Exclusive: Al Horford talks Porzingis, Brad Stevens as a GM, and more originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Al Horford remains a key piece for the Boston Celtics heading into his age-37 season.
The veteran big man will stabilize the frontcourt alongside prized offseason addition Kristaps Porzingis. In addition to his duties on the court, he’ll be leaned on to step up in a leadership role off of it. Especially following the departure of the team’s longtime vocal leader Marcus Smart.
The 2023-24 campaign will mark Horford’s 17th NBA season and his sixth in two stints with the Celtics. As he looks ahead, he can’t help but express his excitement. He talked the additions of Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, the team’s motivated mindset entering the season, how he sees Brad Stevens as a GM vs. a coach, and much more in an exclusive sitdown with Chris Forsberg.
Here were the highlights from the interview:
The addition of Jrue Holiday
“I don’t know much about him personally, I just know kind of what I’ve seen. But great guy, high character. He’s a winner, he’s about the right things. He’s somebody that’s in the stage in his career where all he’s concerned about is winning, and that’s just great to see.
“Him coming in with us, bringing his leadership, bringing the style of play that he brings is just something that gets me really excited, personally.”
Kristaps Porzingis joining the mix
“It’s been great to see Kristaps here. He’s somebody that really excites me. Somebody that I know that’s gonna win the hearts of Celtics fans because he’s a guy that has a lot of ability. I’ve been in the gym working out with him the last few weeks, and just watching him move, watching some of the things that he can do on offense, and how he’s gonna be able to impact definitively too, it’s something that really excites me.
“And I do imagine playing with him and building out that chemistry. So we’ve already started working on a lot of those things and just someone I’m looking forward to going to battle with.”
The team’s mindset entering the season
“One of the things that has excited me is I’ve been here since the beginning of September and we’ve had most of our guys here at that time, or at least in the last few weeks we’ve had pretty much everyone. So everybody really committed to the day-to-day. That’s something that you will hear us talk a lot about over the season, and guys really embracing the time that we have and just putting their head down and working.
“That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been kind of setting that tone, sending that message, and that makes me very optimistic about the future of this group.”
“He’s somebody that I just loved to play with. He was a guy that was really about the team, really about the right things, is coming along. For Rob, it’s going to be continuing to have a growth mindset and continuing to work and get better, because he has so much ability. So, I’m just hoping that he continues to work the right way, to prepare the right way, because he can impact the game in so many ways.
“I really cherished the time with him because he was somebody that really made me play at a higher level, because I just really enjoyed playing with him.”
Brad Stevens the coach vs. Brad Stevens the GM
“Oh, completely different. As a coach he had certain strategies, certain feels, he went about it different ways. But here as a GM, I feel like he sees things two or three steps ahead of — not that he didn’t as a coach — but he sees two or three steps ahead of everybody else it seems like. We’re looking at something, but he’s looking further down the line.
“At this point, I’m trusting him and I have confidence in him, and I just have to go out there and do my job and lead this team the best way that I can.”
