The Philadelphia 76ers are obviously a work in progress. They are trying to work things out on the offensive end of the floor and they’re trying to figure out why they struggle so much on the road.
In an effort to fix their offense and try to find more spacing, coach Brett Brown made a bold move of moving 5-time All-Star Al Horford to the bench. The Sixers brought Horford in over the offseason on a 4-year $109 million deal to team up with Joel Embiid to form one of the better frontline duos in the league.
Unfortunately, they have not been able to find a groove on offense as the team only has a pace of 98.8 with them on the floor together. For a guy like Horford, it can be hard to really accept a lesser role, but Brown is talking his veteran big man through it.
“There’s a human side of this that I take pride in figuring that out as best I can,” said Brown. “Relationships and communication sort of rules our world I think in many jobs, it certainly does in mine. So, walking that line of not being repetitive, not minimizing the significance of it. He’s a prideful man. He’s got a history that he has been rewarded with the contract that he has, and just keeping it very straight, very clean, very quick, and this is how I see it. This is why I see it this way, and not you know being apologetic about it. I want to try to help him help us.”
Horford has since accepted his bench role gracefully, but he has struggled to really produce basketball-wise. He was a minus-26 in just 18 minutes in Thursday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets. He and Embiid shared the floor to begin the second quarter and the Nets ripped off a quick 16-0 run as Philadelphia looked discombobulated.
However, Brown recalls a personal experience with the San Antonio Spurs to try and work this out with Horford.
“You’re very honest with how you see it and why you see it the way and he’s been great,” he said about Thursday. “We brought (Manu) Ginobili off the bench for many years and like that’s my most personal example that I can share with him, and how it wasn’t smooth at the start, there’s pride involved, but you end up where you end up. I think that his human nature of being selfless and a tremendous person and teammate is filtered into that competitive spirit in that pride. So far, like I feel like he’s in an okay place last night wasn’t a great night. But, you know, that’s an outlier in so many ways to me.”
Ultimately, the Sixers brought Horford in for a title run in the playoffs. They will be facing off against teams like the Indiana Pacers and the Toronto Raptors who have two quality big men. That is where Horford will make his biggest impact.
“We have seen the history of Al Horford and all of us would be very naïve to think that some of his signing wasn’t driven to where we think we want to be in April, May, and we hope June,” Brown explained. “Just progress out like look ahead to see the matchups. It’s game whatever it is with 26 games left. I think the communication and how I speak to Al is for me is driven, with those sort of core tenants in mind that I try to stick to.”
The Sixers will now look to figure out the road issues on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks. [lawrence-related id=26211,26219,26202]