No prototypical pivot
Horford in good position for C’s in new-look NBA
Al Horford has been ahead of the curve — ahead of his time even — since his rookie season in 2007-08.
Virtually from the start in his NBA career, the 6-foot-10 Hawks rookie — a quick, athletic power forward — was asked to play out of position at center, and started doing things a little differently.
“At the time, where centers were just rolling, I was picking and popping, being able to put the ball down (on the floor) and stuff like that,” Horford said. “I don’t think there were many of us doing that at that time.”
The NBA has changed radically over the 10 seasons since then, accelerating toward perimeteroriented big men and forwards who can guard every wing position. Their play defies traditional definitions. They shoot 3-pointers and, in the best cases, can pick up smaller players off pickand-rolls. With Horford as one of the best examples, they make plays and space the floor. They grab rebounds, put the ball on the floor and drive the break.
Long gone is the time when, during Bob Cousy’s career as a broadcaster, the Celtics legend would say in that Long Island drawl, “Get it to a guard,” at the sight of Cedric Maxwell or Robert Parish trying to dribble off a rebound.
“That’s as big a change as I’ve seen in the game over the years,” the 89-year-old Cousy said yesterday. “They’ve all become more athletic. Al Horford is a good example of it. He does everything well, and it’s not unusual to the position anymore.”
Pursuit of freedom
Regardless of the game’s rapid advances, even the most versatile teams, like the Celtics now evolving under coach Brad Stevens, still need a mental adjustment. Only Golden State, to this point, has achieved complete positionless freedom.
The get-it-to-a-guard principle was very much in play during Horford’s first games with the Celtics. He’d grab the rebound, put it on the floor, and hear his point guard calling for the ball.
“Even with Isaiah (Thomas) a little bit last year — I would get the rebound and he’d be standing next to me saying, ‘Give me the ball,’ ” Horford said. “But then he started to understand that if he saw me attack and he just went ahead, we were able to get those spot-up 3’s and high-percentage shots on the break. For all of us, it’s important that we all get used to that when one of us brings the ball up.”
For the regular point guard in this Celtics mix — someone accustomed to LeBron James running the offense and driving the ball off rebounds the last three years — Kyrie Irving understands the freedom that comes from an entire lineup of playmakers.
“If (Horford) beats other guys down the floor that means I’m trailing him, and if I beat my guy down the floor and get myself open, that means there’s mismatches,” Irving said. “It’s definitely a luxury that I’m happy about.
“Being able to adjust is what makes players great in this league. The luxury of having a big like Al, being able to beat other bigs down the floor, and me being able to get down the floor without pounding the basketball, and initiate our offense, whether in the fullcourt or the halfcourt with our bigs at the top of the key is a luxury I take full advantage of. There’s different possessions where you want to be more demonstrative in spots, but when Al gets it or Gordon gets it it’s my job to understand that and for the betterment of our team I have to get to my spot as well.”
Coach gets ‘switchy’
One of Stevens’ earliest scrimmage combinations in this training camp was what the coach called, “four wings and a rolling big.” The wing positions were interchangeable, with everyone from Horford and Gordon Hayward to more traditional playmakers like Irving and Marcus Smart distributing the ball. Multiple players could guard multiple positions, and suddenly traditional positions didn’t matter all that much.
But it’s not as if Stevens has developed this way of playing over time.
“The whole idea of playing small at (power forward) is nothing new to mid-major basketball teams,” Stevens said about the terms of survival when he was coaching at Butler University. “You’re either gonna play the same as the big schools and not as good, or play small and have a chance to use your speed and skill to beat bigger guys. That was the way we tried to play at Butler all the way through. One of our main recruiting emphasis was only recruit bigs who could really move, and if they were undersized that’s fine. We wanted to be able to be switchy, we wanted to be able to stretch people out and drive them — those types of things.”
Little wonder that Hayward developed many of the same offensive skills as Horford, and can guard all manner of forwards.
“I couldn’t really say exactly what position I played (at Butler) because I handled the ball, I would also set screens and pick and pop,” Hayward said. “I was guarding 5s a lot of times, guarding the 4, guarding the 1. So this is something I’m used to, and something we can take advantage of because we have so many guys who can make plays.”
Last Wednesday during the Celtics’ final preseason win in Charlotte, Stevens played a third-quarter unit that included Horford, Irving, Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. All had brought the ball up the floor at some point during the game.
“We have a lot of guys that have that ability,” said Horford. “That just creates a problem for other teams. The biggest thing for us is that when we do it, we’re taking care of the ball. The rest of us have to have an understanding that if Gordon is taking the ball, we all have to get to our positions. In the past that happened to me a lot with my point guards in Atlanta especially, where they’d come back looking for the ball.”
Horford has reservations, too. He likes the idea of going through the season with that four-wingand-a-rolling-5 concept, if the defensive matchups are sound.
“That’s very interesting. But in order for us to do that, we have to be really good defensively,” he said. “Those wings are out there, whether it’s Brown, Tatum, (Marcus) Morris or Hayward, they need to be really good at defensively doing what coach is asking them to do. If not, I don’t think we can do it. But we have the potential with the guys we have here.”
‘He does everything well, and it’s not unusual to the position anymore.’ — HALL OF FAMER BOB COUSY On Celtics center Al Horford