For an NBA team to be going through their regular routines of a rigorous NBA season and then have such a huge change happen such as the coronavirus pandemic rip them away from each other, that can be a huge difference for them in terms of chemistry. Guys are away from each other, they can’t play together, they can’t work out, or anything of the like.
For the Philadelphia 76ers, this was a huge difference for them as they already had to implement a lot of new pieces to their team and that caused waves up and down the roster. The league suspension forced them to find a new way of coming together.
“I think that’s the most difficult part being away from each other,” said Glenn Robinson III. “You know, most of the time we spend more time with each other than we do our families, our brothers our sisters so our children.”
In an effort to keep everybody together, Tobias Harris stepped up in a big way keeping the team involved in group chats as a way to grow some chemistry.
“We’ve constantly been in group texts. Tobias has done a great job of kind of leading that route of communication,” Robinson III continued. “I think that that’s the most important point. Especially, for a championship-caliber team is that we’re all connected on the same page. We got a lot of great guys in the locker room a lot of guys that care about each other and that’s what we need first. So it’s really good to see that. I know I got text messages from all my teammates just checking in on me in my house in my family.”
Harris has continued to step into a role as a leader for this team even while they are away from each other and in different parts of the world. His ability to keep the team together during a time such as this one should not go unnoticed. That chemistry off the court can follow a team on to the floor and it can be the difference-maker for a team chasing a title. [lawrence-related id=33921,33912,33902]