Brett Brown Gives Update on Embiid and Horford Pairing

Brett Brown met with the media on Tuesday via zoom to discuss multiple topics. When asked about Joel Embiid and Al Horford playing together Brown gave a very interesting update. 

He would say that the two big men have yet to share the court on the same team in practice since arriving in Orlando. We have known that Horford would be sliding to the bench from earlier reports, but this is a new development.

With the two big men yet to share the court in practice, it raises the question of how big of a role Horford will have when the team takes the court in actual games. Based on what Brown told the media today there could be a possibility that Horford could solely become Embiid’s backup moving forward.

Al Horford seems to be open to his new role in the second unit. He would go on to say that “teams are going to have to worry about our depth.” Horford seems rather confident of the team as they return to action this week.

One thing that sticks out about this quote is how this changes Brett Brown’s plan to close out games. Although Shake Milton will be starting games, there was still some speculation if Horford would be on the floor with the starters to close games.

Although anything can change when the team returns to action, it looks like the Embiid-Horford experiment might have come to an end. There is also the long-term impact of this move.

If Horford strictly becomes a sixth-man for the Sixers, he might be the highest-paid role player in the league. This might make the Sixers even more open to trading Horford away in the shortened offseason.

This move does make the Sixers more dangerous as they will have a multi-time All-Star off the bench, but the Sixers might still need to find a way to make the two co-exist on the floor together.

When facing off against teams like the Bucks or the Pacers Brett Brown might need the added size to compact their bigger lineups. Seeing what kind and how big of a role Al Horford plays in the seeding games and playoffs is going to be one of the main storylines for the Sixers in the restart.

Kevin McCormick is the 76ers insider for 97.3 ESPN and 76ers editor for Sportstalkphilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinMcC973.