Al Horford is a S-T-U-D

[SparzWizard]

Definitely reminds me of that KG-type player in 2011.

Getting those typa performance from him each night will be huge. Keep him bubble wrapped.

[Smartacus]

Iconic game from Big Al. Stout presence around the basket, reliable option as the roll man, incredible defense on Durant all game but especially when it mattered most.

Brooklyn was looking for the switch to get Horford on Durant because Durant beyond the 3 point line is a death sentence for most big men in the league, Horf stepped up multiple times and stayed with him step for step without fouling. Made Durant work for any points while he was on him.

TP if anyone has access to the split data? What did Durant shoot when Horford was the primary defender?

[nickagneta]

Players ≥ 35 YO, in a playoff game, with….

MP ≥ 40
PTS ≥ 20
TRB ≥ 15
FG% ≥ .500

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Charles Barkley
Wilt Chamberlain - 8x
Tim Duncan
Al Horford
LeBron James

Source: Boston Sports Info

Wilt casually doing it 8 times

I wonder how many of those 40/20/15/.500 games from Wilt were 40/40/30/.500 nights

[gouki88]

Players ≥ 35 YO, in a playoff game, with….

MP ≥ 40
PTS ≥ 20
TRB ≥ 15
FG% ≥ .500

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Charles Barkley
Wilt Chamberlain - 8x
Tim Duncan
Al Horford
LeBron James

Source: Boston Sports Info

Wilt casually doing it 8 times

I wonder how many of those 40/20/15/.500 games from Wilt were 40/40/30/.500 nights

By that stage he was relaxing the scoring efforts. Multiple 25+ rebound games (lol) at 35+ in the playoffs.

[mobilija]

Worth every penny. Always has been.

[Moranis]

Shame he got sent to OKC as his playoff streak ended in that dumpster fire.

[perks-a-beast]

Shame he got sent to OKC as his playoff streak ended in that dumpster fire.

Not a shame for us as it pretty much gave him the year off to rest haha.

[todd_days_41]

I've been critical of Stevens' SAS trade, and questioned the Horford deal dependent on short term success of Horford.

But give credit where credit is due -- at least Horford is providing real value to this team as part of dumping Walker, so kuddos to Stevens.

Gotta love Al's professionalism.... his dedication to his craft (at his age) is really paying off now.

[Vermont Green]

A lot of people totally discounted Horford after the Kemba Walker trade.  The prevalent narrative was "I can't believe we gave up a first round pick to dump Kemba", essentially assigning zero or negative value to Al Horford.  I will admit that I did not see him being as good as he has been.  I also didn't think he would be able to play alongside RWill.  Horford is quite a story.

The Nets can't cover everyone.  In the playoffs, teams are able to focus on certain players while kind of daring others to beat them.  It was clear that that the plan was to not worry about Al Horford.  They will adjust, but that will open up things some for others.

Al is the best true big man on the court in this series (Durant plays their second big but is not a true big in my opinion).  He took advantage of that in Game 1.  He is a tough match up for them.

[Moranis]

Shame he got sent to OKC as his playoff streak ended in that dumpster fire.

Not a shame for us as it pretty much gave him the year off to rest haha.

Very few players, especially key components, play in the playoffs every year of their career.  Al is now not one of them because of the OKC stint.  Just a shame.

[Vermont Green]

Shame he got sent to OKC as his playoff streak ended in that dumpster fire.

Not a shame for us as it pretty much gave him the year off to rest haha.

Very few players, especially key components, play in the playoffs every year of their career.  Al is now not one of them because of the OKC stint.  Just a shame.

Al only played 28 games for OKC in 2020-21.  Only about 800 minutes.  Good for him for staying ready, not just riding out his contract.  I think he is better off for having had such a low wear and tear season.  Al is fine.  He is as physically ready for a playoff run as anybody.  There probably is not another playoff team match up where you can say Al Horford is the best traditional big on the floor but it is true in this series.  The Nets have no answer for Al Horford.  Go figure.

[Vermont Green]

So the Sixers gave up Maledon and a protected 2025 first along with Horford to get essentially Danny Green.

I still don't fully understand what the problem was for Horford in Philly.  I can understand OKC not wanting to take minutes away from young players and give them to a guy who might actually help them win some games.  But why couldn't Philly figure out how to get something out of Horford?  Even if all they wanted was defense, rebounding, and passing.  Al doesn't need the offense run though him or anything like that.  The Celtics aren't "running through" Al Horford.  This seems like a coaching failure on Doc.

Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey announced today that the team has acquired Danny Green, and Vincent Poirier (pour-ee-ay) from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Al Horford, a 2025 protected first-round pick and the draft rights to Théo Maledon (No. 34 selection in 2020 NBA Draft) and Vasilije Micić (No. 52 selection in 2014 NBA Draft).

[Moranis]

So the Sixers gave up Maledon and a protected 2025 first along with Horford to get essentially Danny Green.

