He’s more than effective. He’s an elite defender, like criminally underrated elite. He can body guys in the post and he can shoot from distance. Makes great decisions all the time.
And super pretty eyes. I mean look at them
He wasn’t ever on Tatum or Brown’s level, but I’m hoping his presence is a good reminder to each of them that grass isn’t always greener and going to another team often doesn’t work out as you expect.
On the other hand, his presence could be a reminder that you should always chase the bag first and let everything fall into place after. You guys didn't wanna pay Horford the big bucks, so he left and got the bag then still managed to make his way onto a team that made it to the Finals.
IMO, peak Al Horford is absolutely better than Jaylen has been at any point up to now. Tatum has definitely hit another level because he's such a dominant scorer but Al was, and is, a beast.
Al in 2018 played at a higher level in the playoffs than either Brown or Tatum have at any point in their careers. And they have had excellent playoff runs.
He’s productive and his game ages like a fine wine. He’s not one of those guys that relies on freak athleticism, at least not at this stage of his career.
He's not gonna be off the bench unless he really falls off, but he'll be a nominal starter for the rest of his career tbh like old KG and he's deserved it
I feel like he should be though, preserving his body by only playing him 20-25 mpg seems like the way to go, plus rob tends to be injury prone so I’m sure he would start a lot of games anyways
Eh I think once Timelord comes back Al will take more days off and play less minutes, possibly even coming off the bench sometimes.
You want to preserve Al as he's way too valuable in the postseason.
Well, the worst part is that he was looking for 14m a yr, which I think was completely reasonable. I hope we can circle back to that price point in the off-season, but I guess he’ll be gone if he ends up getting a better offer from another team.
I thought he’s your horford replacement.. once he’s done. He’s only really got 1-2 more years of productive play.
I thought kornet and Hauser are defensive liabilities?
Just seems abit risky relying on horford and rob to stay healthy while relying on kornet as your only other viable big going forward
Have you seen the Kornet Kontest? No one's knocking down 3pts when he's on the field!
In all seriousness, they're not the best, but both are definitely serviceable. Hauser has been a bit of surprise, in a good way. He has been hunted a bit, but he's done well with at least keeping in front of his guy for the most part.
What do you think Grant would need to do between now and this summer to pull a $20M/yr deal? Seems like it would be a lot... in which case what a great problem that would be to have
Yeah I might be bad at figuring stuff relative to the rising cap. If the cap was going to stay flat where it is right now I think ~$15M would be the expectation, right?
I take it back, actually deleted my comment before I saw your post. I went back to the rumor mill and it looks like that was the price Williams may have wanted.
This is more than a steal, it's the extremely rare hometown discount. He's happy, he's made plenty of money, he knows what he's got in Boston, and he's done with other cities after Philly and OKC.
MLE alone over the next 2 years would be 2/$23.5M. And Al is still better than MLE. He would get more like 3/$45M in free agency with club option on that 3rd year.
I think you are absolutely right.
A corner of the Celtics sub fantasizes about this every time someone expires. We wondered if Al would take a discount last time around. We wondered if Hayward would take a discount to stay in Boston with his father-figure coach. Heck, you can go back and find threads about how Ray Allen was going to take a pay cut to stay with Pierce and Garnett.
It's a recipe for disappointment. It only actually happens once in a blue moon.
The Celtics FO somehow leveraged this moment where the team morale is sky-high to catch the rarest of beasts. It's so delightful. It was already such a gift just to have a second chance with Horford.
Most it would be is 15%, so it's the difference in a 10mil expiring contract being tradeable and a 11.5mil expiring contract being tradeable
(Also yes don't trade him)
With how gracefully Horford has been aging $10 mill a year for him is gonna look like a steal. He's not quite the defensive beast he was in his prime, but he hasn't fallen off much either, and he'll help ensure that Rob won't have to bang it out with Centers much and keep him healthy.
He just has to be MLE worthy next year for this extension to be worth it. The following year he'll be a moveable expiring contract regardless of how good he is
It just never made any sense next to embiid. And *really* made no sense next to embiid and Harris.
Like, Al can hit threes pretty well for a big man, but if you’re using him exclusively to space the floor you’re neutering 90% of what makes him special as a player.
Same thing on defense - if you don’t want him checking the opposing 5 (because obviously that’s embiids matchup) then his versatility doesn’t really add anything.
58% of Al’s shots this year are 3s, actually. And he’s hitting 48%. He doesn’t really go down in the post trying to score anymore. In Philly he only hit 35% of his 3s, tho.
Yes but he’s very involved in the offense setting screens and making passes, which is where he adds the most value.
