76ers' Josh Richardson is Focused on Rebuilding Team Chemistry

When Adam Silver initially made the call to suspend the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers were led to believe they could continue to use their practice facility throughout the suspension. A couple of days into the hiatus, however, the NBA instructed all organizations to close practice facilities as well.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shut sports down for months, members of the Sixers had to find other ways to stay in shape. Veteran guard Josh Richardson flocked down to Florida to work out in private gyms, keeping his personal conditioning in check. 

But the former member of the Miami Heat knows that being healthy and in shape is only half the battle to making a run this summer. Richardson understands team chemistry is key to winning basketball games. And the outspoken guard recently admitted team chemistry could take a hit from this pandemic. 

"There's no real way to keep great chemistry honestly with the way things have been," Richardson claimed on Monday afternoon. "We can't train together; people have been quarantining, so it's kind of tough to keep that [chemistry going]. We've been in contact, just talking about some stuff. Not really about basketball, but just life things. I think that's important to keep the chemistry the way things were before."

Sixers veteran forward Tobias Harris garnered praise by having the team stay in contact through group chats and Zoom meetings during the hiatus keeping the team morale high. Now, the 76ers will have to spend the next few weeks re-building on-court relationships with each other before they return to action on August 1st.

"We still don't all get to work out together," Richardson said. "But just to see someone else on a court [for individual workouts] is good for your spirits. I'm excited to see when everybody can get on and start playing." On Thursday, July 9th, the Sixers are scheduled to travel to Orlando, Florida, for training camp 2.0. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @JGrasso_