When the Philadelphia 76ers brought in Al Horford on a big contract in the summer of 2019, the idea was to have him and Joel Embiid play together and have them bully their opponents on their way to a title run. However, that has not been the case and the pairing has been pretty underwhelming on the offensive end.
The two of them have an offensive rating of just 101.1 per Cleaning the Glass while Embiid’s individual offensive rating is at 109.2 and Horford is at 114.7. Obviously, the Sixers have much more success when one is on the floor without the other.
Through a Zoom conference call on Friday, Horford did say he felt much more comfortable playing at a faster pace.
“For me, just playing a little bit more up-tempo, there’s a lot of ball movement, those are some of the things we try to emphasize,” he explained. “That’s one of our strengths so I think when the ball is moving and we’re getting high assist numbers, that adds to the strength of our team.”
A faster pace favors more towards Ben Simmons. The Simmons and Horford combination has an offensive rating of 114.4 on the season and that could be one of the motivating factors for coach Brett Brown to stagger the Embiid and Horford minutes when the season resumes in Orlando.
This team can play fast with Simmons, Horford, and Embiid out there. Maybe not to the breakneck style that Simmons would probably like to play at, but Embiid is a willing passer and that is something that should benefit Horford and Philadelphia as a whole when the season does resume at Disney World.
“The way that I look at it is, we have another opportunity. We have like a reset type of button,” Horford added. “We’re healthy as a team so for me, it’s about being as prepared that I can.” [lawrence-related id=33962,33946,33954]