Since his arrival in Boston, Al Horford has given the Celtics a strong presence inside the paint to go along with decent rebounding, which they badly needed. However, he has still been receiving a lot of criticisms despite his consistent play throughout the season.
The team's General Manager and President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge, says he does not understand why people are hating on him, and made his thoughts known publicly about it.
The 58-year-old front office executive recently defended his starting center from the negative comments made against him, via Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald.
“I’m just amazed because we were so thrilled at the chance of getting Al even before he decided to come to us. And I think that every one of us is even more grateful for Al after having him with us.
“But it seems like some fans don’t understand, maybe because they’re playing fantasy league or something. I don’t know. But we’re trying to win basketball games, and Al Horford, his offensive and defensive presence, has been enormous for us this year. We’d be nowhere near where we are without him, and I don’t think there’s any player, coach, anybody that is around him day to day that doesn’t understand and appreciate him. Not just his value but his amazing value to our team.”
Ainge then added that stats should not always be the only measure of how good Horford has been for the team in his first season in Beantown, especially in their first round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls.
“You just look at some of the data stuff that people come up with, and he’s like the best player numbers-wise in the Chicago series. But people still look at 14 points and how many rebounds and blah blah blah.”
The 30-year-old Florida product was one of the most sought-after free agents last year and the Celtics felt they already have their center of the future after he agreed to bring his talents to Boston.
Horford had a solid regular season with averages of 14.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game.
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