Could Horford end up being the worst contract of offseason?

[SHAQATTACK]

My take all along on Philly signing Horford was not so much what he would add to Philly s own on court ,game  ......

but rather his buyout off Boston they hoped would screw and massively weaken the Celtics , and make their run easier , get Hordford out of their hair as a Celtic. He was a huge thorn in their side last year.   

They wanted him off the Celtics at any price it seemed. Hoped it would kill the Celtics as eastern title  contender.

I think it was about a little payback for the Fultz thing too, in a much smaller but satisfying way to the FO.

[bellerephon]

My take all along on Philly signing Horford was not so much what he would add to Philly s own on court ,game  ......

but rather his buyout off Boston they hoped would screw and massively weaken the Celtics , and make their run easier , get Hordford out of their hair as a Celtic. He was a huge thorn in their side last year.   

They wanted him off the Celtics at any price it seemed. Hoped it would kill the Celtics as eastern title  contender.

I think it was about a little payback for the Fultz thing too, in a much smaller but satisfying way to the FO.

I totally disagree. Of course it was a plus to get Al off the Celts, but that was clearly a secondary issue. They signed Al because they thought he would help them win a championship, not to weaken Boston.

[nickagneta]

My take all along on Philly signing Horford was not so much what he would add to Philly s own on court ,game  ......

but rather his buyout off Boston they hoped would screw and massively weaken the Celtics , and make their run easier , get Hordford out of their hair as a Celtic. He was a huge thorn in their side last year.   

They wanted him off the Celtics at any price it seemed. Hoped it would kill the Celtics as eastern title  contender.

I think it was about a little payback for the Fultz thing too, in a much smaller but satisfying way to the FO.

I totally disagree. Of course it was a plus to get Al off the Celts, but that was clearly a secondary issue. They signed Al because they thought he would help them win a championship, not to weaken Boston.

Not even sure getting Al off Boston was a secondary issue. Or a tertiary issue. I don't think it mattered to Philly one bit that he wouldn't be playing in Boston. I think they just looked at it as a happy effect of the signing and nothing more. He was signed because he is a very good player with an incredibly unique set of skills that would allow Philly to get the most out of Embiid being off the court while giving Philly probably the best frontcourt in basketball.

[celticsclay]

My take all along on Philly signing Horford was not so much what he would add to Philly s own on court ,game  ......

but rather his buyout off Boston they hoped would screw and massively weaken the Celtics , and make their run easier , get Hordford out of their hair as a Celtic. He was a huge thorn in their side last year.   

They wanted him off the Celtics at any price it seemed. Hoped it would kill the Celtics as eastern title  contender.

I think it was about a little payback for the Fultz thing too, in a much smaller but satisfying way to the FO.

I totally disagree. Of course it was a plus to get Al off the Celts, but that was clearly a secondary issue. They signed Al because they thought he would help them win a championship, not to weaken Boston.

Not even sure getting Al off Boston was a secondary issue. Or a tertiary issue. I don't think it mattered to Philly one bit that he wouldn't be playing in Boston. I think they just looked at it as a happy effect of the signing and nothing more. He was signed because he is a very good player with an incredibly unique set of skills that would allow Philly to get the most out of Embiid being off the court while giving Philly probably the best frontcourt in basketball.

Do you think they expected more in year one when they signed him? He has really been fading. I’m honestly not sure if he is injured or just work down (they played him too many minutes earlier in the season when people made a few ill advised posts based on single games)

[nickagneta]

My take all along on Philly signing Horford was not so much what he would add to Philly s own on court ,game  ......

but rather his buyout off Boston they hoped would screw and massively weaken the Celtics , and make their run easier , get Hordford out of their hair as a Celtic. He was a huge thorn in their side last year.   

They wanted him off the Celtics at any price it seemed. Hoped it would kill the Celtics as eastern title  contender.

I think it was about a little payback for the Fultz thing too, in a much smaller but satisfying way to the FO.

I totally disagree. Of course it was a plus to get Al off the Celts, but that was clearly a secondary issue. They signed Al because they thought he would help them win a championship, not to weaken Boston.

Not even sure getting Al off Boston was a secondary issue. Or a tertiary issue. I don't think it mattered to Philly one bit that he wouldn't be playing in Boston. I think they just looked at it as a happy effect of the signing and nothing more. He was signed because he is a very good player with an incredibly unique set of skills that would allow Philly to get the most out of Embiid being off the court while giving Philly probably the best frontcourt in basketball.

Do you think they expected more in year one when they signed him? He has really been fading. I’m honestly not sure if he is injured or just work down (they played him too many minutes earlier in the season when people made a few ill advised posts based on single games)

We are not even half way through the first season of his 4 year deal. Kinda hard to pass a permanent opinion on Horford or the deal with only 10% of the deal done. As with all teams that have turnover and bring players together that have never played with each other, there is an adjustment period. Horford could look not as good this year then have a great 2nd year that leads to a title. Suddenly he would be worth every penny. You never know.

