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The Philadelphia 76ers took a huge gamble in the offseason of 2019 when they brought in veteran Al Horford on a 4-year $109 million deal. At the time, the deal was met with skepticism as the two big men lineups had become obsolete in the NBA.
It turned out that Horford’s first season next to Joel Embiid was a rocky one as he struggled to find his niche next to Embiid and Ben Simmons.
2019-20 season averages
11.9 points
6.8 rebounds
4.0 assists
45% overall percentage
35% from deep
In hindsight, it is clear that Horford is a bad fit next to the star duo that the Sixers possess. His game is made more for being a center than a power forward and the Sixers were not able to really make the fit work. His season averages were his lowest since his rookie season with the Atlanta Hawks.
He had an offensive rating of only 104.2 as a power forward per Cleaning the Glass and it was 114.7 as a center. This was due to the fact that he was able to have the space he needed to operate with Embiid off the floor and he was able to be the 5-time All-Star he has been the majority of his career.
In the playoffs, Horford–much like Tobias Harris–was a mess as the Sixers were swept out of Round 1 by the Boston Celtics. He averaged only 7.0 points and 7.3 rebounds and he missed all four of his attempts from deep and he could not make a big impact defensively as he had to chase around Celtics wing Jaylen Brown.
Moving forward, the new coach will have to figure out how to make Horford work with Embiid. The pairing did have a 115.2 offensive rating with Simmons off the floor in 389 possessions so it does have the potential to work, but Philadelphia is not going to all of a sudden push Simmons or Embiid out of the picture. They’re just going to have to figure this out. [lawrence-related id=37294,37291,37266]