Horford to get "three or four games" of rest before playoffs.

Just hope it doesn't cost us home court advantage in the first round.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/celtics-al-horford-miss-three-210738953.html

Be careful what you wish for. I was just wishing RW would get more time on the court. But not at Al's expense.

My on going concerns begins and ends in the middle.

Time to see if Aron can hold down the fort.

Forget home court. Rest Horford; that's more important.

Home court, even in only one series, is important, but if resting Horford a few times before the playoffs means that he can go full bore once the playoffs begin I am all for him resting a bit.

He is a very important part of any chance the Cs have in this year's playoffs, and will be needed to score, rebound and play defense in every game.

Also, related to Horford, I see no way that he opts out of his 30M Cs contract this summer as he will still be young enough and hopefully playing well enough next year to be able to secure another very decent contract in the summer of 2020.

wideclyde wrote:Home court, even in only one series, is important, but if resting Horford a few times before the playoffs means that he can go full bore once the playoffs begin I am all for him resting a bit.

He is a very important part of any chance the Cs have in this year's playoffs, and will be needed to score, rebound and play defense in every game.

Also, related to Horford, I see no way that he opts out of his 30M Cs contract this summer as he will still be young enough and hopefully playing well enough next year to be able to secure another very decent contract in the summer of 2020.

Wyde

He ain't doing all those things we need in every game. Forget about it. 3 or 4 games of rest is not going to help him much come playoff time.

He makes $30 million per year. He can rest in the off season. Al is going to have some good games in the playoffs and some bad ones you can count on that. 3-4 games off is not going to alter that.

I do not think he will opt out I just think it is interesting that he would mention playing to age 40 knowing he could opt out and resign this year with Boston. But his minutes are on the decline so Boston should be careful not to extend him. He is probably is a 25 MPG guy come next year.

AH was overpaid from the level of productivity that he has provided. When his contract comes up in 2020 he will get another deal but I do not see any team throwing big money at him. I think he is a great guy and a great teammate but I would not keep him.

Our schedule to finish out includes 2 against IND home and away.  Depending on which team shows up, I don't see us getting out of 5th even with IND's difficult finish and PHI apparently finishing strong.  Ours isn't far behind.  

PHI will have a big psychological edge of turning the corner on us if they beat us either in a close game or even more so if they blow us out Wednesday.  They will be crushed and scratching their heads if they come up short Wednesday.  (Much the way Virginia would be if they lost their NCAA Tournament opener this week. They'd have to fire the coach at that point.) Very interesting game within the game for sure.  We won't know the difference as this team will see it as, "Well, it was about time we lose to PHI and add it to the heaping pile of head scratchers for us this season and amble on to the next game.  I bet a fight breaks out in this one for sure.        

Taking the negative stance on this as I am usually 100% wrong in my predictions.  Please bet against me!

db

Home court is just one game. And it only comes into play for Game 7 and only one team gets potential Game 7 all the way through.

I like taking the pressure off starting the first two games on the road. Everyone is expecting the home team to take the first two. No one expects visiting team to win either.
That probably won't be happening in the East for any of the series except TOR and MIL.

db

dboss wrote:  
Wyde

He ain't doing all those things we need in every game.  Forget about it.  3 or 4 games of rest is not going to help him much come playoff time.

He makes $30 million per year.  He can rest in the off season.  Al is going to have some good games in the playoffs and some bad ones you can count on that.  3-4 games off is not going to alter that.

I do not think he will opt out I just think it is interesting that he would mention playing to age 40 knowing he could opt out and resign this year with Boston.  But his minutes are on the decline so Boston should be careful not to extend him.  He is probably is a 25 MPG guy come next year.

AH was overpaid from the level of productivity that he has provided.  When his contract comes up in 2020 he will get another deal but I do not see any team throwing big money at him.  I think he is a great guy and a great teammate but I would not keep him.

Pretty much disagree with every part of this.

