Elton Brand and the Philadelphia 76ers made a couple of good signings in Tobias Harris and Al Horford. Both looked like a great fit in the paper and the Sixers looked poised to make a long run in the playoffs once and for all.
Fast-forward to this year’s postseason and that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Harris and Horford have done the exact opposite of helping the Sixers’ chances in the first two games of their first-round series vs. the Boston Celtics.
As a matter of fact, they followed their subpar performances in Game 1 (15 points on 15 shots for Harris and 6 points with 5 fouls for Horford) with another dud in Game 2. Shockingly, they combined for 17 points (13 Harris, 4 Horford) on 18 shots. These guys are making a combined 289 million.
Ok, let’s be fair for a second. The context always matters. The truth is that the Sixers have been a dysfunctional team all year long and Brett Brown looks lost right now. He’s failed to make the most of his assets and continues to drop Embiid in defense and refuses to use him in the post.
They’re also missing Ben Simmons which takes a toll in both Harris in Horford as they need to put more effort into the defensive end, and the Sixers’ offense and flow take a major bump without their All-Star playmaker running the point.
Then again, we’re talking about almost 300 million dollars in two players that should bring way more to the table right now. It’s the NBA playoffs, you’re veterans, you guy get paid to do that. Do it.
Sixers fans aren’t likely to let these couple of duds go any time soon and are likely to ask for Elton Brand’s head once their season ends but they better get used to watching Horford and Harris on their team, as those contracts aren’t going to be easy to trade. At all.
