Al Horford, born in the Dominican Republic in 1986, was selected by the Hawks to enter the NBA with the third overall pick in the first round in 2007, spent the first nine years of his career with the Atlanta Hawks, and led the Hawks to the playoffs many times, but ultimately failed to escape the "James's eight years" of compulsory education. Then in the summer of 2016, the Eagles entered a rebuilding period, Horford in order to continue to chase his championship dream, he joined the Celtics, but in the Celtics' 3 seasons, their results were not ideal, the team conflicts continued, coupled with the tilt of injuries, Horford was discouraged again, in the summer of 2019, he joined the 76ers, forming the "Death Five" combination, he made the 76ers a strong contender for the championship this season.
When you think of Horford, what's the first thing that comes to mind? His nickname is: "Ball Blind Appraiser", he is very mediocre from the data point of view, but can always play a very important role in the entire team system, and his excellent team basketball play has won him a 30 million salary contract. At the peak of his career, Horford averaged just 18.6+8.4 per game, far less than the league's top big forwards. But he can always cover his teammates on the court, scramble for rebounds, hit shots, although Horford is not a superstar, but his contribution on the court is not only reflected by the data, which also allows him to win the respect of the fans, and since then he has the title of "ball blindness appraiser", only people who are blind will scorn him.
The 76ers are sixth in the East with a record of 39 wins, 2 losses and 6 losses, which is far below what fans expect from him, knowing that they were third in the East last season, and if it were not for Leonard's death, they would probably have won the championship. At the same time, Horford's performance in the 76ers this season is also difficult to satisfy fans, this season his personal data is 12 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists, three shooting rates of 44.2%, 33.7% and 75.3%, all the data have a certain decline compared with last season, of which the shooting rate has dropped by nearly 11.3%. After coming to the 76ers this season, he was no longer the team's first choice due to the sharp decline in the 76ers' inside line of Embiid and Simmons, which made Horford struggle a little on the inside.
But that's not to say that Horford is of no use on the whole game, on the contrary, he has a very positive and positive impact on the whole team. Although it is not at the top, at least he has a very positive impact on the 76ers on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. According to the statistics of the NBA's official data website, when Horford is on the floor this season, the entire 76ers' offense has obviously improved, and the data will rise to 109.5, while when Horford is not on the floor, their offensive efficiency will drop to 106.6, which directly slides to the bottom 5th in the league. On the defensive end, when Horford was on the floor, the 76ers were able to hand over 106 defensive stats, directly rising to the first place in the league. When Horford was on the floor, he was very helpful to the team, and his influence was much better than the fans thought.
First, let's take a look at how much Horford's play on the offensive end has affected the 76ers. Horford's most common scoring methods this season are backstabbing, point-and-shoot shots, blocking cover and switching offense. As a big man of 2.08 meters, Horford can also deliver 1.9 conversion offensive rounds per game, scoring 1.17 points after each round, more than the league's 62.7% players; in addition, Horford also has 2.9 backstrokes per game, scoring 0.9 points per round, more than the league's 42.1% players. While far from the number and efficiency of the team's interior core Embiid, his back-to-back play is also the key to the 76ers' tough performance on the inside.
Meanwhile, Horford averaged 33.7 percent from three-point range and 1.5 shots per game, helping him excel in fixed-point shooting this season, with 2.5 rounds per game and 0.86 points per game. Horford is always diligent on the court to do blocking for teammates, with 2.3 rounds of blocking and dismantling per game, and can score 1.4 points per round, more than 43% of the players in the league. At least on the offensive end, Horford's impact on the team has been very positive.
On the offensive end, Horford's shooting percentage has declined this season, especially since his shooting performance from outside the three-point line is far less than last season, and this season Horford's shooting percentage in three of the five shooting areas outside the three-point line is ice blue (shooting rate is lower than the league average). But his mid-range shooting performance is still better, the entire mid-range 4 shooting areas are ranked at the league average level, including the right bottom corner shooting rate of 47.6% (higher than the league average level); while on the inside, Horford's height of 2.06 meters, plus 2.15 meters of arm span and 109kg weight, allows him to easily squeeze the opponent on the inside to complete the finale, the inside shooting rate of 58.9%.