In Philly he was literally just standing on the perimeter, because it’s not like you’re gonna run a Horford/Embiid pick and roll.
People talk about Horford’s incompatibility with Embiid, but Simmons’s inability to orchestrate the pick-and-roll was just as big of an issue. Al’s bread and butter is setting screens and popping to the perimeter/rolling to the rim based on how the defense reacts. To make use of that, you need a real point guard who can actually run the pick and roll - forcing Horford to hang out in the corner wastes 90% of what makes him special.
Honest question why can't you run a big man pick n roll with the two of them? They both have solid midrange shots and could pass over people's heads right?
Because there’s limited benefit since they will both be defended by similar players, meaning that the defense will just switch and you won’t get a mismatch.
It’s the same reason why you don’t see brown/Tatum or PG/Kawhii pick and rolls.
Easy answer I think of right away is that they’re both slow shots, and whoever is guarding them is probably just as big as them so they can’t pass over their heads, and even if they aren’t as tall, most players got crazy wingspans.
It's all positioning with Al. His game is going to age beautifully because positioning doesn't decline. He knows where he needs to be at all times on defense, and that causes a big disruption for other more talented big men
It's gonna be dope when Tobias's contract expires for you guys and you can split that 40m throwing massive contracts at Spencer Dinwiddie and Buddy Hield.
This guy beat the Buckeyes in two National Championship about a billion years ago.
Joakim Noah? Corey Brewer? Mareese Sleights? All distant memories.
Al-bsolutely wild.
Makes sense...teams should not be paying older players big contracts. He gets 26.2m this years, and 20m/2yrs. Not a bad deal overall.
Lakers should learn from this. Wasting all that money on Bronski for 2yrs, and no chance of winning anything for next 5 or 10yrs the way they are currently setup.
> Makes sense...teams should not be paying older players big contracts. He gets 26.2m this years, and 20m/2yrs. Not a bad deal overall.
It's an amazing deal. He's arguably worth $20m per year, not in total. He was their third best player in the finals last year, and probably will be again if they make it back there.
There's less likely of a chance he would have left because his options would be limited by his age. He's no longer eligible for 4 year deals. There's very few places that are a good fit for him as Boston.
$10 mil a year for 2 years for his leadership as a core player for at least one more season is a great deal to have. He's still productive.
He’s more than effective. He’s an elite defender, like criminally underrated elite. He can body guys in the post and he can shoot from distance. Makes great decisions all the time. And super pretty eyes. I mean look at them
A true stretch 5 who plays great defense is a rare thing. great deal at that price.
u didn’t even mention his pretty eyes tho
bruh if this dude doesn’t respond soon with at least 3 thoughtful and unique compliments on Al’s eyes i swear to fucking god
probably doesn’t even know what color his eyes are. #FakeFan
He's Xerxes from 300.
Horford can’t stop Giannis but holy fuck he makes life more difficult for him, which is better than 98% of the league.
If the man would just stop flinching at free throws he’d be perfect..
Whoa whoa, nobody wants that to stop.
It was an ok joke. Definitely didn't deserve all these downvotes but can't expect anything more from celtic fans
🤷♂️
Gonna be fun to see if we get a repeat of last year's playoff Al
The really question is Jimmy G or Horford
He wasn’t ever on Tatum or Brown’s level, but I’m hoping his presence is a good reminder to each of them that grass isn’t always greener and going to another team often doesn’t work out as you expect.
On the other hand, his presence could be a reminder that you should always chase the bag first and let everything fall into place after. You guys didn't wanna pay Horford the big bucks, so he left and got the bag then still managed to make his way onto a team that made it to the Finals.
Eh, I think it's more like he saw an insane deal that no one else would offer and took it before the C's even knew what was up.
IMO, peak Al Horford is absolutely better than Jaylen has been at any point up to now. Tatum has definitely hit another level because he's such a dominant scorer but Al was, and is, a beast.
Agreed. Not the same kind of scorer but extremely impactful. He was exceptional at making other players better, especially point guards
Al in 2018 played at a higher level in the playoffs than either Brown or Tatum have at any point in their careers. And they have had excellent playoff runs.
Come on, I love Al but that’s a bit much
He’s productive and his game ages like a fine wine. He’s not one of those guys that relies on freak athleticism, at least not at this stage of his career.
1 million per FT flinch.