I still don't fully understand what the problem was for Horford in Philly.  I can understand OKC not wanting to take minutes away from young players and give them to a guy who might actually help them win some games.  But why couldn't Philly figure out how to get something out of Horford?  Even if all they wanted was defense, rebounding, and passing.  Al doesn't need the offense run though him or anything like that.  The Celtics aren't "running through" Al Horford.  This seems like a coaching failure on Doc.

Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey announced today that the team has acquired Danny Green, and Vincent Poirier (pour-ee-ay) from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Al Horford, a 2025 protected first-round pick and the draft rights to Théo Maledon (No. 34 selection in 2020 NBA Draft) and Vasilije Micić (No. 52 selection in 2014 NBA Draft).

They didn't think Al had lived up to the value of his contract and felt like they could use the money elsewhere.  And they probably weren't wrong given, they got very similar production from Dwight Howard at 2.5 million the next year, added Curry as well, and had Green all for less than they paid Horford.  I think it was quite simply them trying to better use the money i.e. 3 rotation level players (Green, Curry, Dwight) instead of 1 (Horford).  Now maybe they still could have had Curry (though maybe not), but then you are significantly increasing your dollars.  Dwight wouldn't have made sense with Al on the team so he wouldn't have gone there. 

[Vermont Green]

So the Sixers gave up Maledon and a protected 2025 first along with Horford to get essentially Danny Green.

I still don't fully understand what the problem was for Horford in Philly.  I can understand OKC not wanting to take minutes away from young players and give them to a guy who might actually help them win some games.  But why couldn't Philly figure out how to get something out of Horford?  Even if all they wanted was defense, rebounding, and passing.  Al doesn't need the offense run though him or anything like that.  The Celtics aren't "running through" Al Horford.  This seems like a coaching failure on Doc.

Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey announced today that the team has acquired Danny Green, and Vincent Poirier (pour-ee-ay) from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Al Horford, a 2025 protected first-round pick and the draft rights to Théo Maledon (No. 34 selection in 2020 NBA Draft) and Vasilije Micić (No. 52 selection in 2014 NBA Draft).

They didn't think Al had lived up to the value of his contract and felt like they could use the money elsewhere.  And they probably weren't wrong given, they got very similar production from Dwight Howard at 2.5 million the next year, added Curry as well, and had Green all for less than they paid Horford.  I think it was quite simply them trying to better use the money i.e. 3 rotation level players (Green, Curry, Dwight) instead of 1 (Horford).  Now maybe they still could have had Curry (though maybe not), but then you are significantly increasing your dollars.  Dwight wouldn't have made sense with Al on the team so he wouldn't have gone there.

All the payroll considerations that you list are true, I am sure they are all things they considered, but only after it was perceived that it was not working with Al Horford on the Sixers.  They weren't getting much out of Al Horford so then they figured they could make better use of the cap space.  But it was a coaching failure in the first place apparently in that they were getting so little out of Al, that trading him for Danny Green and signing Dwight Howard seemed like it was better than keeping Al.  Think the Celtics would trade Al Horford and throw in a first round pick for Danny Green and Dwight Howard right now?

Al was/is a bad contract, that is not in dispute, but Al is a much better player than what he was on Philly, or at least is contributing more to our winning than he was perceived to be in Philly.  Something went wrong in Philly as it usually does.  They should have been able to get more out of Al than they did.  This season for Boston, he put up 10 pts and 8 rebs and that contributed to historically good winning basketball.  His last season in Philly (well only season I guess), he was 12 pts, 7 rebs, 35% from 3 and he was a problem that needed to be shipped out with a first round pick.

[jambr380]

So the Sixers gave up Maledon and a protected 2025 first along with Horford to get essentially Danny Green.

I still don't fully understand what the problem was for Horford in Philly.  I can understand OKC not wanting to take minutes away from young players and give them to a guy who might actually help them win some games.  But why couldn't Philly figure out how to get something out of Horford?  Even if all they wanted was defense, rebounding, and passing.  Al doesn't need the offense run though him or anything like that.  The Celtics aren't "running through" Al Horford.  This seems like a coaching failure on Doc.

Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey announced today that the team has acquired Danny Green, and Vincent Poirier (pour-ee-ay) from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Al Horford, a 2025 protected first-round pick and the draft rights to Théo Maledon (No. 34 selection in 2020 NBA Draft) and Vasilije Micić (No. 52 selection in 2014 NBA Draft).

They didn't think Al had lived up to the value of his contract and felt like they could use the money elsewhere.  And they probably weren't wrong given, they got very similar production from Dwight Howard at 2.5 million the next year, added Curry as well, and had Green all for less than they paid Horford.  I think it was quite simply them trying to better use the money i.e. 3 rotation level players (Green, Curry, Dwight) instead of 1 (Horford).  Now maybe they still could have had Curry (though maybe not), but then you are significantly increasing your dollars.  Dwight wouldn't have made sense with Al on the team so he wouldn't have gone there.

Why bring up Curry? They received him from DAL in the Richardson deal. And they originally got Richardson from MIA in the Butler S&T. Since they both play SG, they very easily could have / would have made that trade.