Al Horford leaving was the best thing that could have happened to this team.

[Smartacus]

When Al Horford chose to leave back in 2019, the Celtics were reeling from the Kyrie Irving debacle, facing an ever mounting repeater tax bill, searching for an identity between Hayward and the Jays, all over the ESPN drama shows for the wrong reasons, and about to watch their rock in the front court bail on the team for a conference rival.

The team was able to stay afloat thanks to the surprise Kemba Walker signing but had some growing up to do to say the least. The next 2 years would prove to be trying but with as the team fell into chaos the flawed began to burn off its imperfections like dead wood.

Kyrie out
Rozier out
Hayward out
Marcus Morris out
Theis out
Tristan Thompson
Wannamaker/Carsen Edwards/Tacko Fall out
Kemba Walker out
DA out.
Coach Brad Stevens out
Repeater Tax bill re-set

And after all that dust has settle look who's back? Big Al Horford

Today's Celtics are by far the most complete roster that we have had since our ECF runs and a huge part of that is because our young players from the 2019 team have evolved into their actualized selves. Smart is the undisputed starting point guard no longer needing to share responsibility or look over his shoulder. Jaylen and Tatum have risen to top 30 players. Pritchard and Nesmith are looking like surefire rotation players and Robert Williams has silenced all the criticisms that me and others have thrown him over the years.

Robert Williams is closer to falling out of the league than becoming a rotation player for this team.

Smartacus (Dumbacus?)

Bolstering this youth movement though is the return of the Rock. It's too early to say conclusively but Horford has helped to re-establish a sense of normalcy and optimism to this team. Not only that, but while he was gone he established chemistry with future Celtic Josh Richardson, future Head Coach Ime Udoka, and seems to have been the biggest voice in bringing in his old teammate Dennis Schroeder. Horford has come into camp refreshed both mentally and physically and seems ready to lead the team both on and off the court.

Al coming back has been worth every penny of the trade package.(I am a huge Alperen Senguin fan but he's not worth what Al has brought to this team) Horford leaving when he did allowed the team to bottom out so it could rise up. Welcome back big fella, let go to war.

[Smartacus]

P.S. Also forgot to mention that Embiid just named the Horford signing as the reason the 6ers lost Jimmy Butler. It seems his disastrous time in Philly may have had been one of the inciting incidents for destabilizing a conference rival.

Double agent

[Surferdad]

All true, good topic, don't disagree.

One irony is that the C's end up paying the back-end of Horford's $100MM+ contract, the thing that was a big motivator for not resigning him to a  deal.  Still, I'm happy to have him back.

[ozgod]

Other than the 3rd scorer, I think we're in good shape to be a dark horse. I like these seasons where nobody expects us to do anything because then they get to surprise us. And obviously if we do really well GM Brad might reinforce our team at the trading deadline. So far I think:

The Jays - our dual threat wings, inside and out, and solid defenders
Smartacus - our primary ball handler
Timelord - rim protector and rim roller at the 5

They will always be in our starting and ending lineup...the 5th spot will be "horses for courses" selection depending on the situation.

- Schroder - ball handler/P&R threat, possible 3rd scorer if he is paired on court with Payton. Could start at the 2 if we wanted to go smaller
- Big Al - bench stretch 5 (I noticed Ime didn't have Al and Timelord on the court at the same time for the most part so he probably sees Al as a 5). Could start at the 4 if we need a ball handling big other than Timelord but I think he will start on the bench
- Juancho - traditional 4 for two-big lineups who should be able to defend to the perimeter and stretch the floor. They probably want him to start in an ideal world and just do the dirty work
- Nesmith - sparkplug who can provide energy off the bench and be a shooting threat
- Payton - ball handler, can run the offense for the 2nd unit
- Richardson - defensive wing. He could start at the 2 if we needed a Pat Bev type with Smartacus
- Kanter - traditional 5 if we need someone to defend the likes of Embiid or grind down low. I think Ime will use him better than Brad did
- Langford - defensive wing
- Gwill - small ball 5 (though I don't think he will really play that role this season, he will prob be more of a bigger wing for defensive purposes)

Jabari, Bruno, Hauser will probably round out the 15 with the 2 way spot and I don't expect them to be major contributors unless it's a blowout or injury.

[pablohoney]

Have to strongly disagree.  If team had Horford instead of Kemba the last 2 years and had  resigned Rozier instead of paying for JRich …. Not only would we be better off today….we might have got to finals in Bubble.

[Alleyoopster]

Have to strongly disagree.  If team had Horford instead of Kemba the last 2 years and had  resigned Rozier instead of paying for JRich …. Not only would we be better off today….we might have got to finals in Bubble.

I think it goes back to the Kryie trade mistake. It was obvious Kyrie had major injury issues with his shoulder and knee. As well as his notorious independence philosophy disruptions. Both problems came back to haunt the Celtics.

[Ogaju]

who is jayrich

[ozgod]

who is jayrich

Probably J.Rich - Josh Richardson?