Finding the fountain of youth
Horford feels good heading into season
Al Horford is normally working the oil back into his joints at this time of year. His team has likely had a deep playoff run, and in an attempt to mitigate the wear and tear, the 35-year-old has spent the summer in recovery.
Not so much this fall, though.
“Going into this year I feel really good,” Horford said after Thursday’s Celtics practice. “I feel as good as I’ve felt probably in my NBA career, to be honest. So I’m just pretty excited to feel this way and have an opportunity to be here.”
There was, as it turned out, a benefit to being traded to purgatory last season, when Philadelphia general manager Daryl Morey shipped Horford to the G-League staging area and draft pick clearing house otherwise known as Oklahoma City.
Horford, in transit and understanding he would not be a Thunder player for long, coached more than he played. Above all — and this particular part of the OKC experience is paying a benefit now — he may have bought a year, physically.
Ime Udoka, who was on the staff during Horford’s lone season in Philadelphia, compared the result now to Horford discovering the fountain of youth.
“It’s noticeable. Whether he found the fountain of youth or it’s just the time off that he got not playing all the games last year in Oklahoma City,” said the Celtics coach. “I mentioned having him in Philadelphia where he sat out some games here and there, but for the most part, he’s come back in shape. He’s looked great since the day he came into training camp and talked about how he took care of his body and how much of an opportunity this is. And he’s happy to be back. So you can see with his body and how he’s playing, he looks lively, fresh, and looks rejuvenated. We’re loving what we’re seeing from him.”
Horford won’t disagree. “I think for me it all started being in Oklahoma City with their training staff over there, their group, working with them,” he said. “And then transitioning to the summer, I had a lot of time over the summer to really (work). Usually when you’re finished with the playoffs, you’re so tired, you’re depleted, you’ve gotta do some things to kind of get back to where you need to. And this summer I was healthy, I was able to get after it in the weight room, conditioning, start building it on the court like I wanted to.”
Horford’s season in Oklahoma City also reintroduced him to the art of learning. Indeed, he almost had no choice, thrust as he was into the youngest environment in the league.
“Last year was a very nice learning experience for me. It was a really good group that I was with in OKC,” said Horford. “I almost felt like a rookie, to be honest, because there was so much teaching going on, and coach Daigneault over there, and their staff we were watching a lot of film, and I’m learning, and they’re talking about cuts, and defensively things we need to do, and how we need to play. And as you guys have seen, the NBA just keeps changing.
“That’s like the thing that I noticed, it’s changing even faster now than we were even playing two and three years ago,” he said. “Over there for me, that was a great opportunity to do that, and I really took advantage of that. Not only learning about the game but also kind of taking care of myself and being back healthy. For me that was a big thing, and I feel like they helped me get into those positions with the Thunder organization.”
His leadership skills improved, too. When Horford takes the floor now with the familiar faces of Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, it’s as a more vocal elder.
“Really just saying what I see and speaking to the guys when I need to. And kind of stepping in and doing more of that,” he said. “In the past, sometimes you kind of get focused on yourself or I would just kind of lead by example, that type of thing. But now I’m just more comfortable and a lot of the guys, I know them well, so it’s just easier to talk to them and let them know what I think about something. And I feel like I’ve been more vocal than the first time around.”