The Philadelphia 76ers made a big move in the offseason by bringing in Al Horford on a 4-year $109 million deal that had a lot of people scratching their heads on the fit with him and Joel Embiid. After roughly 54 or so games, coach Brett Brown made the change and moved Horford to the bench ahead of their game with the Los Angeles Clippers right before the All-Star break.
After a full week or so to truly think about it, Horford says he has been given the indication that he will, in fact, continue to come off the bench.
“I believe so,” he said at practice on Wednesday. “It’s what the team needs right now and that’s what we’re doing.”
It’s admirable for a guy like Horford to accept a bench role as he has a ton of success in this league being a 5-time All-Star and a guy who has played a major role for teams that have gone deep into the playoffs. On this team, it’s a necessity as it allows the team to stagger his and Embiid’s minutes a bit.
“I didn’t really give it much thought, to be honest,” Horford added. “I’m just refreshed being back and ready for the second half of the season.”
With the playoffs just around the corner with only 27 games left in the regular season, the Sixes want to really nail down their rotation and make sure everything is ready to go by the time the playoffs roll around. That includes making sure Horford is comfortable in his role and bringing him off the bench.
In terms of finding a new starter? That will be up for grabs.
“I think, at times, it will be dependent upon matchups,” said Brown. “To think it’s going to be erratic, I don’t think that, I think in the rare case like there’s something that’s pretty clear, you’d have to deeply think it through. for instance, let’s say against (Marc) Gasol and (Serge) Ibaka, what are you going to do there as an example. Indiana’s got two legitimate bigs, what are you going to do there, as an example. I’m not married to it as an end-all and be-all, it does interest me the most, and so I intend what you all saw against the Clippers more than not.”
The Sixers get back to work on Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets at home. [lawrence-related id=26059,26048,26040]