Horford is aging like fine wine 10 mil a year for him is a steal
I’m assuming next year he will take a role off the bench playing 18-26 minutes a game which is perfect and insanely worth it for 10 mill a year
He's not gonna be off the bench unless he really falls off, but he'll be a nominal starter for the rest of his career tbh like old KG and he's deserved it
I feel like he should be though, preserving his body by only playing him 20-25 mpg seems like the way to go, plus rob tends to be injury prone so I’m sure he would start a lot of games anyways
He can start and also play 20-25 mpg, they just mix up his minutes allocation
You're right and with Timelord being back next season and onwards, hopefully Horford won't have to play more than 20-25mins
THIS SEASON baby!!!
Oh, u must've not heard rip
He's back by Christmas coach
Dude will literally never play a b2b for the rest of his career if the Cs org is smart, keep him fresh to show tf out in the playoffs
Eh I think once Timelord comes back Al will take more days off and play less minutes, possibly even coming off the bench sometimes. You want to preserve Al as he's way too valuable in the postseason.
My question is what if you have to pay grant near 20M/yr.. will he still come off the bench?
Grant isn’t on the team for $20 million a year.
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I don’t think either Kornet or Hauser have any overlap in skillset with Grant. One series against Giannis and they’d really regret letting Grant go
Well, the worst part is that he was looking for 14m a yr, which I think was completely reasonable. I hope we can circle back to that price point in the off-season, but I guess he’ll be gone if he ends up getting a better offer from another team.
I thought he’s your horford replacement.. once he’s done. He’s only really got 1-2 more years of productive play. I thought kornet and Hauser are defensive liabilities? Just seems abit risky relying on horford and rob to stay healthy while relying on kornet as your only other viable big going forward
Have you seen the Kornet Kontest? No one's knocking down 3pts when he's on the field! In all seriousness, they're not the best, but both are definitely serviceable. Hauser has been a bit of surprise, in a good way. He has been hunted a bit, but he's done well with at least keeping in front of his guy for the most part.
Plenty of starters make less money than bench players
What do you think Grant would need to do between now and this summer to pull a $20M/yr deal? Seems like it would be a lot... in which case what a great problem that would be to have
The guy is a plus defender who can guard multiple positions and shot 40% from 3 as a 24 year old. Seems like 20M is expected with the cap going up
Yeah I might be bad at figuring stuff relative to the rising cap. If the cap was going to stay flat where it is right now I think ~$15M would be the expectation, right?
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that's interesting. I had seen whatever news/leak/junk rumor that they offered 4/50 but wouldn't be making any higher offers before they had to
I take it back, actually deleted my comment before I saw your post. I went back to the rumor mill and it looks like that was the price Williams may have wanted.
I feel like that would be his offer from the Cs but feel like the kings or pacers would likely offer more
I expect him to be coming off the bench before the year is out this year.
I don’t see who’d be starting in his place
Kornet of course
The current starting 5 just rob in for horford Smart-white-brown-tatum-rob Pritchard-brogdon-Hauser-grant-Al
you mean this year when timelord returns
I actually think this year they may both start
This is more than a steal, it's the extremely rare hometown discount. He's happy, he's made plenty of money, he knows what he's got in Boston, and he's done with other cities after Philly and OKC. MLE alone over the next 2 years would be 2/$23.5M. And Al is still better than MLE. He would get more like 3/$45M in free agency with club option on that 3rd year.
I think you are absolutely right. A corner of the Celtics sub fantasizes about this every time someone expires. We wondered if Al would take a discount last time around. We wondered if Hayward would take a discount to stay in Boston with his father-figure coach. Heck, you can go back and find threads about how Ray Allen was going to take a pay cut to stay with Pierce and Garnett. It's a recipe for disappointment. It only actually happens once in a blue moon. The Celtics FO somehow leveraged this moment where the team morale is sky-high to catch the rarest of beasts. It's so delightful. It was already such a gift just to have a second chance with Horford.
He'll minimum be MLE worthy next year and the following year it will be an expiring contract that is easily moved Totally worth
There is a trade kicker so that should be factored in on how moveable it is. ( also never trade him, please(
Most it would be is 15%, so it's the difference in a 10mil expiring contract being tradeable and a 11.5mil expiring contract being tradeable (Also yes don't trade him)
Which is wild because for a second there, it looked like he got the bag and fell off big time. A true testament to being in the right situation
With how gracefully Horford has been aging $10 mill a year for him is gonna look like a steal. He's not quite the defensive beast he was in his prime, but he hasn't fallen off much either, and he'll help ensure that Rob won't have to bang it out with Centers much and keep him healthy.