Horford could just still be adjusting. His game could also be slipping. He could be playing at less than 100% because of nagging little injuries. Who knows? He could just as well come back with great years the next two seasons. I guess we will see.

[ederson]

With Brown as coach even embiid will look like a bad contract.

He just cannot take advantage of AH skill set. He can't even take 100% of embiid's talent!

[Fafnir]

It doesn't look great right now because their offense is a clogged toilet when Embiid/Horford/Simmons share the court. They have a 101 ORTG with that 3 man combo in 320 minutes.

But we should keep in mind the 76ers signed Horford to do two things:

1. Spell Embiid and provide a stretch 5 (also as a quality backup if he misses a playoff game or two)
2. Give them 3 big like size defenders to throw at Giannis and beat the Bucks in the playoffs.

So its hard to judge it until we get to the playoffs and see Embiid's health and how they deal with the Bucks in a series. They knew that the contract would be bad on the back end given his age. This was a win in the next two years move.

[PhoSita]

Hopefully they trade Horford to a team that will use him at center and put shooters around him.  He's an awful fit on the Sixers and Brett Brown doesn't seem to have any kind of creativity to maximize his abilities.

[Moranis]

Hopefully they trade Horford to a team that will use him at center and put shooters around him.  He's an awful fit on the Sixers and Brett Brown doesn't seem to have any kind of creativity to maximize his abilities.

What is Brown supposed to do though?  If you start maximizing Horford's strengths you are taking away from their better players and that doesn't seem like a good thing to do.

[PhoSita]

Hopefully they trade Horford to a team that will use him at center and put shooters around him.  He's an awful fit on the Sixers and Brett Brown doesn't seem to have any kind of creativity to maximize his abilities.

What is Brown supposed to do though?  If you start maximizing Horford's strengths you are taking away from their better players and that doesn't seem like a good thing to do.

Play Horford more at center with the bench players, for one.  Stagger minutes with Embiid as much as possible.


Play Simmons less.

[Fafnir]

Hopefully they trade Horford to a team that will use him at center and put shooters around him.  He's an awful fit on the Sixers and Brett Brown doesn't seem to have any kind of creativity to maximize his abilities.

What is Brown supposed to do though?  If you start maximizing Horford's strengths you are taking away from their better players and that doesn't seem like a good thing to do.

Play Horford more at center with the bench players, for one.  Stagger minutes with Embiid as much as possible.


Play Simmons less.

He already does most of that as much as he can without cutting Embiid or Horford's minutes.

Horford has played the least with Embiid out of every other rotation player other than Mike Scott.

FWIW, the Horford/Simmons pairings are killer when Embiid isn't on the floor.

[Sophomore]

Maybe they'll win a title this year, in which case I suppose the contract was worth it. But I find it pretty hard to believe they'll be thrilled about paying the next 3 years of his deal at an average of $27M for his age 34-36 seasons. 

Next year they have salary commitments to 12 players that will take them about $8 million over the luxury tax line, and given commitments to Embiid, Simmons, Horford and Tobias, there's basically no real money left for anybody else.

[footey]

Horford's value is to back stop Embiid in case he gets hurt or tired.  They had no one last year other than Boban.

Also Horford kicks it up a notch in the playoffs, and this season should be no different.

[celticsclay]

Hopefully they trade Horford to a team that will use him at center and put shooters around him.  He's an awful fit on the Sixers and Brett Brown doesn't seem to have any kind of creativity to maximize his abilities.

What is Brown supposed to do though?  If you start maximizing Horford's strengths you are taking away from their better players and that doesn't seem like a good thing to do.

Play Horford more at center with the bench players, for one.  Stagger minutes with Embiid as much as possible.


Play Simmons less.

Yea, there is a growing chorus of 76ers fans calling for him to come off bench. I think half the reason he is not already coming off is because of the optics of a 30 million dollar a year bench player. Also, the 76ers should be playing him about 3 less minutes a game. He already looks worn down, and they are playing him about a minute and a half more than the Celtics did last year.

[PhoSita]

FWIW, the Horford/Simmons pairings are killer when Embiid isn't on the floor.

Maybe they ought to bring both Simmons and Horford off the bench, lol.


Simmons + Horford + any three guys who can shoot and play a little defense should work.


Embiid + Harris + Richardson plus a couple of competent ballhandlers who can hit spot up jumpers should also work.


The Sixers should do something like what the Clippers do and just have a bench unit with a two man game that exists almost entirely separately from what the starters do.  Kill opponents on both ends of the rotation.