Through the NBA Finals, Celtics followers have been acutely conscious that each non-Celtics fan was rooting for Dallas to tug off the upset. Nevertheless, as soon as the collection was over, there was close to unanimous happiness for Al Horford lastly successful a championship. Even the most important Celtics detractors might respect one of many NBA’s biggest people lastly successful a title.
I say close to unanimous as a result of Sixers followers exist. At 38 years outdated, Al Horford wasn’t merely a bystander; his contributions have been essential, and the Celtics won’t have secured the title with out him.
Al Horford mustn’t have been in a position to ship the Celtics a playoff run as he did within the 2024 playoffs. 38-year-olds will not be purported to be this good at basketball at this superior age. Even when we take away the context of Horford taking part in within the NBA since 2007, he nonetheless carried out at an elite degree.
Final season, there have been solely 9 facilities who averaged not less than 3.5 three-point makes an attempt per sport and had a block share of three%: Joel Embiid, Victor Wembanyama, Jaren Jackson Jr, Kristaps Porzingis, Chet Holmgren, Brook Lopez, Naz Reid, Myles Turner, and Al Horford (per stathead). Few massive males can stretch the ground on offense whereas additionally defending the rim — an extremely uncommon and impactful participant archetype. Aspect be aware: the Celtics having two of those 9 gamers is a reminder of how absurdly proficient and versatile their roster is.
Al Horford not solely embodies a extremely sought-after participant archetype, however he topped all of them with an outrageous three-point share of 41.9%. On prime of Horford’s capability to stretch the ground and defend the rim, he stays among the best switch-bigs within the NBA. Horford solely allowed 0.822 factors per isolation in final 12 months’s playoffs. The one participant within the group above to permit fewer factors per isolation throughout final season was teammate Kristaps Porzingis.
Al Horford was, straight up, among the best massive males within the NBA final season.
To place Al Horford’s age and affect into context, solely six gamers in NBA historical past have made it to the NBA Finals at age 37 or older whereas taking part in not less than half-hour per sport: Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (twice), Jason Kidd, Karl Malone, and Al Horford. That’s rarefied air. If not for LeBron James and what he has been in a position to accomplish on the court docket coming into his age-40 season, I believe Al Horford’s longevity could be celebrated extra because the phenomenon that it’s. Admittedly, LeBron nonetheless being this good at basketball at his age is sort of incomprehensible. Each Horford and James are ageless wonders.
How lengthy can we count on Al Horford to take care of this degree of play? We will use historic examples to assist forecast the following couple of years for Horford’s profession. I’ve positioned gamers into arbitrary classes primarily based on their genetic presents:
Tier 1 – Genetic Aliens – Lebron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – once-in-a-lifetime athletes.
Tier 2 – Genetic Floor Sure Martians – Tim Duncan, Al Horford – gamers which can be clear genetic outliers however didn’t depend on conventional explosive athleticism to be efficient.
Tier 3 – Genetic talent retailers – Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Chris Paul – gamers who have been so extremely expert that it prolonged their careers.
As a lot as I like Al Horford, I’m not fairly able to put him within the Lebron/Kareem tier. Nevertheless, I do assume there are parallels between Tim Duncan and Al Horford. Neither participant relied closely on quickness or explosive athleticism. They dominated late into their profession with IQ and talent. Al Horford simply gained the title in his age-37 season and performed 30.3 minutes per sport. In Tim Duncan’s age-37 season, the San Antonio Spurs gained the 2013-2014 NBA championship in opposition to the Miami Warmth whereas taking part in 32.7 minutes per evening. Duncan would go on to play two extra seasons with the Spurs: In Duncan’s age-38 season, he performed 77 common season video games whereas averaging 28.9 minutes per evening. That 12 months, the Spurs gained 55 video games and had the league’s third-best web ranking. In Duncan’s age-39 season, he performed 61 video games whereas averaging 25.2 minutes per evening, rating sixth on the crew in complete minutes. The Spurs gained 67 video games and had the league’s greatest web ranking. Which crew was ranked second in web ranking that 12 months? The 73 win Golden State Warriors.
Photograph by Scott Cunningham/NBAE by way of Getty Photos
The Tim Duncan blueprint would point out that we have now not less than two years left of Al Horford contributing to successful basketball for the Boston Celtics. Contemplating what we noticed from Horford in the newest playoffs, I’ve no cause to consider his play would out of the blue fall off a cliff. Whereas there have been some indicators of athletic decline in Horford over the previous couple of years, he stays efficient at defending in house, even when he isn’t fairly on the degree he reached throughout the 2022 playoffs.
Particularly, all through that 2022 playoff run, he defended isolations at 0.691 factors per isolation – an elite quantity and a comparatively important step up from the 0.822 factors per isolation he recorded within the 2024 playoffs. Whereas we have now seen a drop off from two years in the past, most massive males in immediately’s NBA would kill to have the ability to guard in house the way in which 38-year-old Al Horford is. And lastly, one thing that Duncan didn’t have going for him late in his profession that Al Horford does: three-point capturing. The best way that Al Horford has turned himself into an elite shooter may permit him to play within the NBA into his 40’s. During the last two seasons, combining each playoffs and common season, Horford has shot 40.9% from three – the perfect two-year stretch of his profession.
As strongly as I consider in Al Horford’s capability to play at a excessive degree for not less than the following two seasons, the query stays: does Al wish to proceed taking part in past this upcoming season? Sadly, Horford has not shared his retirement plans with me (but). We all know Horford is underneath contract subsequent season; past that, solely Massive Al is aware of what’s subsequent. Nevertheless, if the Boston Celtics are nonetheless clear-cut championship contenders and Al’s physique nonetheless feels good, I might guess he’s again for the 2025-2026 season.
