What did we study from Al Horford’s first sport again?

For the primary time since Sport 5 of the NBA Finals, we witnessed Al Horford’s greatness on the courtroom. Horford was the load-bearing wall that held every little thing collectively over the last playoffs. Whereas Kristaps Porziņģis was out, Horford ensured that the elite protection held agency and the spacing remained intact. With out Horford, the Celtics would possibly nonetheless be tied with the Los Angeles Lakers at 17 NBA titles. How unhappy is that?

Nonetheless, the previous is the previous, and a brand new season is about to start. Final night time marked Horford’s first preseason sport, and we have already got some insights into how Joe Mazzulla and his teaching employees might plan to make use of him this season.

Doubts in regards to the double-big lineups.

Final season, Horford’s main position was to again up Porziņģis, with Luke Kornet serving because the third choice on this two-man rotation. Through the 2024 common season, Horford performed 908 minutes because the lone huge, 587 minutes alongside Porziņģis, and 245 minutes with Kornet. That’s one of many motive Horford is exclusive, his means to play and carry out alongside one other huge when wanted.

Earlier than the sport, Horford had nothing however nice issues to say about Celtics’ different huge males:

Final season, the Horford-Porziņģis mixture confirmed sturdy defensive synergy, their presence collectively introduced the Celtics’ defensive ranking all the way down to 110.13—in comparison with 113.59 with solely Porziņģis on the ground. Nonetheless, whereas the defensive affect was clear, the offensive ranking remained steady, and the spacing wasn’t as elite as with the beginning 5.

All through his profession, Horford has developed right into a dependable three-point shooter, however he doesn’t supply the identical spacing worth as an elite shooter like Porziņģis. Horford can also’t persistently shoot from two steps behind the arc, which the Latvian huge man does with ease. This creates potential spacing points when Horford shares the ground with one other non-shooting huge.

A play from final night time illustrates this challenge completely: Xavier Tillman set a pin-down display for Jordan Walsh whereas Jakob Poeltl stayed low, blocking the driving lane. On the alternative aspect, Horford was only one cross away, however Chris Boucher selected to remain within the paint, specializing in taking away Derrick White’s drive somewhat than guarding Horford carefully.

It’s exhausting to say how typically we’ll proceed to see these double-big lineups, however they don’t appear to suit seamlessly with the ideas of Mazzulla Ball. For the Celtics to excel, they want the house to assault seals successfully.

Al Horford continues to be a killer whale…

Though the offense turns into tougher with one other huge on the ground, Horford can nonetheless assault mismatches. To get him concerned, the Celtics ran just a few empty-side pick-and-rolls for him, which generated good alternatives for the veteran.

…However he will be hunted, too!

As a Celtics fan, I’ve been involved about Horford’s drop protection for a few seasons now. Whereas his means to change stays elite, his drop protection exhibits some limitations, and opponents are beginning to exploit it.

I first seen this through the 2023 playoffs, when the Atlanta Hawks prolonged the collection to 6 video games by concentrating on Horford’s drop protection with Trae Younger. In fact, there’s no disgrace in that—Younger is an elite offensive expertise.

Nonetheless, final night time, we noticed much less proficient gamers going at Horford, which raises some considerations. Why do the Celtics proceed to depend on drop protection with Horford after we know the way efficient he’s in switch-all schemes?

The drop protection is perhaps simpler with Kornet on the ground, however that brings us again to the double-big lineup dilemma. Perhaps the defensive increase from the double-big look outweighs the spacing challenges. Maybe that’s what Joe Mazzulla had in thoughts when he talked about Horford’s means to maintain reinventing his sport.

Horford talked about after the sport that Joe Mazzulla “retains difficult them not solely defensively, but additionally offensively, to assume the sport, to play a sure method.” Perhaps the double-big method is a part of that new problem.

After spending many seasons because the lone huge, Horford has proven that he may also play alongside one other heart. The truth is, he did it so effectively throughout his NCAA days that the Florida Gators received back-to-back titles with him. Let’s hope the Celtics can obtain the identical future this season.

Photograph by Streeter Lecka/Getty Photos