Even before last season ended, there was already a lot of talk about where one of the elite big men of the league would end up. Surely, there was no shortage of suitors for the services of then Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford, but when free agency came knocking, he ultimately chose to join the Boston Celtics.
Since his announcement, Horford has stayed pretty quiet on the decision. But during an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore, he spoke about leaving his team for the past 9 seasons:
“It was extremely difficult but at the end looking at the future of the team and having an opportunity to win in a different scenario for me. It wasn’t an easy decision for me but I think at the end Boston just felt it was the best fit for me when looking at everything from their players top to bottom, the amount of players they had and the potential there.”
The Hawks were consistently making the playoffs and it's not as if they were not finding any success. They had a competitive lineup consisting of Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and Kent Bazemore, but just couldn't get over the hump – namely the Cleveland Cavaliers – and were even swept in the playoffs last season.
Horford added about his time with the Hawks:
“In Atlanta for many years we won and were able to be real [sic] successful. I think that in Atlanta I was hoping that things would have worked out. Once I saw that things weren’t going to work out, I saw what was going to be the best situation for me to try to win an NBA championship. Like I said, I would have liked for everything to have worked out in Atlanta but it just didn’t happen that way. This is a big opportunity in front of me in Boston.”
The opportunity to play for a front office with Danny Ainge and a coach like Brad Stevens also enticed Horford to Boston:
“There was a lot of impact on me with Danny Ainge and coach Stevens. It was a very positive meeting. Two of their owners were in the meeting and three or four of their players were there too. They seemed like a very close group and were focused on what their goal was and they got my attention. I wasn’t sure in what direction I was going to go. But I knew in order to leave Atlanta it was going to take a very special situation.”
Looking forward, the Celtics have added help in the center position which they badly needed. With Horford in the fold, they now have a big that they can partner with all-star guard Isaiah Thomas and hopefully contend in the Eastern Conference.
[button width=”full” button size=”bigger” color=”custom” align=”center” textcolor=”#ffffff” texthcolor=”#ffffff” bgcolor=”#8b0000″ link=”https://clutchpoints.com/horford-signed-boston-better-fans-avoid-howard/”]NEXT: Al Horford supposedly picked Boston because they have better fans than Atlanta[/button]
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