The Philadelphia 76ers are looking like a much different team heading into this season resumption in Orlando than they did before the season was suspended. They were a team trying to work their jumbo lineup of Ben Simmons-Al Horford-Joel Embiid to the best of their ability, but now they have decided to scrap that plan and move forward.
Instead, Shake Milton is now in the starting lineup and Simmons is a power forward. The move was made for the Sixers to get some more spacing in their starting lineup while also maximizing what they can get out of Horford moving forward.
In Sunday’s scrimmage loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Horford filled in for an injured Embiid and he had 13 points and nine rebounds while knocking down four triples.
“Al’s a leader. We’ve got faith in Al, it was huge to see him knock down all those threes and hopefully, we’ll keep finding him and letting them fly,” said Milton. “He’s been great and he’s been a presence for us and we’re definitely going to need him.”
Those threes that Horford made are crucial for his and the team’s success. That makes him a much more dynamic player as teams have to decide what the Sixers will do on the offensive end with him. Due to his success at the rim as well as the ability to shoot, that can throw people off guard.
“I think the bigs that can pick-and-pop and make threes, I’ll use Kevin Love as an example, they’re really hard to game plan because you think that Kevin Love is going to pick-and-pop or Al Horford is going to pick-and-pop, you mix in rolling and popping to keep that defense on point,” said coach Brett Brown. “It’s crucial, especially in the playoffs, because I bet if you put Al Horford in a pick-and-roll 10 times in games that really matter [with] playoff scouting seven games, six games, whatever, they’re going to switch 100% of the time. If I’m wrong, it’s 99% of the time and it would have been by mistake.”
With this new look, it is going to be rare that Horford and Embiid will be playing together. That gives him more opportunity to be a roller or a popper after setting a screen and that gives him an opportunity to be more successful at the center position.
“So to mix up rolling and popping where that person isn’t always expecting Al to pop and Al does pop, I think it’s huge,” Brown added. “That’s how I see it and I think variety, we’re not giving them a steady dose of the same look ends up the most important answer I can give.”
As the Sixers continue on this journey to chase a championship, Horford will have to continue to play a big role and do what he was expected to do when he signed with Philadelphia. [lawrence-related id=35604,35590,35578]