The Philadelphia 76ers made a splashy move in the offseason when they brought in Al Horford from the rival Boston Celtics on a 4-year $109 million deal. The plan was to play some smashmouth basketball between him and Joel Embiid down low and it just has not worked out the way the team planned.
On the defensive end, it hs worked as the Sixers become a very stifling defensive team with those on the floor, but it’s the offensive end that needs work. The pairing has been very clunky in that respect and they have not had much offensive success.
At the time, the move looked like a potentially great investment for Philadelphia, but time has proven that thought wrong. A free agency report card performed by Bleacher Report gave the Sixers a very low rating.
B/R gave the Sixers a letter grade of a “D” as they said:
A strong playoff performance could raise a near-failing grade on this deal, but as it stands now, the Sixers grossly overspent.
In its defense, Philadelphia knew it had to address its consistent collapses whenever Joel Embiid went to the bench, and there was additional logic to signing the big man who was better than most at slowing Embiid in past matchups. Bolster a point of weakness and deny competitors the chance to add a potent anti-Sixers weapon. Two birds, one stone.
On the bright side, Philly has a plus-5.3 net rating when Horford mans the center spot without Embiid on the court. But it’s troubling that units including both Horford and Embiid have mostly failed, producing a negative net rating and struggling mightily to score in the 1,123 non-garbage-time possessions they’ve logged.
A strong playoff performance could change all of this for the Sixers. If they can prove that they are, in fact, built for the playoffs with this group, then it still ends up being a great investment. However, should they fall early, then all of that optimism goes out the window and the move would be appropriately labeled as a bust. [lawrence-related id=33939,33930,33921]