Not many people, including players and members of the Boston Celtics organization, thought the Celtics would be where they are right now.

After acquiring Kyrie Irving in a trade, signing Gordon Hayward, and drafting prospect Jayson Tatum, one could expect the offense to improve. After trading away Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley, two of the team's best defenders alongside Al Horford, one could expect the defense to get worse.

For a very long time this season, the Celtics have led the league in defensive rating. It has been a key to getting them that first spot in the East standings and coming back from big deficits. Horford knows the team plays elite defense. According to MassLive's Jay King, yesterday after practice Horford acknowledged the team needs to improve their offense:

“I think that as we keep going, our guys are aware that we need to be better on offense… I'm always looking at the defense, how we can be better defensively. But on offense the one thing I believe is that if we move the ball, if we're getting really good looks every time down the floor, I think that puts us in the best position to win.”

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Horford knows the team has players who can make tough shots, but says it's better if they create open looks through ball movement:

“I think that sometimes we're not running our offense with enough pace at times. And we get caught with under six seconds left on the clock and we have to force a tough shot… I just think we need to keep creating those good habits. Having such a young group and a new team, it takes time to figure all those things out.”

There is still enough time for the Celtics to improve their offense before the true competition comes in April.