Philadelphia 76ers: Al Horford is becoming a lost cause

There might not be hope for the Philadelphia 76ers and Al Horford union.

Al Horford‘s fit on the Philadelphia 76ers has been one of the bigger storylines in the NBA all season long. There was hope that maybe this four-month NBA hiatus could have helped the former All-Star regain some of his elite skills, but that hasn’t appeared to be the case. While it’s important not to overreact after this first of eight regular-season games remaining, it’s fair to consider that the big man is becoming a lost cause.

This season Horford has dealt with injuries and playing out of position. It’s been discussed on The Sixer Sense podcast that he doesn’t compliment Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, while they don’t compliment his skills either.

It’s not been a great year in terms of stats either. He’s averaged 12.0 points (third-lowest of his career), 6.9 rebounds ( third-lowest of his career), and 0.9 blocks (tied for lowest of his career), while converting 44.2 percent of his field goals (lowest of his career) and 34.0 percent from the 3-point line (lowest since the 2014-15 season).

It gets worse.

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In the Sixers’ first regular-season game in the Disney bubble, the team lost and as a whole (outside of Embiid and Raul Neto) they didn’t play well. However, what was more evident was how bad Horford was in the matchup.

Horford’s been a positional defender for most of his career because he has lacked the athletism to be an elite shot blocker. Despite that, he was a very good defender prior to joining Philly. However, during this season that has changed, and he hasn’t been positive on that end.

The 34-year-old big man has looked a step slower and the numbers support it. He has a Defensive Rating per 100 possessions of 108, which is the highest/worse of his career. In the game against Indiana, he had a minus-26 plus/minus box score which was the worse of any player that game.

His final state line for that game was in 23 minutes he had 10 points, six rebounds, two assists, one block, three turnovers, and three fouls, while going 4-9 from the floor and converting his 3-point attempt. It’s good that his offensive game hasn’t completely dropped off, outside of his bad turnovers in that game, but his defense is concerning.

Part of the reason Horford was brought in was to have a big man to fill in for Embiid when the All-Star big man wasn’t on the floor and the defense would still survive. However, it didn’t happen in this game and if it continues, Horford may end up having a similar defensive value that Boban Marjanovic, Greg Monroe, and Amir Johnson had last postseason.

This of course isn’t ideal for the 76ers both on and off the court. They need someone who can manage the interior defense outside of Embiid for a deep playoff run. They would also like Horford to bring some defensive value. If he doesn’t, then it’s going to be even hard for the franchise to move the big man and his massive contract this offseason if they decide to go in that direction.

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The last thing the Philadelphia 76ers need is for Horford to become a lost cause, especially defensively. If he’s truly becoming that then it will hard for the team to make a long postseason run or move on from him next offseason.