Philadelphia 76ers: 3 worst moves by Elton Brand so far

Philadelphia 76ers, Al Horford (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

1. Signing Al Horford

Part of the reason why Redick wasn’t retained was due to the fact that Philly spent so much money on Al Horford. To be precise, about $109 million for four seasons. Brand overpaid again, but this time in free agency on a player who was bound to be a poor fit.

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Despite having been one of the most versatile shooting big men in the NBA, Horford was bound to have struggles fitting in on offense for the Sixers. This season has beyond proven that, so much so that before Embiid and Simmons got injured, Horford was sent to the bench.

When Horford is a playmaker in the offensive, he’s playing at his best, but he’s been used primarily as a floor spacer. That hasn’t worked out well for him or the 76ers. Not only was Horford a bad fit with the team’s core, but he’s also not being used properly.

It’s also become clear that father time is catching to the 33-year-old big man. Horford has seen drops in his scoring and blocks averages, as well as his shooting percentages. Despite not being a player that relied on his athletism, father time has appeared to caught up to him much sooner than I personally expected.

Horford was brought in to help make Philly a defensive juggernaut, sadly he’as hasn’t been able to deliver on that as of late. Not only has Horford been unable to produce like he’s been able to in the past, but Brand also unwisely used about $28 million in salary-cap space to sign the big man. That money could have been used to retain Redick and improve the bench at multiple positions instead of on a big man that seems on the decline.

No GM is perfect, but Brand has put the Philadelphia 76ers into a tough spot moving forward. The majority of the blame for their struggles this season should be on him. Hopefully, he can learn from these mistakes and improve the roster this upcoming offseason.