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The Philadelphia 76ers are given a chance to resume their title chase in 2020 as the NBA season will resume in Orlando which has been designated as the league’s “bubble site”. In order to do so, they will need plenty of guys to step up and help their star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid get to the mountaintop of the NBA.
There is one wild card that will play into how far the Sixers go in the 2020 playoffs and that is big man Al Horford. Philadelphia gave the former All-Star big man a 4-year $109 million deal in the hopes that he and Embiid would form a formidable tandem down low and that they would succeed on the floor. Instead, they had not been able to find their groove and they were the 6 seed in the East at the time of the league suspension.
Horford has been named the wild card for Philadelphia by Bleacher Report for the playoffs as they said:
The Sixers can make it work if Horford is banging in threes. He’s not. He’s shooting 33.7 percent from behind the rainbow for the season, and not surprisingly, Philadelphia is a net negative with him on the floor since Christmas.
Staggering his minutes from Embiid’s offers a little cushion. That’s in part why the Sixers acquired Horford: to help navigate stretches without their best player. But those stints will be fewer and further between in the playoffs, assuming Embiid plays more minutes. (He might not.)
Philadelphia’s defense with the two big men has been elite and that is what gives the Sixers a chance to win the 2020 title. However, they have got to figure it out on the offensive end of the floor. The team’s offensive rating with Simmons, Embiid, and Horford on the floor together is only 99.3 per Cleaning the Glass.
It will be interesting to see if the time off gave Horford the rest he needs to get this done and help the Sixers to their ultimate goal. They will need him at his best to make sure they get the job done. [lawrence-related id=33723,33714,33704]