The Elephant in the Room...

[__ramonezy__]

If 28 year old Isaiah Thomas doesn't match our "timeline",  how does 31 year old Al Horford fit?

What do we do with him?

[nickagneta]

We let him play out his contract until the youngsters are ready to displace him and free up much needed cap space in the process.

[The One]

Trade him if/when the next superstar is available...

[greece66]

Without Horford we would not have made the ECF last year.

The Celtics won't be able to compete in the playoffs without him.

[pearljammer10]

We need Horford. You can't win and build without veterans of his talent and stature. When his contract his up that will free up money for our players on rookie scale contracts.

[Donoghus]

Define "timeline" here.  This team is coming off an ECF appearance and, seemingly, improved itself this offseason.  Nothing should prohibit this team from being good now & down the road. 

[coffee425]

Same reason the Warriors signed and kept Andrew Bogut even though he was way older than the Curry/Klay/Draymond timeline.

Solid veteran presence.

Hope he takes a discount on his next contract to stay on the team to play role on a championship contender

[Rosco917]

Not quite an elephant...Al is healthy, and 6-10. He's a talented big man that can pass, defend, and shoot the 3. Just let him play until his contract runs out.

[Green-18]

If 28 year old Isaiah Thomas doesn't match our "timeline",  how does 31 year old Al Horford fit?

What do we do with him?

Horford's contract will be expiring shortly before our youngest players are due for contracts.  If anything he fits the timeline perfectly to bridge the present and future.  IT's situation is completely different and I don't see any parallels.  Horford's basketball IQ, leadership, and consistency are all going to be valuable to this team for the next few years.  We finally have a roster full of elite talent but it's very important to have some of the intangibles that a player like Horford brings.

We obviously have no idea how things will develop over the next few years but the worst case scenario is Horford plays out the next 3 seasons and leaves.  Horford does nothing to prevent us from keeping the core of Kyrie, Hayward, Jaylen, Tatum, and Smart.

[Moranis]

Thomas wasn't traded because he was too old, he was traded because he was an expiring contract demanding max money that wasn't worth a max contract and would be missing a portion (maybe significant portion) of the year due to injury.

[JBcat]

He's good salary filler for when A Davis becomes available. Lol

[cons]

he'd be the theo ratliff of the KG trade

  need a high salary to send out to bring a high salary back in.

[footey]

Thomas wasn't traded because he was too old, he was traded because he was an expiring contract demanding max money that wasn't worth a max contract and would be missing a portion (maybe significant portion) of the year due to injury.

No, he was also traded because Kyrie is 3 years younger.

[Granath]

We let him play out his contract until the youngsters are ready to displace him and free up much needed cap space in the process.

TP.

Ainge has this worked out. Horford's contract is up the same year that Brown is due for an extension.

Until then, there's nothing that needs to be done with Horford. He's great for the system and his game should age pretty well. 

[TheSundanceKid]

What is the timeline? We are still the same as before, win now and later. The only difference is we now have a younger point guard who can span both.

There is no elephant in the room