#1 - what a player earns has no bearing on his need to rest to prevent the breakdown of his body and more injuries.  Al Horford has played great basketball since returning from 7 games off back in mid December, every one of his numbers are up.  If the medical staff thinks they can get the most out of his 32 year old body by scheduling in some rest days- that is the best course for Al and the team.  $$ has nothing to do with it.

#2- if you are talking about extending Al at his current pay rate, I 100% agree. But if Horford wanted to sign an extension - 3 years at $45-50 million, I think the Celtics would resign him in a hot minute.  Take a look at Centers in the 14-15 million range and Al would be a significant upgrade on all of them.

#3 - Your opinion on the team overpaying for Horford, is a very simplistic view on NBA contracts of $$=Stats.  Al bring a ton of intangibles (which I have spoken to - quoting Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens, and long list of NBA players over and over)  He was also the catalyst the to begin Boston being viewed as an attractive FA destination.  The whole is much more valuable than the sum of its parts.

100% agree Mrkleen

mrkleen09 wrote:

dboss wrote:  
Wyde

He ain't doing all those things we need in every game.  Forget about it.  3 or 4 games of rest is not going to help him much come playoff time.

He makes $30 million per year.  He can rest in the off season.  Al is going to have some good games in the playoffs and some bad ones you can count on that.  3-4 games off is not going to alter that.

I do not think he will opt out I just think it is interesting that he would mention playing to age 40 knowing he could opt out and resign this year with Boston.  But his minutes are on the decline so Boston should be careful not to extend him.  He is probably is a 25 MPG guy come next year.

AH was overpaid from the level of productivity that he has provided.  When his contract comes up in 2020 he will get another deal but I do not see any team throwing big money at him.  I think he is a great guy and a great teammate but I would not keep him.

Pretty much disagree with every part of this.

#1 - what a player earns has no bearing on his need to rest to prevent the breakdown of his body and more injuries.  Al Horford has played great basketball since returning from 7 games off back in mid December, every one of his numbers are up.  If the medical staff thinks they can get the most out of his 32 year old body by scheduling in some rest days- that is the best course for Al and the team.  $$ has nothing to do with it.

#2- if you are talking about extending Al at his current pay rate, I 100% agree. But if Horford wanted to sign an extension - 3 years at $45-50 million, I think the Celtics would resign him in a hot minute.  Take a look at Centers in the 14-15 million range and Al would be a significant upgrade on all of them.

#3 - Your opinion on the team overpaying for Horford, is a very simplistic view on NBA contracts of $$=Stats.  Al bring a ton of intangibles (which I have spoken to - quoting Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens, and long list of NBA players over and over)  He was also the catalyst the to begin Boston being viewed as an attractive FA destination.  The whole is much more valuable than the sum of its parts.

Kleen my comment about how much he makes is just my opinion. There are a lot of players whose checks do not reflect their productivity. I mentioned AH because in my opinion he is one of them. I think if you are paying a guy $30 million he should be expected to play. If he can't than you should not have paid him 30 million. That is part of my point here. If he is too worn down that is a big problem.

As far as an extension after 2020 I would be reluctant to extend him at all. I have been watching AH since he came into the league and his productivity is in a state of decline. Give him an extension for 3 years or whatever means you have to rest him periodically for 3 years or whatever.

You say I am being simplistic with the overpaying comments as if I do not see the intangibles. I do. I fully understand what he brings to the table. having said that AH cannot play with a high level of intensity needed over an extended period of time and as he continues to age and as his body continues to break down his value also goes down.

dboss wrote:

Kleen my comment about how much he makes is just my opinion.  There are a lot of players whose checks do not reflect their productivity. I mentioned AH because in my opinion he is one of them.  I think if you are paying a guy $30 million he should be expected to play.  If he can't than you should not have paid him 30 million.  That is part of my point here.  If he is too worn down that is a big problem.

