, become the $8.7 million qualifying offer or a one-year balloon deal in which the Sixers pay Grimes more than that and he waives his right to veto trades. For a team with three max contracts and a real chance of not being able to reasonably contend, it would be difficult to imagine Sixers ownership not wanting to have maneuverability around the tax line.

For luxury tax and team-building reasons, squeezing Grimes into the most cost-effective deal possible is a major positive. But team-building goals trump ones related to the tax. Failing to lock in a multiyear deal with Grimes could result in the qualifying offer and in turn the Sixers being unable to trade the 25-year-old guard without his consent. The Sixers' ability to shake up their roster if and when necessary will be notably restricted if Grimes takes his qualifying offer. The team knows this and claims its goal is still to hammer out a long-term contract, though it is not discussing the qualifying offer as a doomsday scenario.

By 11:59 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, we will know whether or not Grimes has taken his qualifying offer or bridged one of two massive gaps that currently exist between his representation and the Sixers: how much money he should earn on a one-year balloon deal to buy out his veto power or how much money he should earn annually on a multiyear pact.

MORE: Grimes' agent sounds off on Sixers