In their opening loss on Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers had a lot of issues that they need to address. One of them was their lack of defensive effort and toughness, another was an abundance of turnovers, and another was a lack of help from other guys.
While Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris combined for 90 points, the rest of the Sixers could not find a groove. One of those other guys that need to help more is Josh Richardson who only took four shots on the night for four points and he seemed a little invisible.
“I always challenge him ‘you go ahead and put your own thumbprint on the game and take what the game gives you’,” said coach Brett Brown. “I think that he can be even more aggressive just in organic play. If you look at the Clipper game where he effectively won us the game, I didn’t call one play for him. That is a mindset more than anything. That’s my message, that’s my challenge, and that’s my admittance to myself of how do you make sure you keep him appreciated? He’s good people, he’s a great teammate, and we need his heart right where it needs to be in relation to how important he is to our defensive DNA.”
In that win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Richardson came up huge in the fourth scoring 17 points and playing lockdown defense on Paul George. The Sixers do not call many plays for him so they will need him to open up a bit more and try to find his own offense.
Now, to be fair, the Sixers had a big height advantage against Indiana due to them missing Domantas Sabonis. That allowed Embiid to score 41 points with 21 rebounds and Simmons was able to get in the paint fairly easily, but Richardson is an important part of this team too.
“I’ve got to throw him a bone from time to time,” Brown added. “This is the reality of the team. You look at Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, they took, and they should’ve, the lion’s share of the shots and it’s always going to be an acceptance of a role. An admittance of these are mismatches. Last night it was clear where our bread was buttered and we went to it.”
Richardson can be an important piece of this team’s success. They will have to find a way to include him more on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs. [lawrence-related id=36017,36010,35999]