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The Philadelphia 76ers may have been through a lot in recent years, but the matter of the fact is, they are still a young team. Their two best players–Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid–are 24 and 26-years old, respectively, and they still have a lot of growing to do.
Shake Milton is now moving into the starting lineup and he is only 23-years old and he is in his second season in the league and even Josh Richardson is only 26 with Tobias Harris clocking in at 28. These guys are talented and they have seen a lot in their NBA careers, but they are still young and that is where Al Horford comes in.
Horford boasts a 13-year NBA career resume with five All-Star appearances on it and he has been deep into the playoffs three times in his career to the Eastern Conference Finals. The 34-year old signed a 4-year $109 million deal in the offseason expecting to help the Sixers go deep into the playoffs, but with the awkwardness of the roster, Philadelphia has moved him to a bench role, but he still continues to have a presence on this team.
“I think we’ve talked before coming into this position and this team already having success, for me was just coming in here and feeling everything out,” said Horford. “Now we’ve been together for quite a while, we’ve had some really good weeks preparing here and practicing. I feel more comfortable and I’m just out there trying to help the group in any way that I can.”
As the season gets set to officially resume on Saturday, the games are about to turn up in terms of intensity and the level of play is about to go up. The Sixers will certainly be led by the young star duo, but Philadelphia will need a lot of help out of Horford to be that calming presence for them when things get tough. Especially in the playoffs.
“The intensity is going to start to pick up in games which means much more,” Horford added. “This is a position you want to be in. You want to be in these types of positions.”
The games officially begin on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST inside the bubble in Orlando. [lawrence-related id=35770,35759,35749]