Prior to this offseason, I absolutely hated the idea of signing Horford.
For the past few years he's been quite literally the ultimate "jack of all trades, master of none" player - and that's not the type of guy I like throwing near $30M a year on.
Then I saw how he played in training camp, and I was starting to change my mind. I was thinking maybe, just maybe, I underestimated him.
Then the regular season started, and he went right back to old Al ways.
Fact is this. Al Horford is good at lots of things, but there is nothing (absolutely nothing) that he does at an elite enough level to make this team substantially better on his own, and that's because sadly...he's a 29 year old who plays like he's 35.
When young Horford was a beast in the paint and a beast on the boards. Now days he can't draw a foul to save his life, gets out rebounded by Avery Bradley on an almost nightly basis, fails almost every time he tries to score in the post, and (as a result of most of that, perhaps) spends the vast majority of his time on the perimeter chucking up jumpers.
His defence is nice, his playmaking for a big is outstanding, his jumper is consistently very good.
But he cannot create offense in any way, shape or form. He depends entirely on having other guys drawing defensive attention so that he can get wide open looks, which he rarely fails to knock down. That's why Horford would be a brilliant fit on a team like Golden State or Cleveland or Toronto - a team where you have at least two dominant stars who can draw attention so he can get open looks.
Horford is a third string star. He should never be the #1 or #2 guy on any team, and if he is you're not going to be all that great. If he's your third best guy (as he arguably was in Atlanta behind Millsap and Teague) then you're in good shape.
Also, I fail to understand how he's such a great fit in Boston. Because he's a skilled passing big man who likes shooting long jumpers? That seems like all we've had here for years now, it's the last thing we need.
What we need is a big who can dominate the paint on defense and on the boards, at the very least. Dwight Howard would have been a much better fit, as I had been saying all along.
But I won't give up just yet, I'll give Horford a chance. I just don't see anything changing, because the way he is playing right now is pretty much the same way he's been playing for the last 2-3 years. Shooting jumpers. No attempts to get to the line. Zero post game. No rebounding.
I'll give him credit for his D though, it's been very good.
He's too much of a nice guy though, I think, and that attitude seems to hurt him sometimes. He's like a rich man's Kelly Olynyk - so much talent, no passion or fire. Just too passive emotionally, and TOO grounded and calm. He needs a little Perk/KG in him.
Needs a little crazy.
