While the Patriots (6-6) stumble and try to stay somewhat relevant this winter, the Celtics (an NBA best 18-4) and Bruins (19-3-0, one point behind NJ-who has played two more games-for the top mark in the NHL) are both off to incredible starts to their respective seasons. That is actually one of the main reasons why I haven't written about either so far in these ridiculous campaigns: they have been mostly blowing everyone out so that gets pretty redundant and boring to discuss. Today at least brought some interesting off the court news for the C's as they signed veteran center Al Horford to a two-year contract extension worth $20 million. His numbers so far in 2022-23 are probably better than you realized: in 31 minutes per game, he's averaging 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.9 blocks. He is also shooting almost 50% on three-pointers (48.8%) which is way above his career average from downtown (36.6%).
With news of the Ime Udoka scandal breaking right before training camp started, you wondered how it would affect the team but so far first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla's transition has been seamless thanks to his absolutely loaded roster. By NBA standards, Al is already very old (he turned 36 during the NBA Finals last summer) and this deal will tie him to the C's through his 39th birthday in 2025. While that might seem a little crazy, if you have watched the Celts lately, you noticed that Horford is still a starting caliber player on an NBA title favorite. With fellow big man Robert Williams perpetually hurt and/or coming back from an injury, you need to have a legitimate backup plan for him since I doubt that he will ever play anything close to a full season. Enter Horford who was a Hawk for nine seasons (after being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 Draft) then he initially came here in free agency in 2016. After three good years, he briefly went to the Sixers followed by a short but miserable stay with the constantly rebuilding Thunder.
When Brad Stevens reacquired him for next to nothing two summers ago, we all laughed thinking that Horford was completely washed up but he has proven everybody wrong by putting together a really nice return season with the Celtics culminating in his first ever NBA Finals apperance. He is too old to play in back-to-back games (like earlier this week) but who cares? Al provides stability and leadership to a team that still needs it despite the fact that Jayson Tatum has become one of the best players in the league and Jaylen Brown is an All-Star caliber player as well. With so many big personalities (and egos), every locker room needs a Horford-a calming presence on the floor and no doubt behind the scenes as well. Other than winning that elusive NBA title, he has done and seen almost everything when it comes to the game of basketball.
Of course, this being the Celtics and Boston in general, this what looks to be absurd regular season for the C's won't really mean anything if they don't go back to the Finals and complete the job that they weren't quite ready to do last summer against Golden State. Few players ever get that storybook ending in pro sports but it seems well within Horford's grasp meaning that the Celtics could finally earn another banner and therefore he would retire on top. Until then, we should appreciate the maturity, classiness and sheer dependability of Horford who seems to be unique in many positive ways when it comes to the normally drama filled NBA. Al appears to genuinely like being a Celtic too and from what we can tell, he enjoys playing here which you also cannot put a price tag on.
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