Aug 20, 2024 4 min read

Sixth Man of the Year Al Horford?

Just like Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford), Al Horford may be old, but he's not without skills. Though hopefully Horford doesn't have to pull a snake out of anyone's shorts any time soon. (Image Credit: "Six Days Seven Nights")

By now, Celtics fans are well versed in the notion that the 2024-2025 season's biggest question mark will be the health of Kristaps Porzingis. This was also the biggest question mark about the 2023-2024 season, though this season it will loom larger. The season's second biggest question is how the team will fill the space until Porzingis returns. And I have a suggestion – start Neemias Queta. It's kind of a process of elimination suggestion.

The first person who should be up for a starting role is obviously Al Horford. As I type this, Big Al is 38 years old. He turns 39 next June, right when the C's are hoping to saunter back into the NBA Finals. As much as coach Joe Mazzulla limited Horford's workload last season – just 65 games played during the regular season, and a career-low 26.8 minutes per game – he's going to have to ratchet it down even further this season. It's hard to pin a specific number on it, but something like 20-24 minutes per game seems reasonable.

If you stipulate that until Porzingis returns that the team is going to want Horford on the floor for the final eight to nine minutes of important games, then that really only leaves 12ish minutes to play him in the other three quarters. Maybe 15 if it's a really important game. But it's going to be hard to lean on Horford. He might seem ageless, but he isn't. I realize the temptation will be there to say "let's ride Al until Porzingis returns and then we can put Al on ice for three-four months," but there's no guarantee that Porzingis returns, or that he's in peak shape when he does. It's imperative that the team gets Al to the finish line in the same shape as they did last season. And the best way to do that is to bring him off the bench and try to steal the first ~10 minutes of each game with Luke Kornet or Neemias Queta on the floor. The C's were fast starters last season, so this seems plausible to me.

So why Queta over Kornet? I just think Kornet is a well-established backup at this point, and that while he shows out when he's playing against other backups, he is more than a little exposed playing against other starters. We saw this during the Cleveland series, when he nearly single-handedly breathed new life into Evan Mobley's career.

If you're not starting Horford or Kornet, that leaves Queta. He is a little stouter than Kornet, and has a little bit better hops and reaction time. And while Kornet threw down a few lobs last season, Queta is probably more of a lob threat. To be clear, I am not advocating for Queta to go from averaging 11.9 minutes per game to 30 minutes a game. But perhaps if he can be a viable player on the floor for the first ~10 minutes of the game, then he could get that up to 15-18 minutes per game.

I think there will also be more opportunities to play Jayson Tatum at the 5 in the early going in order to make sure that both Sam Hauser and rookie Baylor Scheierman get good run. But to start the game, the team will probably want a traditional center on the floor. Mazzulla did show some flexibility with his lineups last season, but not the starting lineup.

There are two side benefits here. The first is that it keeps Horford in the same role all season, which should be clarifying for both him and the team. And second, it would allow the C's to start a concerted Sixth Man Award campaign for Horford.

This morning, ESPN released an awards poll prediction, and it was pretty basic. Here's who they had on it:

I think Malik Monk's shine will be dulled by DeMar DeRozan. I could easily see Alex Caruso entering the starting lineup in Oklahoma City. I'd be stunned if Naz Reid won it in consecutive years. In other words, I think this field is wide open. Horford got a little buzz for the award last season, but he ended up starting 33 of his 65 games, and I'm pretty sure the rule is that you have to start fewer than 50% of your games played.

Al Horford is a four-time All-Star. He has been named to the All-NBA team, the All-Defensive team, and the All-Rookie team. He is an NBA champion, and an NCAA champion. He's 75th all-time in rebounds, and it's reasonable to see him cracking the top 70 this season. He has been all of the things in this league, and now he's a cherished mentor to boot. He's already a Hall of Famer in my book, but I'm extremely biased. Wouldn't capping his career with a nice, shiny Sixth Man of the Year trophy help push him over the edge and into Springfield? I think it might!