CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Philadelphia 76ers knew what they had to take care of when they began the offseason: They needed more two-way players and they needed toughness.
They brought in PJ Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Danuel House Jr. and Montrezl Harrell to bolster the supporting cast around James Harden and Joel Embiid.
Those four additions have a couple of things in common. They check both items on the Sixers’ needs list, but they are also former members of the Houston Rockets.
Tucker, House Jr. and Harrell played with Harden while in Houston, and Melton was drafted by the Rockets before he was moved to the Phoenix Suns. Team president Daryl Morey is also obviously from the Rockets’ organization. Now all are playing with the Sixers with Harden and on Day 1 of camp, it was a topic of discussion.
“It makes your job, when you’re coming to work, like I know these guys,” said House Jr. “I can go out there, I can work, I can do me, they know me. In games, when I gotta step it up, they rely on me, they trust me to do my part, and not only that, it’s good off-the-court chemistry.”
Melton also had a few laughs with it as he was joking around with Harrell when he first showed up to the team.
“When I first saw Trezz, I was like ‘Man! What do we got going on with this connection?’ I forgot that he played in Houston, too,” Melton laughed. “I was just like ‘This is wild that Doc (Rivers) and Daryl is bringing their whole group back.’ ”
The good thing about all of these onetime Rockets joining the Sixers is it will make the chemistry much easier to conjure.
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