Philadelphia 76ers Ten Biggest Mistakes of the Last Ten Years

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Aug 9, 2020; Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA; Al Horford #42 of the Philadelphia 76ers is pressured by Wenyen Gabriel #35 of the Portland Trail Blazers during the third quarter at Visa Athletic Center at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 09, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports /

7. Signing Al Horford

Following the 2019 season where the Sixers took the NBA champions to seven games in the playoffs, the Sixers decided to blow everything up and spend money on Al Horford.

Surprisingly, Horford (a center) did not pair well with Joel Embiid (a center), Ben Simmons (a complete non-shooting forward), and Tobias Harris (a power forward). This was not all Al Horford’s fault as the team had many issues, but he certainly did not help.

Scapegoating Al Horford was also a mistake. His trade value was at its lowest despite him being a significantly better player than Tobias Harris who was also making less money for fewer years. Signing Horford was a mistake and he likely had to go at some point, but the mistake of signing him was compounded when they attached the rights to Vasilije Micic, the 34th pick in the draft, and a 2025 first-round pick to Horford for one year of Danny Green.

Instead, the Sixers should have prioritized moving off of the Harris albatross which would have improved the fit with Horford, thus making him look much better and easier to trade for an asset.

Horford has proven himself a valuable player back in Boston.

His contract was not an issue at all as the team made its way to the NBA finals. Considering the amount of assets, the Sixers had to attach to move off of Horford, the trade was a failure. The entire Al Horford experience, both signing and trading him, is a disaster especially when the team they had a year prior is taken into consideration.]