Al Horford isn’t surprised that the Celtics are performing better this season than they did last year when he was was still on the team, as he tells Steve Bullpett of the Boston Herald.
“Well, with coach [Brad] Stevens it doesn’t surprise me,” said Horford, who signed a four-year deal with the Sixers last summer. “Coach, you know, he’s going to put everyone in position to be successful. I mean, even the year that we were there that Kyrie [Irving] and Gordon [Hayward] were missing and we had Shane Larkin starting or Semi [Ojeleye], he figured out how to do the most with what he had. So I’m not surprised by this.”
Horford added that last year’s squad simply had too much talent on it and not enough minutes – or basketballs – to go around, which he feels isn’t a sustainable model to win over the long-term.
“Last year was just too much,” Horford said. “There were too many guys for coach to satisfy everyone.”
The Celtics enter the night with a record of 14-5, putting them slightly ahead of the 15-6 Sixers in the Eastern Conference standings.
Philadelphia. Scourge of the NBA. Tank a few more seasons.
I’d argue toxic fans are the real scourge of the NBA.
Some teams have banners hanging from the rafters. We have 17. Wouldn’t dream of tanking, players play to win games, not ping pong balls.
We draft players like Bird, McHale, Pierce. You draft Okafors and Fultz. (Nice trade btw, Danny still says thanks).
Your last championship was with Dr. J. Think about that.
Um… should we discuss the 06-07 Celtics with regard to tanking?
Don’t get me wrong, Suck the fixers, but let’s be honest with ourselves. The C’s weren’t good for fifteen years after Reggie’s death.
Him and len bias. Also ainge has 1 title in what 20 years. Nice little competitive stretch but it was over quick. I remember quite clearly 2 years of legit contention status with a title and by the third they clearly werent good enough anymore.
I can’t disagree, there have been ugly stretches and bad drafts. But the C’s didn’t tank for the sake of more ping pong balls.
We absolutely tanked with ML Carr as head coach the year that Tim Duncan was in the draft.