When the Philadelphia 76ers brought in Al Horford in free agency over the summer, they knew this would be an odd fit. They knew this would take some time to get down and there would be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season.
After all, Horford is more of a traditional power forward while Joel Embiid is one of the best post-up players in the NBA. While both can step out and shoot the three-ball, they aren’t sharpshooters and naturally, they work better close to the basket.
On this team, Horford has to shoot 3-pointers though. He has to spread the floor for Embiid to be able to work down low. Horford is firing up 4.0 3-pointers per game in 2019-20 compared to just 3.0 with the Boston Celtics in 2018-19. His 3-point percentage in the month of December was just 33.3% as he was a big part of the offensive struggle.
“I just want him to keep shooting,” said coach Brett Brown. “I want him to shoot threes. I want him to space and co-exist with Joel in an environment where he feels comfortable and we find him firing threes. I couldn’t be any more clearer with that role.”
In terms of who is the crown jewel and the main focus on the Sixers offense, Brown made it clear that it’s Embiid. The superstar big man is averaging 23.6 points and 12.4 rebounds and he shoots 72.6% on shots at the rim. He needs that space.
“This is Joel’s paint,” said Brown. “Everything else has to co-exist around that and that equals Al shooting threes. I believe that his percentage whatever it might be doesn’t indicate the type of shooter that he is.”
This is all something that will take more time. Everybody should have known this going into this season. Horford is playing a completely different role with the Sixers than he ever has in his career up to this point. This is much different for him and he needs to learn.
“To think you’re going to come in here and break 12 years of people’s habits is really recklessly naïve,” Brown added. “I love coaching the team and I get excited of what can be, but it just doesn’t say it and it happens, sometimes things evolve. It’s hard to snap somebody’s 10-year career of habits, it’s not going to happen. So it’s trying to show examples of how we use each other’s skillsets and it’s also the understanding that this is a team and all teams have to sacrifice and all teams have a great clarity of role recognition delivered by me.”
As the team has slid into the 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, they need to figure it out quickly, but the opportunity is there for them to figure it out as the season progresses.
“This has been said many times, it will continue to be said and we will evolve and the group is great,” continued the coach. “It’s not pulling teeth, it’s trying to figure each other out, because there’s high character and there’s talent and that’s a lot of what was said and done today.” [lawrence-related id=22736,22719,22710]