Al Horford has been mediocre. He doesnt deserve his salary

[PhoSita]

I think its fair to say broadly that hes worth 30 million, the problem is he isnt a huge surplus value. Guys like Lebron, Curry, Davis are worth 50 million+. It becomes hard to reach the absolute highest level when one of your max slows isnt a sur plus value guy. Lucky I dont think its a huge problem for us since our young guys provide a lot of sur plus value, and by the time we resign them Horford contract will expire.

Exactly, and that was without a doubt a huge part of the reason Ainge went after Horford.  You can afford to pay big $$ to a 30ish free agent when a huge chunk of your roster is made up of rookie deals.

[PhoSita]

If Horford plays this good in the the 2nd round....I will say

Why arent you playing like this more often? And earning all of 30 million per season

There is nothing to admit of error for posting this thread...he was pure mediocre for a good chunk of the season. Especially when Kyrie was out (I mean even with Kyrie at times...its like when are you going to try, hit some big shots vs relying on others to score)

I would say you need to expand your definition of what it means to play well, because Al was very good for the vast majority of the regular season, as well.  It's not all about points and taking shots.

Right. Horford was a top-10 defender all season, and an excellent floor-spacer passer. He’s integral on both ends.

Are these things worth 30 million a season ?

Right now he is playing like a max guy

I guess I have been too spoiled by KGs excellence in the regular season, playoffs ...didnt matter

I know AL could have done more...we are seeing it right before our eyes.

Let me make this simple as possible for you.


Al Horford as one of the top 2-3 players on your team is going to lead your team on both ends on the court and  will be a leader off the court as well, and your team is going to win 45+ games and be competitive in the playoffs.

That's worth $25-30 million to me.  If you need a guy to be a go-to scorer to be worth allocating over a quarter of the cap, then we disagree. I completely disagree with you about NBA roster construction. 

For a 30 million dollar player...yes it is about scoring and or carrying team to wins. And if the other max guy is struggling or focused on, to be the next guy to score and seal wins

You dont pay Draymond Green 30 million to be the jack of all trades (and a real good one he is)

If the team is mostly young guys and players on bargain contracts, and adding Draymond will help the team make a leap to the top half of the conference plus give the team legitimacy in seeking to add other stars to the roster, then a good GM would absolutely pay Draymond that kind of money.

[Moranis]

So Triboy - As was asked above, and you never answered:  Who would you have given that money to in 2016?  We all wanted Durant, we lost out on him.  Who else was better than Al to spend the money on?

I wouldn't have spent it and would have carried it over to 2017 and then used that extra space in 2017 to acquire Paul George or Jimmy Butler and still have the room to sign Hayward in free agency.

[KGs Knee]

So Triboy - As was asked above, and you never answered:  Who would you have given that money to in 2016?  We all wanted Durant, we lost out on him.  Who else was better than Al to spend the money on?

I wouldn't have spent it and would have carried it over to 2017 and then used that extra space in 2017 to acquire Paul George or Jimmy Butler and still have the room to sign Hayward in free agency.

And your team would be decidedly worse than the current team as you'd have no two-way big who can do any of the things that Horford does that are vital to team success.  You'd be overloaded on wings with the only hope of getting a top flight big being DeMarcus Cousins or Blake Griffin (no other big has since come available).  Cousins is a head case and now injured, and Griffin is clearly an inferior player to Horford.

[KGs Knee]

I will say, though, this thread has become kind of silly.  I don't think one single person has changed their stance, and doesn't appear likely to.  It's just the same people re-iterating the same points over and over (on both sides).

[Tr1boy]

So Triboy - As was asked above, and you never answered:  Who would you have given that money to in 2016?  We all wanted Durant, we lost out on him.  Who else was better than Al to spend the money on?

I wouldn't have spent it and would have carried it over to 2017 and then used that extra space in 2017 to acquire Paul George or Jimmy Butler and still have the room to sign Hayward in free agency.

I agree

[PhoSita]

I will say, though, this thread has become kind of silly.  I don't think one single person has changed their stance, and doesn't appear likely to.  It's just the same people re-iterating the same points over and over (on both sides).

You're not wrong.

[Tr1boy]

So Triboy - As was asked above, and you never answered:  Who would you have given that money to in 2016?  We all wanted Durant, we lost out on him.  Who else was better than Al to spend the money on?

do nothing except maybe sign Dedmon. Like Moranis stated above, his idea is also something I that would have considered a better option and also without strangling capspace (as we face starting this upcoming offseason) 

[kozlodoev]

Just a guy I'd like to have at about 75% of the max salary slot.

 I think that we all wish this was possible. The problem is, it isn’t. So, you are left with the decision of paying him more than he is ideally worth, or missing out on him altogether.

Looking back at that free agent class, there are many, many worse outcomes than paying Horford what the market value was.

Sure, but I think his price tag stops some people from realizing that he's simply the best third banana type in the league.

[Roy H.]

Worth every penny.

[SparzWizard]

Max contract!!

[hpantazo]

This is one of the greatest Celticsblog threads ever!

[rondofan1255]

Mvpmvpmvp 

[KGs Knee]

Al Horford is underpaid.

What a bargain contract.

[ozgod]

This was Colossal Al tonight. When the game was on the line he gave us that 10 point cushion.