Al Horford wasn’t in the starting lineup last night for the first time since his rookie season, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Sixers coach Brett Brown met with Horford on Monday to explain the lineup change, which included starting Furkan Korkmaz at small forward and shifting Tobias Harris to power forward. Horford said he’s willing to accept his new role, even though it’s not what he expected when he signed a four-year, $109MM deal with Philadelphia last summer.
“Obviously, not the position that I saw myself in, but it’s what was best for the team,” he said after the game. ” … I honestly don’t think it changes much from what I was doing before.”
Although Horford seemed like an ideal candidate to play alongside Joel Embiid, the two big men haven’t been able to get their games to mesh, adds Bontemps, who suggests that Horford now faces the possibility of being on the bench in the closing minutes of playoff games.
There’s more from Philadelphia:
- Josh Richardson‘s absence has been an overlooked reason for the Sixers’ recent slump, Bontemps adds in the same piece. Richardson returned to the starting lineup Tuesday for the first time since a hamstring injury on January 22 and posted a plus-24 rating in 31 minutes.
- Embiid’s ongoing drama with Philly fans continued as he was booed during introductions for the third consecutive game, but he got them cheering with a 26-point, nine-rebound performance, notes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We are all human beings. If I can take it, then everybody else can take it, too,” Embiid said. “We learn from it and we move on. I got to do a better job. They got to do a better job. I understand where they come from. But then again, if you dish it, you got to be able to take it back. But at the end of the day in my location … it’s all love.”
- Landry Shamet was angry when he learned that he had been traded from the 76ers to the Clippers last season, but he quickly got over it, relays Mark Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Shamet, who returned to Philadelphia last night for the first time since the deal, was having a strong rookie season for the Sixers before being included in the package L.A. received in exchange for Harris. “You realize you have been traded and you have to move so it was kind of a roller coaster at first, but once you get settled, especially once I got that first game under my belt, I realized the makeup of the team and where I was and realized it was a good situation,” Shamet said.
I can see Joel and Al meshing a lot more easily without video-game-pro-non-shooting-Ben Simmons clogging the court up.
Honestly, the Sixers are in a bind. Based on talent, the build around Joel but he’s always injured. Build around Ben and you’re just a budget Bucks.
The same bucks that are the number 1 seed right now? That doesn’t sound all that bad to me.
Yeah but then they’d have to find a poor man’s Middleton, Bledsoe and Lopez… Like, Hardaway Jr, Wanamaker and, erm, Lopez and be a perennial bridesmaid…
Trust the process!
Sixers need to fix their road woes. They won’t get the top seed so they need to perform better away from philly. Its so maddening that they are the best team at home and below average on the road
Trading Shamet sucked, losing a 40% 3pt shooter and Tobi doesn’t shoot as well as he did in LAC. But overall the team is better. Just need time to ‘gel’. But seriously they changed the entire scheme to go big. They don’t have a sniper on the team and that is the glaring need.
Al horford is a baby. Dude you still played 28 minutes.
Horford said he’s willing to accept his new role…
“Obviously, not the position that I saw myself in, but it’s what was best for the team,” he said after the game. ”
Not sure how that qualifies as being a baby.
This yobbo saw a headline and didn’t read the article, I think.
Despartley needs 3 point shooting and a true point guard since Ben Simmons can’t spread the floor or shoot when its kicked out to him.
He should take on a Green/Joker role as a point forward but not be the primarily point guard.
Should’ve tried to get DLO, maybe they’ll be on the PG market in the off season for someone else.
They only had Horford to move. GSW wasn’t going to take that, as I don’t believe they would have gotten below the tax and it lacks the trade-able contract. There honestly are only a few deals out there they could have made. Jrue (wasnt made available), Gallinari (OKC unlikely to take 4 yrs of Al), DeRozan of LMA (still not fits), an injured Blake Griffin, Kevin Love. Those all sound super appealing right?
Wrong to suggest “the problem” is any two players in combination, either the Embid-Horford combo or the Embid-Simmons combo. The problem, as to the best 5 and the rotation guys overall, is the whole is less than the sum of its parts. When that’s the case, it’s on the organization (Brown and his like minded or compliant FO) that put both together. Bringing Horford off the bench can certainly help on the margin, but the fact that it does is also evidence that the team was poorly constructed to start with.
If he hasn’t already, Horford will demand a trade asap after season is over. Brown and Brand may be on the chopping block.
Richardson is a far more complete player than Simmons, go figure.
Are you saying josh Richardson is better than Ben Simmons?
Really disappointing that Philly fans have been booing Embiid, people don’t tend to appreciate what they’ve got until they haven’t got it anymore. Guy is a beast having a great season, yes his numbers are down, so is his playing time & the fact the starting five are all 15+ PPG players, so is too many good players on the court, that is the problem when you have an overloaded team with talent, no one can play at their best, that is why I prefer stars that don’t team up with other stars like Giannis, he can put monster numbers as there isn’t another star to take touches away from him.
It’s surprising considering how level headed and thoughtful Philly fans are.
Horford can dry his tears with $100 bills.
Richardson is a huge key to the team
Kinda liked the idea of Horford on the bench just to give the team a better shooter in Korkmaz.
Korkmaz is a great floor spacer and Harris who got to go back to his favoured position at PF had a good game. He ended with 17-12-5, but for me those 12 rebounds over Marcus Morris’s 5 was the key stat.
As a group I think if you keep this new starting 5 together for longer periods I think they will gel and have better results.
Maybe another idea to get the best from Embiid and Simmons is splitting their minutes more so start them together then take Embiid off for Horford and JRich off for Burks or Robinson giving Ben his better shooters line up, then later swap JRich on at point, and Embiid on for Harris.
Embiid can have the bigger line up with some kick out shooters and JRich as a perimeter ball handler
Moving Horford to the bench is a start but putting in korkmaz was a mistake. He will lose touches as a starter and it clearly messed with his rhythm last night as he couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. They should keep korkmaz as the 6th man and either keep Shake as a starter or go with thybulle. Maybe GRIII could slide in once he gets acclimated
Yeah did mess with his rhythm but I think he will eventually get it. He won’t get lots of touches but he will get given good looks and shots and it’s just about converting those.
Guess Richardson is more of a 3 dimensional player to Simmons being 2D. Philly gave him a Max based on what he may be in 2-3 years.
Richardson is more complete right now is all.
Man I miss Shamet… Guy was having a good rookie season and did nothing wrong but had to go to bring in Tobias… However, I think I’d rather have Shamet, RoCo, and Saric than whatever Tobias is providing now and that half a season of Jimmy Butler, who was pretty good here but now is doing better at Miami. Idk maybe Butler wasn’t a fit here, who knows?
Butler would be more versatile than JRich in terms of being able to pilot the team, which their big problem IMO.
I said it in the offseason that at some point, 1 of Horford or Harris would have to come off the bench, and they would need to use their versatile young depth, like Milton, Smith, Thybulle, etc. It took a lot longer than I thought it would for them to figure that out.
…I remember when I made my movk draft, I had Shamet as a perfect fit for Philly, with Sinmons and Embiid, as a guy that could come out of college and play as a combo guard that was a really good catch and shoot player. He was even better than I thought, and was surprised he was traded
Looking at the game logs, I see they haven’t given Burks much of a a try yet. Maybe too soon, but Furkan should get a try too. Probably Horford should have been benched for alternaves before now.
Anyway 3 straight wins since the deadline, and with all the hard feelings.