Although Horford was able to grab 6.9 rebounds per game, including 1.5 frontcourt boards and 5.3 backcourt rebounds. However, when he was on the floor, the team's performance in the second attack was not so good, and when Horford was on the floor this season, the team scored 11.7 points per 100 rounds of the second attack, and after the game, this statistic will be improved to 14.1 points. Obviously, when he is off the court, Embiid can play more easily on the inside and can make up for the lack of secondary attack.
Of course, Horford's ability to protect the rebounds can also provide a great help to the team to a certain extent, with 6.9 rebounds ranking third on the team, behind Embiid and Simmons. Horford's rebounding protection covers the entire half, and the vast majority of his rebounds come from the middle distance of 3 to 10 feet, averaging 4.5 rebounds per game this season, accounting for 66.6%; in addition, within the 0-3 foot range, he averaged 1.1 rebounds per game, accounting for 16.7%; above 10 feet, he averaged 1.1 rebounds per game, accounting for 15.8%.
As for the defensive end, Horford has always been able to deliver very good performances on the defensive end, and this season Horford's personal defensive efficiency is 103.7, ranking 61st in the league and ranking at the top of the overall position. This season he has averaged 10.3 attempts per game to interfere with the opponent's shots, ranking 23rd in the league. Horford's inside weight advantage, so that the opposing players will also suffer when attacking on the inside, Horford's sense of supplementary defense and co-defense is very top-notch, can make up for the mistakes made by the defender defense in time, and interfere with the opponent's shooting on the inside line.
Of course, due to height restrictions, and the increase in age, the speed of movement has become slower, and Horford's performance in single defense is not so good. According to the statistics of the NBA's official data website, once it falls into the inner line less than 6 feet this season, the shooting rate of the opposing player will increase by 0.1%, the shooting rate within 10 feet will drop by 1%, the shooting rate of the entire two-point shooting rate will drop by 0.3%, and his efficiency in protecting rebounds in the entire interior line is still very good, but once it falls into the outside line, due to the weakness of slow speed, their three-point shooting rate will often rise by 0.5% when the opponent faces him.
Of course, as a well-rounded center, Horford's ability to maneuver is also top-notch, and this season Horford can average 4.1 assists per game, ranking second in the team, behind Ben Simmons. We can usually see Horford passing the ball to the likes of outside shooters Colemacz, Richardson and Harris. Simmons is the player who has received the most passes from Horford this season, Horford has to transfer him 13.8 times per game, of which 0.6 are converted into assists, Simmons is the league's most capable defender, he breaks through the inside line after the breakout is extremely efficient, Horford is often able to give Simmons a reasonable space to break through, let him finish on the inside line; Harris receives 8.5 passes from Horford per game, of which 0.9 are converted into assists, and the two tend to improve their shooting rate after receiving Horford's pass. Horford's excellent passing ability can improve the offensive efficiency of the entire team to a certain extent.
As the "lubricant" of the 76ers, Horford's role on the entire court cannot be underestimated, and in the 5-man group statistics commonly used by the 76ers, there are multiple combinations that have scored positive points per 100 rounds this season. In the 76ers' most commonly used 5-man stats this season, 7 of the 10 groups have positive scoring per 100 rounds, with Harris, Ennis, Horford, Colkmaz and Simmons on the floor at the same time, and they can win 15.6 points per 100 rounds. In short, when Horford is on the floor, he can often positively affect the 76ers' offensive and defensive ends, and he is a very important part of the whole team and plays the role of a lubricant for the team.
Although the 34-year-old Horford is difficult to be the absolute core of a team again, he can still play a very active role on the court, and this season due to the 76ers' flaws in the lineup, it is difficult for Horford to play his full role in the game, and as he gets older, his performance on the defensive end will decline. But Horford's years of experience as a playoff veteran can help the team a lot in key moments on the playoff stage, and he is an integral part of this team.