Why Al Horford Could Be the Key to the Celtics' Offense

After last season's first-place Eastern Conference regular-season finish, the Celtics somehow still gave their roster a complete and utter makeover. This team made so many moves that last year's first-round pick Jaylen Brown is the fifth-longest tenured Celtic on the team. Despite the team's new look, they're still expected to get better and possibly take down the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference Finals. Those high expectations may hinge on Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward both living up to the hype on their new team, but it could be Al Horford that helps Boston reach their full potential on the offensive side of the ball.

Of course, it's easy to dismiss a player like Horford when you look at the makeup of this Celtics' roster. They have two newly acquired superstars and have the No. 3 overall pick from the last two consecutive drafts in Brown and Jayson Tatum. With all that firepower, it's no surprise that people don't pay as much attention to a player who has seen his points per game and field goal percentage decline since he became a Celtic. That's fine, as Horford won't need any attention at all to become the best glue-guy in the NBA.

It's normally strange to see a big man take the role as the glue guy, but Horford isn't your average big. Since the age of the traditional power forward and center is long gone, Horford has adapted to the style change like few could've predicted he would. Instead of banging inside, he stretched his game out and became the best passing big man in the league.

People may act like assists are the most pointless stat for a big man, but it was a huge part of Boston's offense last season. Instead of acting like a one-dimensional black hole like most bigs do, Horford used his rare ability to create as a big man to open up more looks for shooters like Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, and Avery Bradley last season. He constantly showed he was far from the average clumsy big when he strayed away from the hoop. In fact, he proved he was the most efficient big man in the league by posting the highest assist/turnover ratio out of anyone at his position.

Many people are wondering how Hayward and Irving will coexist in an offense with many brand new faces, but it's having a big man like Horford makes who will make the transition extremely easy. Both of these superstars have the ability to force defenders to gravitate towards them, while Horford thrives at finding gaps in the defense. Having a big who can make the extra pass creates an incredible amount of space for players like Hayward and Irving who can both create and shoot off the pass.

Plus, if teams do decide not to collapse on Horford, he's shown the ability to make them pay. Over the past three years, the big man has seen his three-point attempts per game and his percentage beyond the arc both increase. He finished last season at 35.5% from three and a staggering 51% during the playoffs while averaging over one made three a game. With space creators like Hayward and Irving gaining all the attention in the world, it's just going to be like pre-game warm-ups for Horford all season long.

It's easy to overreact during the preseason considering players like Kyle Kuzma are currently lighting the league on fire, but Horford's stat line should indicate just how ridiculously efficient he should be in this offense. In the two preseason games he played with the new-look Celtics, Horford shot a ridiculous 40% from deep and averaged 3.5 assists in just over 17 minutes per game. If he comes close to seven assists a game and shots at that kind of clip from three, it's going to be hard to deny how important he is to this offense.

Yes, it's still extremely early, but he's already showing just how good he can be with Irving on the court. From finding an open seam in a lane for an easy dunk to making the extra pass to give his star point guard a wide-open three, it looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Irving may get all the attention as he finally gets his own team while an equally large burden will be on Hayward to see if he can deal with the pressure of competing for a conference title, but it will be Horford that keeps this train moving. He may not get the accolades or the national spotlight, but if he plays the way he's shown in the past, he'll be the best glue guy on any championship contender in the league.