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On Tuesday, the trade between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers that sent Al Horford and Theo Maledon to OKC was finalized.
Horford and Maledon have yet to join the team in practice, but head coach Mark Daigneault is looking forward to adding them into the mix.
With a player of Horford’s experience, Daigneault said, the Thunder have another player who adds onto their history of rostering highly talent players.
“He’s yet another guy that we’re extremely fortunate that we’re able to have, a player of his caliber, a person of his caliber in our organization,” Daigneault said. “It just layers onto the legacy that exists here, all the great players that have come through here before.”
Horford’s lone season in Philadelphia hurt his status as one of the league’s better bigs, but in his prior stops with the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics, he was a true difference-maker on the court.
He has made the playoffs in every season he has been in the NBA.
Over Horford’s nine seasons with the Hawks, he averaged 14.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.8 steals per game.
In three seasons with the Celtics, the center’s role changed a bit with Boston’s different system. He had more playmaking duties and averaged 4.6 assists, including a career-high 5.0 per game in 2016-17, and expanded his range. He made 38.2% of his 3.2 3-pointers per game with Boston.
While his role changed, he still served best playing out of the post on both ends of the ball, and this clashed with Joel Embiid on the Sixers. Philadelphia traded him in part because the spacing on the floor was very poor with the two of them on the court.
That shouldn’t be an issue in Oklahoma City. Daigneault has emphasized his desire for positionless basketball, which will lead to Darius Bazley playing next to Horford at power forward. Aleksej Pokusevski, a rookie center, is thought to have a wide range of talents that allows him to serve a playmaker role even from the perimeter. Mike Muscala is a shooter. T.J. Leaf is vying for a rotation role and, off the bench, shouldn’t clash with Horford.
Daigneault thinks Horford can make the impact on the Thunder that he has on most other teams, which comes with his off-court presence.
The coach mentioned Horford and George Hill as experienced players who can add to the franchise.
“We’re extremely fortunate that they’re here,” Daigneault said. “They’re gonna add tremendous value to the organization while they’re here, so we’re really looking forward to getting started with them.”
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