Al Horford; the lone returning starter for the Boston Celtics, took the floor during Monday night's exhibition game against the Charlotte Hornets, playing alongside newcomer Kyrie Irving for the first time in real competition.

The big man, who only has a year of Celtics experience under his belt, noted his history playing against Irving, but said that playing and practicing alongside him has made him see Irving in a different light.

Al Horford
(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

“I was just blown away,” Horford told ESPN's Chris Forsberg. “I've played against him over the years. You see him on the court, you see some of the moves, you're impressed like, yeah, he's an All-Star player. He's a really good player. But when you see him work at what he does in practice and how easy he's able to score the ball and handle it and do certain things, it just really blew my mind.”

“I don't think people really understand how good a player he is. He's gonna showcase that this year. He needs time to get acclimated and to catch up to speed with everything we have. His ability is unreal. I'm very intrigued to see how the season's gonna develop. He's gonna be great for us.”

Kyrie Irving
Brian Babineau/Getty Images

Irving only tallied nine points during his exhibition debut on Monday, warranting a second-half rest along the rest of the starters, but besides one game, Horford has seen not only what the crowd has seen after one game, but also what's to come.

“I just think that, playing with LeBron, Kyrie probably couldn't be everything that he possibly could be,” Horford said. “Just because LeBron is such a great player that he just kinda — Kyrie could have a great game and everybody focuses on LeBron because he had a triple-double and he was awesome.”

“I just think now, Kyrie will be in a position where people will see him and it's going to be like, ‘This guy is elite.' That's what I sense with him.”