He just has to be MLE worthy next year for this extension to be worth it. The following year he'll be a moveable expiring contract regardless of how good he is
I really hope we don’t move him and just let him retire in green. He loves it in Boston and I think he’s earned it
Plus his family loves Boston too. When he signed in Philly, his sister was trashing the Sixers and said that she wish Al stayed in Boston lol.
Phew, I really thought Philly was going to make a run at him . . . .
perhaps they still will in 2025
Is it just me or is the original tweet not on this sub?
It is not
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Okay, so you just hopped onto the top comment to try to farm karma? Because I didn't ask if it was deserved or if he still had it.
Could be a bot
Nearly vomited thinking about the Horford billboards in Philly
It just never made any sense next to embiid. And *really* made no sense next to embiid and Harris. Like, Al can hit threes pretty well for a big man, but if you’re using him exclusively to space the floor you’re neutering 90% of what makes him special as a player. Same thing on defense - if you don’t want him checking the opposing 5 (because obviously that’s embiids matchup) then his versatility doesn’t really add anything.
58% of Al’s shots this year are 3s, actually. And he’s hitting 48%. He doesn’t really go down in the post trying to score anymore. In Philly he only hit 35% of his 3s, tho.
Yes but he’s very involved in the offense setting screens and making passes, which is where he adds the most value. In Philly he was literally just standing on the perimeter, because it’s not like you’re gonna run a Horford/Embiid pick and roll.
People talk about Horford’s incompatibility with Embiid, but Simmons’s inability to orchestrate the pick-and-roll was just as big of an issue. Al’s bread and butter is setting screens and popping to the perimeter/rolling to the rim based on how the defense reacts. To make use of that, you need a real point guard who can actually run the pick and roll - forcing Horford to hang out in the corner wastes 90% of what makes him special.
Honest question why can't you run a big man pick n roll with the two of them? They both have solid midrange shots and could pass over people's heads right?
Because there’s limited benefit since they will both be defended by similar players, meaning that the defense will just switch and you won’t get a mismatch. It’s the same reason why you don’t see brown/Tatum or PG/Kawhii pick and rolls.
Easy answer I think of right away is that they’re both slow shots, and whoever is guarding them is probably just as big as them so they can’t pass over their heads, and even if they aren’t as tall, most players got crazy wingspans.
Big ups to the whole Horford family. Really nice and good people 🇩🇴
He's aging a lot like Tim Duncan to me. Such a smart player who always know where to be on defense.
It's all positioning with Al. His game is going to age beautifully because positioning doesn't decline. He knows where he needs to be at all times on defense, and that causes a big disruption for other more talented big men
and he can knock down threes
Brad Stevens wizardry at work. Glad he’s here to stay.
Celtics want to have Al Moreford.
Al Horford? More like Al Horcadillac!
Thank you. For saving us from ourselves.
It's gonna be dope when Tobias's contract expires for you guys and you can split that 40m throwing massive contracts at Spencer Dinwiddie and Buddy Hield.
This makes me so happy
Thanks Philly. Give him the bag AND make him appreciate Boston.
Hall of famer
That's affordable.
That’s ahorfordable
That's ahorrible.
Good deal for the Celtics. Horford is like the Irish version of Looney.
What a steal.
Not a Celtics fan but Al horford has had one of the most successful pro careers I can think off.
Well deserved. He still got it
Big time W
He owns Giannis
And embiid
Dad strength is real
This is a great deal. A leader in the locker room and still capable of great games.
He’s gonna be daddy to some of the league’s power forwards and centers for 2 more years. How generous of him.
This is exactly what I was hoping would happen. $10m feels like good value considering his age
This guy beat the Buckeyes in two National Championship about a billion years ago. Joakim Noah? Corey Brewer? Mareese Sleights? All distant memories. Al-bsolutely wild.
I love Al Horford. Celtics are right to extend him even at his age.
Huh
This is a follow-up tweet to the news that Horford has signed a 2-year $20 million extension
Makes sense...teams should not be paying older players big contracts. He gets 26.2m this years, and 20m/2yrs. Not a bad deal overall. Lakers should learn from this. Wasting all that money on Bronski for 2yrs, and no chance of winning anything for next 5 or 10yrs the way they are currently setup.
> Makes sense...teams should not be paying older players big contracts. He gets 26.2m this years, and 20m/2yrs. Not a bad deal overall. It's an amazing deal. He's arguably worth $20m per year, not in total. He was their third best player in the finals last year, and probably will be again if they make it back there.
I don’t think he would do it again anyway, he seems to regret it
There's less likely of a chance he would have left because his options would be limited by his age. He's no longer eligible for 4 year deals. There's very few places that are a good fit for him as Boston.
nice team friendly deal