The Philadelphia 76ers are a complicated bunch. This team went out and made big moves in the offseason of 2019 and there were high expectations for the 2019-20 season after coming oh so close to advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals the season before.
Those big moves included bringing in former All-star big man Al Horford on a 4-year $109 million deal to team up with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to lead the Sixers to new heights. The Horford-Embiid duo has been great defensively, but they have been a mess on offense and the fit has been questioned all season.
However, a strong ending to the games played before the league was suspended due to the global coronavirus pandemic and a few months off before getting back to work for a season resumption in Orlando, Horford still believes he and Embiid are fine and that the team is truly built for the playoffs–echoing coach Brett Brown’s sentiments.
“It’s a great opportunity for our team,” he explained. “The way the season was going before it stopped, we had some positives, we got it going there towards the end. We felt like, especially with that last game that we played, and Ben’s future was so uncertain and now that he’s good to go, we have our full team and our full roster, and I believe that our group is built for the playoffs.”
The team’s up and down regular-season can be attributed to a lot of new pieces that the team added in the offseason–which also included acquiring Josh Richardson from the Miami Heat–and that can be an issue throughout a lot of games. The season resuming in Orlando is a second chance for Philadelphia.
“The regular season’s always tough and we can have new pieces and new guys trying to mesh,” the veteran added. “I believe this is a second chance for us and a great opportunity to be in a better place.”
There is no doubt that the Sixers are talented. Simmons and Embiid are two of the top players in the game, Horford is a proven veteran, Tobias Harris is a borderline All-Star, and Richardson is a versatile player. Throw in young talented young players such as Furkan Korkmaz, Shake Milton, and Matisse Thybulle and you have the looking of a contender.
Those are a lot of versatile players who can do a lot of different things. They can make plays not only for themselves, but for others as well, and that gives Horford the confidence in this group.
“For me, it is to be in a position to be able to make plays,” the former All-Star added. “Obviously, here we lean a lot on Ben to do a lot of that, but me, it comes to me more off that secondary option making sure that the ball is moving and that I’m getting the ball to Furkan coming off a screen or J-Rich coming off the screen and things like that and getting other guys involved. I do believe that’s going to be a strength of our group.”
Other than for his obvious talent and experience, the Sixers also brought him in to be that secondary playmaker from the big man spot. He’s averaging 4.1 assists this season and that ability makes things work for them.
“Not only Ben and his playmaking, Tobias will be handling the ball, J-Rich will handle the ball, Shake Milton, myself as one of the bigs out there will have to do some of that,” he finished with. “That’s why I really believe that we’re built more for playoff basketball.”
They will get their chance on August 1 against the Indiana Pacers. [lawrence-related id=33991,33980,33962]