PHILADELPHIA — Although Paul Reed was only teammates with James Harden and P.J. Tucker for just over a season and a half and just over a season respectively on the Philadelphia 76ers, he learned crucial lessons from bot of them.

Harden's steadfast desire to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers created lots of tension around the Sixers. While Harden did his best to keep things cool with his teammates and coaches, the clock was ticking on an eventual trade. Tucker and Filip Petrusev ended up being in the deal that landed the Sixers Robert Covington, Marcus Morris Sr., Nicolas Batum, K.J. Martin and draft picks. Now that it's over, Reed said isn’t holding any hard feelings.

“I mean, it was kind of crazy but I'm happy for him,” Reed said of the trade at the Sixers pregame morning shootaround. “This is what he wanted, apparently, so I'm just happy he got somewhere he wanted to be at.”

Although Harden's split with the team was ugly, his teammates have continued to say that they valued the time they shared. Tyrese Maxey said he loves Harden and that he helped boost his confidence. Reed discussed what he learned from Harden as Philly prepares to play its first game following the trade.

“What I learned from James was just how to really conduct myself on the court and off the court,” Reed said. “Also, just learning different angles about screens and I feel like he helped me learn the game, look at the game in a different perspective as far as like me being a big, setting screens, getting my guards open. He helped me with that a lot.”

Tucker and Reed were the pillars of physicality for last year's Sixers. The veteran forward's professionalism and tenacity rubbed off on the young big man.

“He helped me with my mindset,” Reed said. “Like, coming into practice with the right mentality. Him being a championship player, it means a lot when he's giving me pointers about how to take it more serious and how to approach each game at a different level of intensity.”

The most famous instance of Tucker telling Reed to sharpen up occurred in Game 1 of the conference semifinals last season. Tucker got very intense at Reed after the Boston Celtics secured key offensive rebounds. Reed responded by stepping up in crunch time, sinking four big free throws and coming away with a loose ball.

Now, Reed and the Sixers will look to acclimate the newcomers. He anticipates that they will be able to “catch on pretty quickly” and that the players who have been there will help them out.