In the Houdini’s humble opinion, the Boston Celtics should absolutely be viewed as one of the more interesting teams in the association heading into the upcoming 2021-22 campaign.
After enduring arguably their most disappointing regular season from this past decade to following it up with their first Quarterfinals playoff exit since 2015-16, the C’s front office approached the offseason as being an opportunity to take a step back and restructure.
With the myriad of moves that new President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, has made through his first three months of action, it appears that Boston’s prospects for this season seem far greater than they ultimately turned out to be last year.
However, just because a team may look to be a good one on paper that does not mean that they’re guaranteed to play as so.
Though the Celtics may have plenty of talent, there are still those who believe they’ll wind up flatlining similar to how they did in 2020-21.
However, should these 3 players wind up bringing their A-games for the better part of this coming season, we are rather confident that the shamrocks will once again find themselves being in the conversation of the east’s elite teams.
From third to first, we at HH discuss each one of the top x-factors found on the roster for the Boston Celtics:
Boston Celtics x-factor No. 3) Al Horford
Third on our list we find the savvy veteran, Al Horford, who, after two years spent in Philadelphia and Oklahoma City, finds himself once again donning the green and white threads.
Last we saw the center in Boston, he finished off the year with sound averages of 13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game on 53.5 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep all while serving as their focal point at the pivot in the starting rotation.
Now heading back to eastern Massachusetts, he is looking to reclaim the role that the team has struggled to find a steady answer for since his departure and, based on his production from last season, we believe he still has the capability of providing high-impact play on the hardwood.
After having a down year with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019-20, Horford’s stock plummeted and, ultimately, was shipped off to the Thunder as a mere salary dump.
During his tenure with OKC, though the team may not have found great overall success, the big man certainly managed to resurrect his status in the association, as he put forth his best statistical season since his All-Star days, posting 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and just shy of a block on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.
Heading into next season, we expect similar stat lines from Horford on the hardwood, while his leadership will be equally impactful for this team off of it.