Boston Celtics: 5 Reasons Why Al Horford Can Transform The Celtics
By Adam McGee
Team Culture
It would be untrue to say that there have been problems with the Celtics’ culture in recent years, but there can be little argument that there has been something missing.
Under Brad Stevens’ watchful eye, and with careful construction from Danny Ainge, Boston has grown into an efficient, well-drilled collective of players, who play for each other and largely seem to leave their egos at the door. Horford will slot seamlessly into that kind of environment, while also adding the missing ingredient.
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Winners in the NBA are often, unfairly, measured by championship rings. There are many great players who, for a variety of reasons, never get their hands on the NBA’s biggest prize, but unquestionably make their teams consistently better from the moment they enter the league.
If you were to sort players from today’s NBA into that category, Horford would have to figure prominently in that grouping.
As a Florida Gator, the Dominican native won two national championships. When Horford arrived in the NBA, the Hawks had missed the postseason for eight straight years. For the following nine years with Horford on the roster, Atlanta played playoff basketball every year.
Horford is used to winning games. He knows how to do so. Now, in coming to Boston, as he told Chris Mannix of The Vertical, he wants to win more than just games:
"“You look at your career, sometimes it’s not about the money necessarily. It’s more about what you want to accomplish in life. What do you want to do, what do you want to get out of it. I knew I wanted to be in a position to be on teams that could win a championship. In Atlanta we had a couple of good teams, but I understood, looking at my future, being here was the right thing.”"
Does Horford know how to get over the line in the NBA Finals? No, at least not yet. Does he have greater experience of winning teams and playoff basketball than virtually all of Boston’s roster combined? Without a shadow of a doubt.