You are mixing arguments here D.  Sorry.  The first comment you made was not about productivity, it was clear as day.

dboss wrote:  
He makes $30 million per year.  He can rest in the off season.  

What you are saying here is that if you make a lot of money - you should not get hurt and should not need time off to recover.  That is patently foolish.

dboss wrote: Give him an extension for 3 years or whatever means you have to rest him periodically for 3 years or whatever.

You say I am being simplistic with the overpaying comments as if I do not see the intangibles.  I do.  I fully understand what he brings to the table.  having said that AH cannot play with a high level of intensity needed over an extended period of time and as he continues to age and as his body continues to  break down his value also goes down.  

Correct...which is why I said, extend him only at the right price.  Go take a look at Centers who are making 15 million a year.



Other than Vucevic (who is due for a big pay raise), who on this list is better than Al? I count zero. Even if Al can only play 25 minutes a night by year 2 or 3 of the deal, he is better by far than most on the list, which was my point.

The Celtics need to develop RW and probably also draft a young center

Let's see how he does in the playoff this time around.

Yup. And lets hope none of the high paid players need a day off to rest an injury, as they should save the resting for the off season.

mrkleen09 wrote:Yup.  And lets hope none of the high paid players need a day off to rest an injury, as they should save the resting for the off season.

Rest due to injury is one thing. But not the same thing as resting because you do not have the physical stamina to play. If you are making beast level dollars you need to play like a beast.

I cannot help but look at productivity vs salary. It seems nowadays a lot of high price players take games off. It was not like that in the old days.

Again I understand why Brad may rest Al. I do not like it but I understand what he hopes to gain.

I remember Bob Cousy played with two sprained ankles in a championship series against the Lakers.

If you need to take games off you should write a check to the team for not earning all the loot you are making.

dboss wrote:

Rest due to injury is one thing.  But not the same thing as resting because you do not have the physical stamina to play.  If you are making beast level dollars you need to play like a beast.

I cannot help but look at productivity vs salary.  It seems nowadays a lot of high price players take games off.  It was not like that in the old days.

Again I understand why Brad may rest Al.  I do not like it but I understand what he hopes to gain.  

I remember Bob Cousy played with two sprained ankles in a championship series against the Lakers.  

If you need to take games off you should write a check to the team for not earning all the loot you are making.

And you are in the locker room and the training room and know that the resting of Al has nothing to do with preventing the recurrence of his knee issues. LOL.



From the article about this issue:

Horford’s minutes were reduced on Saturday due to some knee soreness...

“I was trying to get through [the game] without him,” Stevens said. “And he told me with about nine minutes in the fourth that he felt better for whatever reason and was good to go.”

But it became clear to Stevens that if the Celtics were indeed going to hold on and beat this scrappy Hawks team, he was going to have little choice but to throw Horford back in the game.

Said Stevens: “My hope was not to put him back in but that stretch from the end of the third to the middle of the fourth was not good for us.”

And as important as it is for the Celtics to try and finish out the regular season playing well, Boston has been consistent in its belief that they will not sacrifice someone being ready to roll for the playoffs to pick up a regular season win or two.

That’s why, the way Horford sees it, him missing three or four games among the remaining regular-season matchups is more precautionary than anything else.

“The amount of games we’ve played at the level we’ve been playing at...making sure I’m at my best,” Horford said before adding, “we’re all at our best, come playoff time.”

So Horford was sore, but came back in and played because he knew the team needed him

You are wrong - plain and simple. You have no clue what reasons are, but your desire to always be right prevents you from simply admitting it. How sad.

Everyone including me knew about the sore knee issue. He bumped knees and as a matter of fact I said that already.

Go argue with yourself and leave me the fuck alone

Good come back D.

Bottom line is you said Al Horford gets paid enough to play whether he is hurt or not. That isnt a defensible position.

dboss wrote: He makes $30 million per year.  He can rest in the off season.  

I think it is time to move on.