Horford is a true pro coming off the bench
The Sixers signed Al Horford for his ability to play forward. And for his ability to play center. And for his experience, in the regular season, in the playoffs. And to pull him away from the Celtics. And to supplement Joel Embiid.
They signed him for all of that, at a fee of $109,000,000 for four years. Mostly, though, they signed him for what he did the other day. He did nothing.
Made aware that Brett Brown would again use him from the bench for a Thursday night game against the visiting Brooklyn Nets, and gaining a growing awareness that the assignment could be permanent, Horford acted nothing like a 13th-year vet and five-time All-Star might be expected. Rather, he was the first Sixer to make himself available to the press after a practice in Camden, shared the news himself, and waited for the question.
How did he feel about it all? “You know, it’s what the team needs right now,” he said. “And that’s what we’re doing.”
It’s impossible to know what was churning inside as he made sure to prevent any controversy. But his body language said he wasn’t ready to announce his candidacy for Sixth Man of the Year. Typically more pensive than festive, his attitude was not unlike it was when he was reassigned to the bench just before the All-Star break. “I just accepted it,” he said at the time. “Obviously, it was not the position I saw myself in. But it was best for the team.”
The transition from the Celtics to the Sixers has not been smooth for Horford. His instinct has always been to move into or around the lane on offense, but for that, there was one, sevenfoot-tall conflict: Embiid already had the keys to that luxury suite. While a frontcourt employing both Horford and Embiid will have some value, one that Brown will not soon abandon late in games, it was beginning to spread enough earlygame stress for the head coach to order a change.
Only Brown knows whether he would have so boldly shuffled the franchise’s signature outside-sourced free-agent acquisition to a reserve role had he not already been convinced of Horford’s professionalism. For months, the coach had been praising his new forward for his veteran presence in the room and his work ethic at the practice site. Somewhere in that $109 million that Elton Brand gave Horford was an allowance for just that sort of behavior.
It’s just that it didn’t have to be that way. Specifically, do the Sixers not have certain players in their employ who well may have created media stirs had they been asked to move to the bench? No names, please. But they were All-Stars, if that helps. Even Tobias Harris, who took $180,000,000 to remain with the Sixers last summer, may not have so peacefully accepted the effective demotion. And even if any of them did, their agents, handlers and other hangers-on might have formed a picket line along Zinkoff Blvd.
Horford, though, did what was best for the Sixers, not for his cheering section. The immediate value: The other Sixers recognized his decency.
“I mean, he’s just so professional,” Harris said. “It was everything we’ve already known about him. And obviously as a group and as a team, we’re still trying to figure it out, still trying to see what works best. So just to have that mentality and to be able to do what could be a great move for our team and see if it works, it just shows a winning attitude and a winning mentality.”
It’s got a chance to work, as it did in the impressive victory over the Clippers. Brown knows he cannot lose Horford entirely, and was careful to have him on the floor late in that game, often with
Embiid. Glenn Robinson III or Furkan Korkmaz both would be more comfortable fanning out and providing a three-point threat while leaving the paint more open for Embiid early in games. But the Sixers will not reach the heights they halfpromised without massive contributions from Horford in the playoffs.
Brown has stressed that he will continue to consider any number of lineups. That would give him the option to restoring Horford’s first-team status in the right circumstance.
“At times, it will be dependent upon matchups,” Brown said. “I’m not married to it as a be-all-andend-all. But it does interest me the most. So I intend to pursue what you saw against the Clippers more than not.”
The concept is reasonable, even if it was not the original plan, and even if Josh Harris didn’t become a multi-billionaire by spending nine figures on a 33-year-old backup forward. And if it works, it will be because Horford is professional enough to see that it works, no matter how much inner stress he may be forced to camouflage.
“I really didn’t give it too much thought, to be honest,” Horford said. “I am just refreshed being back and ready for the second half of the season.” He will play some center when Embiid takes his necessary early rest.
He will add frontcourt bulk later in games.
He’ll hit the occasional 3-pointer.
He will continue to be a valuable player no longer employed by the Celtics, who well could encounter the Sixers in the playoffs.
But mostly, Horford won’t take a reasonable basketball decision and turn it into a rampaging, area-wide talking point. In the modern NBA, that has value at any price.