The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to nail down a regular playoff rotation for when the postseason rolls around in roughly seven weeks. So that is why when coach Brett Brown made the move of inserting Al Horford into the starting lineup on Monday, it raised eyebrows.
Horford was moved to the bench in a February 11 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and Brown recently said that he would like to keep it that way in terms of consistency. However, with Ben Simmons out indefinitely, that throws a wrench into that plan.
“When you don’t have Ben, you start thinking about what you are going to do,” Brown explained. “I look at a start as the opportunity to grow a group that will be playing when Ben is sitting. Ben is not going to be playing 48 minutes. When you look at a group that could play when Ben’s not with us, can I have an opportunity to see who might be able to be the back-up point guard as another legitimate ball-handler? In that design, Al came in.”
Another thing that Sixers fans have to remember is that this is still Al Horford. A guy who is a 5-time All-Star and somebody who has had a ton of success in his career. He has seen it all out on the floor and he is going to be a really big help to this team.
“Was a portion of can I help jump start him? For sure,” Brown continued. “I thought that some of his passes tonight were elite. He really made some adult plays, some sophisticated plays and I started him for those reasons.”
Will Horford continue to start? Maybe. Maybe not. Brown does want to nail down a consistent rotation over the team’s final 24 games and really begin to think about the playoffs. Where Horford lies in all of that remains to be seen, but make no mistake, he will play a big role on this team when April and May roll around. [lawrence-related id=26441,26434,26415]