The Philadelphia 76ers made a number of significant personnel changes in the previous offseason that generated quite a stir in the City of Brotherly Love.
BOLASIAR.EU.ORG - The Sixers added three key players after trading for Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade deal. Tobias Harris became an unrestricted free agent that summer, therefore they utilized a maximum contract slot on him.
Additionally, the Philadelphia 76ers offered Ben Simmons a maximum contract extension. Re-signing Simmons and Harris as well as adding Al Horford from the Boston Celtics was only the beginning for Philadelphia. In light of the Sixers' need for a reliable back-up center for Embiid when the All-Star center was dealing with injury issues, the trade made sense at the time.
The 76ers, on the other hand, struggled to fit Embiid and Horford into the same starting lineup. Horford's first season with the Sixers was a disappointment. He scored 11 points in 30 minutes per game on average across 67 games. In the end, the Sixers had little option but to start the $100 million-plus potential again in the playoffs due to injury.
Sadly, Horford's time in Philadelphia was cut short after just one season. One of Daryl Morey's first significant decisions as President of Basketball Operations for the Philadelphia Sixers was to trade Al Horford.
The seasoned big man has moved to Oklahoma City to join the Thunder. Thunder center Al Horford was benched for all of 2017 after playing 28 games. Once again, the Thunder traded Horford so that he could return to Boston for his second tenure with the Celtics.
The Celtics received a lot of flak for the trade, as many fans believed Horford's finest days were behind him after a year in Philadelphia and a season in Oklahoma City. It's been a rough few years for the 36-year-old big, but he proved his critics wrong in Thursday night's NBA Finals Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors reportedly offered to buy Ben Simmons from the 76ers, but the team reportedly turned it down.
ALMOST THE WHOLE 76ERS
A Profoundly Impressive Display
Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors stole the stage in the opening frame of Thursday's game. Curry scored 21 points in the opening 12 minutes of the game on 6-of-8 shooting from outside the arc.
Boston kept the game tight early on despite Curry's hot play. During the first half, the Celtics had a two-point advantage.
For the first 17 minutes of the game, Horford was a complete non-factor, scoring just eight points on five shots. In the second half, though, the grizzled veteran would turn the tide.
Horford scored seven points in his first nine minutes of play after the break, hitting 2-3 from beyond the arc. He had 15 points at the end of the third quarter. And when the game was on the line, Horford came through with flying colors, sinking all four of his field goal attempts in the final six minutes.
The Celtics beat the Western Conference Finals champions in Game 1 thanks to Al Horford's 11-point performance in the closing minutes. In 32 minutes, the former Sixers big man scored 26 points on just 12 attempts.
All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel, employs Justin Grasso as a reporter for the Philadelphia 76ers. You may get real-time updates by following him on Twitter at @JGrasso_.
