After the Philadelphia 76ers were shellacked on the road by the Miami Heat on Monday, the team had a players-only meeting led by Josh Richardson before their matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The team did end up losing that game to the Bucks, but they showed some more toughness and an edge that they did not have in the Heat loss. They then came home and led by as many as 33 in an easy win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.
“We sat down, we talked some stuff out, and I think it was good for us to get those things out there,” said Richardson after returning from a left hamstring strain.
Naturally, the players won’t talk about exactly what was said in the meeting, but it was good for them to get together and talk about things and it was good to see Richardson step up and play a leadership role on this team. Especially when considering he is a new guy on this team and he has had the guts to step up and be that vocal guy on this team.
“Everybody has a different role on the team and stepping up in the vocal leadership role might be my things,” he said. “We’re all kind of figuring it out.”
This is not the first time Richardson has spoken up when needed to. He accused the team of not having accountability after a loss earlier in the season so this is not something new for him.
Richardson said that day in December:
I don’t think that there’s enough accountability in our locker room right now, honestly. I think that we got some new guys, who don’t want to step on toes, including myself. I feel like we kind of go play, and don’t compete as much…There’s been games that we have and it’s been great. But when it’s not going good, we got to hold each other accountable. I think that’s where a lot of our problems start.
However, if you ask Tobias Harris, there was no meeting. It was just a simple dialogue.
“We didn’t have no meeting,” Harris said with a smile. “We just had a dialogue.”
What was this dialogue about and what came from it, you ask?
“That’s personal information,” he continued. “It was positive vibes.”
Either way, it’s good to see somebody stepping up and taking on that leadership role for this team and seeing what happens when somebody speaks up.
The Sixers now hope they can carry this into the next one when they host the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night. [lawrence-related id=25215,25201,25190]