The importance of Josh Richardson has been talked about at length for the Philadelphia 76ers, but with a little change in offensive philosophy, he has become even more important for the Sixers.
During the 0-4 road trip, the Sixers began throwing a little wrinkle into their offensive system that uses Ben Simmons as the screener and the roller in coach Brett Brown’s offense rather than being the initiator. That allows Simmons to be able to use his athleticism around the basket and puts less onus on him making jumpers–for the moment at least.
All of this would not be possible without Richardson’s ability to create for others from the shooting guard spot. Some would call this a luxury as the Sixers have two guys who can create offensively in the starting lineup, but Brown has a different word for Richardson.
“You shouldn’t use the word luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Brown succinctly. “You’re not going to do it otherwise. So we can say ‘Oh we love Ben as a screen-setter’, well you better find someone that can deliver the person to the screen.”
There are a lot of things involved with running a pick-and-roll where your point guard is not initiating it. Philadelphia has to use different ways of running this due to the fact that they are an oddly constructed roster. So that’s where Richardson is able to come in and run things from his spot on the floor.
“Then you’ve got to have somebody navigate the defense behind it, then you’ve got to find somebody to deliver a perfect pass to the corner of the backboard if Ben’s capable to do that,” Brown continued. “The skill sets are far-reaching. So a luxury isn’t my word, a necessity is or I wouldn’t run it.”
The Sixers return home on Monday to host a young Oklahoma City Thunder team so this gives them another opportunity to grow within this system and try to gain more comfort with running it. [lawrence-related id=22766,22745,22736]