The Philadelphia 76ers have high expectations for this 2020 bubble inside of Disney World. Those expectations include bringing a championship back to the City of Brotherly Love.
Those are expectations are due to the addition of Al Horford made in the summer of 2019 and that set the bar high in the 2019-20 season. Things did not work out as planned in the season as the Horford and Joel Embiid pairing was not good offensively and the team made a big change to the rotation in time for the season resumption.
Despite the big change of moving Horford to the bench, the Sixers are still counting on him to make a big impact as the season moves forward. His leadership and his mindset on an every game basis are what make him so valuable to the Sixers.
“Al makes the game easier for me to be honest because when he’s on the court, he’s a big threat,” said shooter Furkan Korkmaz. “He can shoot, especially threes and long twos, he’s really good at it. Then he likes to swing the ball and then move, keep us moving. On our team, we have different plays on the court for different types of players, but with Al, we are moving the ball and running more plays.”
On top of that, Horford is a 5-time All-Star who has been to the Eastern Conference Finals three times in his career. That experience is going to be a huge asset to them come playoff time. As a savvy veteran, he can be the difference in a lot of moments for them in the playoffs.
“I think it’s going to be difficult for us to maximize what I think we can do without Al being Al,” said coach Brett Brown. “The two things that stand out most to me is his ability to make threes and really stretch the floor. If you had to just jump on one thing, for me, that’s it offensively.”
In Wednesday’s win over the Washington Wizards, Horford made a big difference off the bench defensively to swing the tide in favor of Philadelphia’s. While he is no Embiid in terms of rim protection, he can still move his feet and be physical when the game calls for it.
“Look at what he’s done with the month before the season was cut short and look at what he’s done here and even what I’ve seen in our practice scrimmages, I think that’s trending that we need,” Brown added. “Then defensively, that rim protection, he’s not Joel Embiid. We have him up a little bit further, say in a middle pick-and-roll as an example, judging just those basic areas of offense and defense, I think dictate that we need Al to be Al to reach what I think is a pretty special potential.”
Come playoff time, Horford could very well be the difference in the Sixers going on a deep playoff run or another early exit. [lawrence-related id=36266,36257,36227]