Analyst sends strong message on why former Boston Celtics max signing chose Cs over Hawks
NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg strongly summed up Al Horford’s father’s explanation for why the then-30-year-old chose the Boston Celtics over the Hawks in 2016 free agency, signing a four-year max deal worth $113 million — a figure that could’ve been higher had he stuck in Atlanta — in the process.
“Simply put, Horford wanted to play in front of a more passionate fanbase, and he certainly got that in Boston,” Forsberg wrote. “The Celtics’ winning tradition also lured Horford away from Atlanta, as evidenced by the 18 shamrocks he tweeted following his deal — 17 for the team’s 17 championships, and one for the next one.”
Tito Horford’s explanation to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach in a piece published on July 2, 2016, essentially alluded to the premise of Forsberg’s explanation.
“There wasn’t as much motivation for him when he saw all the empty seats when they were winning,” Tito Horford said. “He said to me, ‘Dad, when we were playing Boston, they were down 15 points and they were cheering their team like they were winning the game. They’re so into the game.’ This is special for us, especially for him.”
Al Horford signing was ‘crucial turning point’ for Boston Celtics
To Forsberg, the 2016 signing of Horford was a “crucial turning point” for the Boston Celtics as an organization — setting the stage for the seasons to come in which the Cs would be flirting with the Eastern Conference championship, and last year, Larry O’Brien trophy.
“Horford’s signing represented a crucial turning point for the Celtics, who lured Gordon Hayward to Boston the following season and traded for Kyrie Irving,” Forsberg wrote. “While neither of those acquisitions worked out, they signaled that Boston was now a legitimate NBA destination and helped accelerate the team’s rebuild, which has come to fruition over the last two seasons with the young core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart leading the charge.”
With the Hawks and Celtics colliding in the 2023 postseason, Horford’s past meets his present (and more recent past) in a series that represents two teams that took very different paths after the big man’s fateful 2016 free agent departure from the team he spent his first nine seasons with.