When the Philadelphia 76ers signed Al Horford to a 4-year $109 million contract in the offseason, they didn’t envision bringing him off the bench. However, that’s exactly what they did on Tuesday as they moved Horford to the bench in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
To be fair, this could just be a one-time situation due to the Clippers going small, as coach Brett Brown explained after:
“It was originated out of I thought that they were going to go small. I think that in general, I spoke to Al about it, we’re trying to find ways to help him and help the team. I felt that the time was appropriate to do it if we could get that second unit going with Al. We did it with (Manu) Ginobili long ago, Al is obviously a quality player and how I end games will be the judgment.”
Manu Ginobili is the focus here. Brown, obviously, comes from the San Antonio Spurs and he’s a Gregg Popovich disciple. The Spurs moved Ginobili primarily to the bench in the 2006-07 season and they had a ton of success with that. The situations with Ginobili and Horford are a bit different, but also very similar. Both players are very talented All-Stars and both were primarily starters. Horford can be turned into the Sixers version of Ginobili if the Sixers do in fact continue to bring him off the bench.
The biggest reason why Horford was brought in was to make sure the Sixers don’t fall off a cliff when Joel Embiid heads to the bench or is out for an extended period of time. In the nine games that Embiid recently missed after undergoing hand surgery, Horford averaged 13.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.7 assists and he was active on the defensive end averaging a block per game. That’s what Horford can do off the bench.
He played 28 minutes on Tuesday which is not far off from his season average of 30.9 minutes. The Sixers will continue to play him big minutes when needed and it isn’t like Philadelphia has completely scrapped the Horford-Embiid lineup, the team will continue to play the two big men together. However, it’s no secret that those lineups have struggled offensively and it’s all bout making this work.
The regular starting lineup averages 106.7 points per 100 possessions. The league average is 110.2 points per 100 possessions according to basketball-reference.
“He’s a true pro,” said Ben Simmons of Horford. “I respected him a lot competing against him and now he’s my teammate, so I respect him a lot. He’s going to be big for this team. I know everybody knows that and it’s going to show.”
Does Horford want to come off the bench? Probably not. This is a guy who’s a multiple-time All-Star and he has had a lot of success in this league, much like Ginobili, but if he can accept a bench role, this may be a championship type of move. He can also give a big boost to a second unit that has been inconsistent all year. Philadelphia would be able to send waves and waves of talent at teams.
He said on Tuesday:
“I just accepted it. Obviously, not the position that I saw myself in, but it was what was best for the team.”
Brown will have a full All-Star break to really make a decision. The Sixers don’t play again until February 20 when they host the Brooklyn Nets so he will have until then to decide what to do with Horford. If he decides to keep this going, then it could be the big change the Sixers needed. [lawrence-related id=25693,25670,25657]