Brad Stevens: Boston Celtics star Al Horford's mentality screams that he just wants to win

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/09/brad_stevens_hopes_al_horfords.html



Brad Stevens: Boston Celtics star Al Horford's mentality screams that he just wants to win




The Boston Celtics expect Al Horford to lead right away. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)


Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on September 21, 2016 at 8:15 PM






PLYMOUTH -- At a recent NBA labor relations meeting in New York City, Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck bumped into Atlanta Hawks shooter Kyle Korver. Hearing compliments about Al Horford has become routine for Grousbeck since the Celtics signed the four-time All-Star this summer, but Korver knows Horford better than most. The two players spent four seasons together in Atlanta, helping the Hawks to one of the most successful stretches in franchise history.

"You got our guy," Korver said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," Grousbeck replied. "It's a big get."

It hasn't taken the Celtics long to realize what everyone says about Horford: that he only cares about winning. The big man has already set up meetings with younger teammates to establish personal bonds, according to Grousbeck. The team does not think Horford will need long to establish himself as one of the locker room leaders.

"I think that's why we went after him," Stevens said Wednesday at Old Sandwich Golf Club, . "And I don't think it's -- we're not asking anybody that comes in to be outside of their personality. Be yourself to the best of your ability, and I think his authenticity is one of the things that attracts people to him. He carries himself in a way that screams I'm here, I'm about the team, and it's about winning. So just be him, you know, and then we ask that about all of our guys. Hopefully that has a catalytic effect on our team."

Another reason the Celtics went so hard after Horford and ultimately signed him to a four-year, maximum-level contract: the 30-year-old can do just about anything a basketball team would request from a big man. Tyler Zeller stands to lose some of his playing time to the new guy, but still gushed about all the ways Horford will help.

"The thing that makes him so tough is he can do everything," Zeller said. "He can post up, he can shoot the three, he makes plays off the dribble. He's a very smart player, somebody who I think he's going to be great to be able to run our offense through at times, and just be able to make the right play. He's not always trying to score. Sometimes he's trying to draw two and be able to throw it to somebody for a three. And so he does a great job with setting screens, plays. Just everything he does, he's spectacular at."

Everything he does, he's spectacular at. That sentence isn't completely true, but Horford comes closer to making it true than anybody else on the Celtics roster.

"He's a good fit for how we play on both ends of the court," Stevens said. "The basketball stuff's the basketball stuff but then I think the idea that he's just won at such a high level for how whole career, and that's what he's driven by. When you've got a guy as accomplished as him both from a winning standpoint and an individual accolades standpoint and a relatively young team around him, I think that's a good example to set."


bob
MY NOTE:  Yep, a BIG get.  Considering everything Brad has accomplished in 3 years was done without a legit NBA starting center, Horford is a HUGE get.

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