Crimson has been arguing against Horford for a while and it's hard to disagree with his logic. It hard to say no when you can get something for nothing (nothing in this case means not giving up picks/players), but the NBA has a salary cap and he would take up a massive part of that.
I am just glad we didn't trade for him mid-season because we would be giving him more years and money which would assinine. I will say, however, that if Durant (for some reason) says he will come here if we sign Horford, then we should obviously do it, as Durant is worth much more than the max and some of Horford's money would essentially be Durant's.
One last thing, some have said that Horford will sign a 1-1 so that he can sign an even bigger max next year. I can't imagine him taking that chance with what will likely be a pretty sharp decline (or what will be perceived as one by GMs) at any moment.
Thanks for the kind words
I kinda feel bad being so negative about Horford because I do really like who he seems to be as a person. He seems like a great locker room guy, a good teammate, and a legitimate team first guy.
I feel especially bad about it because there was a time (some years back) when I really did like Horford. Hell, I still remember that playoff series against the Hawks where we pretty much had them in a corner, then Horford came back from injury and the moment he returned he absolutely killed us - really made things difficult. We still won the series from memory, but it was a hard fought battle to the very end.
So memories like that make me feel positive towards Horford and make me want to root for him. But at the same time I know it's important to remove oneself from the situation emotionally and look at it from an objective point of view, and when you look at the player Horford is right now, it does make it really difficult to justify/support the idea of investing so much into him.
It's such a big risk, and one that I feel we cannot afford to make if we want to propel ourselves to true contender status. While the new cap situation makes it very tempting to splurge and throw money away just for the sake of throwing money away, that's exactly the type of approach that gets teams into long term financial problems. Just ask the Pistons (Villenueva and Gordon) and the Nets (Pierce/KG/Johnson/Deron).
Even when you have what feels like masses of free money to spend...sometimes the best purchase is still no purchase at all. Sometimes you're just betting off leaving that cash for a rainy day, or saving it for when that perfect deal arises that you've been waiting on for years. You don't want to overcommit on mediocrity only to find that when that big deal comes along, you are out of the running.
Luckily Danny has made a lot of comments in the recent months suggestion that he will not overspend for talent purely for the sake of adding talent. He won't acquire new talent unless either (a) the price is fair or (b) it is world class talent. If it's the latter case, you overpay regardless.
Danny could have made moves to bring in guys like Horford, Love or Howard this trade deadline, but he didn't do it. He didn't want to give up valuable future assets (Nets pick, Crowder, etc) for guys who he felt couldn't be game changers, or wouldn't be able to stick around long enough. I love that he has that mindset, and I think it will serve him well (as it has thus far).