Philadelphia 76ers: 3 reasons not to trade Al Horford

While the Al Horford experiment has been rather underwhelming for the Philadelphia 76ers so far this season, a premature trade won’t suddenly fix all of the team’s issues.

As hard as it is to say, the Al Horford experiment has been relatively underwhelming so far this season for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Sure, there have been bright spots, like his 32-point performances in an early-season loss to the Phoenix Suns and the team’s nine-game stretch without Joel Embiid, but when you consider him being on track to make $94.5 million over the next four years at a minimum, it’s hard not to feel a bit underwhelmed by how the ex-Boston Celtic has assimilated into Brett Brown‘s system.

Note to self, don’t pay $20-plus million a year for a fourth starter, even if you can steal him away from a division rival.

But what exactly happened to Horford? Has he somehow gone full wash over a single summer? Is Brown that bad of a coach that his scheme has somehow turned a five-time All-Star into a scrub?

Honestly, the biggest problem, as these things so often go, is fit.

After spending three seasons as the fulcrum of Brad Stevens‘ scheme, a scheme built around using him as a screen setting center, Horford not only switched positions back to power forward, a position he hasn’t played with regularity since his rookie season with the Atlanta Hawks, but has mostly been relegated to a spot-up outside shooter perched on the wings.

That wouldn’t be a huge issue if Horford was still hitting 38 percent of his 3 point shots a game, but when that number dips down to 32 on a career-high 4.3 attempts a game, it’s hard not to feel a little frustrated every time the 6-foot-9 chocolate milk fan rims another wide-open shot.

*Sigh* is there any hope? Well, yes actually, there is.

You see, while some fans, okay most fans questioned the decision to sign Horford, re-sign Tobias Harris, and let Jimmy Butler force a sign-and-trade to the Miami Heat, it was done with a specific plan in mind; a plan that’s still viable with a little tweaking.