Al Horford has had a tough time adjusting to a new season with the Philadelphia 76ers, but he still is a well-respected veteran in the league. He is also still an effective player when put in the right situation.
With the Sixers, he has had to share the floor with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and that makes things very compact and suffocating on the offensive end of the floor. That explains his lack of production across the board from his previous with the Boston Celtics.
Due to Horford’s reputation, he is still ranked among the top 100 players in the NBA in a list put together by Bleacher Report. He comes in ranked 81st on their list just ahead of Myles Turner and just behind Tim Hardaway Jr.
B/R on Horford’s ranking:
The 76ers have been minus-2.4 points per 100 possessions with Horford at the 4 and plus-5.8 points per 100 possessions with him at the 5.
This experiment may have made a bit more sense three or four years ago, but Horford’s age (34) and the continuing evolution toward positionless basketball have simply made him too slow and interior-oriented to play power forward.
Yes, Horford has shown an ability to hit threes, though he’s at just 33.7 percent this season, but he still has a propensity to work inside. And it’s fair to wonder if his career-high volume from three has contributed to the decline in efficiency.
Horford has handled his new role of coming off the bench so far in Orlando training camp with class and he has been more of a vocal leader as well. If he can buy into this new role fully, the Sixers will be very dangerous in the restart. [lawrence-related id=34811,34806,34800]