Here and there, after surprisingly losing in the first season as Sixer, Josh Richardson had indicated as even freely acknowledged internal problems that went beyond Xs and Os.
If you follow closely or read between the lines, there were a few consistent threads. Sunday, after the team’s season ended with a 110-106 Game 4 loss to the Celtics, Richardson made it all clear earlier.
It started when he was asked his thoughts on head coach Brett Brown.
“He’s a good boy,” Richardson said via video conference. “He’s a good man. He means well. I think just keep going, we just need to have some more responsibility. I do not think there was much responsibility this season and I think this was part of our problem. ”
The natural follow-up question was to ask how the Sixers could adapt to that issue of accountability. Richardson’s statement was not removed.
It just has to start, ”he said. There must always be a day 1. We just have to start from the beginning. It will not be easy and we will not be comfortable, but that is what championship teams do. (When) boys do not do their job on or in court, there must be some sort of consequence – no consequence, but we must be able to talk and listen to each other.
“And not (just) listening to say something back, but actually listening (to each other). It’s a hard lesson to learn for some people, but to make for us this playoff run that I think we all want, I knew we all want, it has to start.
Richardson was acquired last summer in a sign-and-trade deal with the Miami Heat, an organization known for being proud of culture and keeping players to high standards, especially in terms of condition. In some ways, his remarks paralleled the attitude of Jimmy Butler, the player who sent the Sixers to Miami.
Butler had a slightly mischievous smile following Game 2 of last year’s first-round playoff series vs. the Nets when he told a foul half-speech that Brown had delivered. It was not the norm, Butler suggested, but he preferred the profane and compromising approach.
“Yeah, he came in here and said a few kisses,” Butler said. ‘Shocked me a little, to tell you the truth. But I find it beautiful. That’s that type of energy I love. Just make sure everyone did their job, and let them know you can not have it – it’s not basketball winning. ”
Tobias Harris, widely regarded as one of the team’s leaders, gave a typical diplomacy and measured response about Brown.
‘When Ben (Simmons) went down, I thought Coach did a good job trying to get us up,’ he said, ‘and let’s go on and keep our minds up to play – you go down one game, you go two down, just keep the atmosphere and mood up. First of all I will take ownership on myself and try to be a leader of this team and not be able to be successful in the playoffs.
“Before we go this route, property must come at the end of the individual’s day. I’m not going one way or the other. I need to look at myself in the mirror and be better for my team and be able to lead my team in a better way. “
Last May, Joel Embiid referred to the buzz that Brown’s job could be in jeopardy as “bull —.” Like Richardson, he praised the person on Brown on Sunday, but did not take a position on whether he should keep his job.
“I’m not the GM,” he said. ‘I do not make the decisions. All I know is that we have a great organization, a lot of great people. … I never judge people based on basketball, I judge them based on how … they are (as people). I think there are great people in our organization. From the owners, management, staff, coaching staff, training staff. We have a lot of great people. ”
The decision on Brown’s fate is also not in Richardson’s hands, but he made it clear that if he were to remain a Sixer – he is under contract in 2020-21 and has a player option next season – he thinks that there need to be big changes in how the team is led and how players deal with each other.
“I think we had good communication here (at Disney World),” he said. ‘I think we all had good intentions. I think in court, we’ve done a better job of listening. But there must be some conflict. I think this is our next step, it might be to have some conflict on the bench, as you saw in one of our first (seeding) games. I think this was good for us.
‘I think we should be comfortable in awkward times – in times of conflict, in times when when I’m not doing my job, I want someone to kick me out. That’s exactly where I grew up, that’s where I came from. I have seen good teams and I know that conflict and accountability are a big part of it. “
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