Al Horford decided to leave a contending team in Boston because he saw a better opportunity for a championship with the Sixers, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia enters camp among the favorites to win the NBA title, and Horford will serve as a veteran presence in an impressive starting lineup that also features Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson.
“The opportunity to win, I am going in my 13th season, that is important to me,” Horford said. “I feel we have an opportunity to win now and that was something that was hard for me to pass.”
Horford seemed like part of the foundation in Boston, but he surprised the Celtics by opting out of the final year of his contract and agreeing to a four-year, $109MM agreement with a bitter rival. He said the experience of leaving Atlanta for Boston three years ago helped him prepare for the adjustment of changing teams.
“I have done this before, so for me it is a little easier, the transition,” Horford said. “Another side of it can be overwhelming with all that comes with being on a new team and building relationships and getting to learn the city and all these things.”
There’s more from Philadelphia:
- With a new five-year extension in hand, Simmons is ready for a fresh start to his NBA career, which includes ignoring critics who harp on his jump shot or anything else, relays Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Simmons spent the last few months trying to fix his errant jumper and said he fell in love with the game again during the offseason. “I think I was too worried about what people were saying, what was going around, too many outside noises,” he said. “I was able to really block them out this summer and not really focus on what people were saying.”
- Mike Scott admits to poor judgment when he fought with Eagles fans after showing up to the team’s opening game in a Redskins jersey, relays ESPN.
“Contending team in boston” as a celtics fan, thats delusional. Might be time for Ainge to go, him signing kemba walker indicates hes likely of the same opinion of the writer. It kind of unspokenly pushes this idea that Irvings attitude was the only problem, it wasn’t, its was his talent as well (not his fault players have their limits). The team simply wasnt talented enough to compete for a title, let alone win one.
Celtics will outperform the Sixers this year. Of that I am certain.
That’s not happening. Boston has to much offence not enough defence. Between Hayward Tatum and Kanter I can see a lot of points being scored. Smart is an elite defender and Brown can defend well too but the 6ers have so many scorers. Off the bench the Celtics don’t have much experience whereas the 6ers have Ennis, OQuinn, Scott and Neto.
Hayward is overpaid and should be traded for a real PF. Brown is in a contract year and will want money but is he even a starter for the Celtics, I’d say Smart is a better fit and better starter.
NO FLIPPING WAY DUDE!!! Boston will be lucky to get to the second round of the EC… Philly might very well feature in the NBA Finals!!!
Horford went for the money. Some people think it’s wrong to say that ‘out loud’… but the Celtics will likely be winners too… and there was a significant difference in offers & interest between BOS & PHL.
Yeah as a Celtics fan I have no hate at all towards Horford. I would have done the same thing. But I wish when athletes made decisions for money, they would just come out and admit it.
Boston is on a decline. They went from being a young team still kinda rebuilding and competing at the same time to what… a young team
They lose Irving and got Walker
They lost Horford and got Kanter
They lost Morris and got Grant Williams
They lost Baynes and got Tacko Fall
They lost Rozier and got Carson Edwards
Last year they were a 49 win team and they have only gotten worse. They lost a huge amount of experience and defence. Everyone knows it’s vets that play good D that win you games especially in the playoffs.
The Nets and Pacers have got better teams this year and I could see the Celtics losing to one of them in the playoffs. Last year they beat the Pacers 4-0 in the playoffs but this year the Pacers will have Olidipo back from injury, Brogdon, Warren, Lamb and so on.