The Philadelphia 76ers will obviously go as far as Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will take them, but they will also need help from the rest of the roster to push them in the right direction.
The team’s bench unit includes proven veterans such as Dwight Howard and George Hill who will be asked to provide some leadership on both ends of the floor. Hill is a guy who will be asked to run the offense as well as be a solid perimeter defender while Howard will have to make sure Embiid gets his rest.
They will also be asked to lead the team’s younger bench players. The Sixers have younger guys such as Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz, and Tyrese Maxey who will be asked to contribute, but they also don’t have the experience that their veteran teammates have.
“The one message is we all got to be on the same page,” said Howard. “We know how crucial this second unit is to our offense and our defense and to what we’re trying to accomplish in the playoffs. We have to be on the same page at all times. We know we have three young guys who’ve never had this much, I would say, they haven’t been put in this position in their careers being first, second year, third-year players.”
The more valuable thing about having players like Howard and Hill is that both players are willing to help out the youngsters on the roster. They are all willing to lend a hand and be able to take the next step forward with them.
“Their role coming off the bench is like we need you guys to do everything,” Howard added. “I’m looking forward to it. I have supreme confidence and our young guys. I think Max, Shake, and Tisse have had an unbelievable season. I think we want to make sure going to the playoffs, we help these guys out as much as possible.”
A guy like Milton, for example, has had a solid season averaging 13.0 points and 3.1 assists off the bench. He is the one guy the Sixers will continue to rely on for his offensive production and he will be leaning on the veterans to help him along the way.
“Dwight’s energy, you always get that type of feel from him,” said Milton. “Then, of course, G just from both of those players and also Danny (Green), just people who have been there before. You can definitely hear their voice echoing, not any messages to me personally, but whenever they talk, I always try to just make sure I’m a sponge whether it applies to me directly or not just so I can have all the tools I need to be successful in the game.”
The Sixers and the Washington Wizards will finally begin their playoff journey on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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