Why Today More Than Most, Reminds Celtics Fans That Al Horford Matters So Much To This Team

Full Court Press newsletter publishes on Mondays and Fridays with the occasional piece in between and on weekends, bringing you the latest talk on the Boston Celtics and other NBA musings. Subscribe Here and get Full Court Press straight to your email! Please feel free to comment, share, like and join the Full Court Press community.

The Boston Celtics remain a team without a captain, but that doesn’t mean they are meandering about as a rudderless bastion of ballers.

While he may not be the team’s official leader, there’s no question that Al Horford is the player whose presence more than any other Celtic, demands respect.

And that respect is in part based on Horford’s willingness to aid and assist the team’s less experienced players, something that really hits home today which is National Mentoring Day.

While it may be one of the often-overlooked, low-key holidays out there, the value of good mentorship is undeniable.

As someone who has served as both a mentor and a mentee for years, the value in shared wisdom has a life-changing effect for many.

When looking at this Celtics team, there isn’t a single player on this team who hasn’t benefited in some capacity from Horford’s experience as a player in this league who has served in a multitude roles, from adapting to being a team’s go-to guy like he was in Atlanta, to being a key role player who is more a key cog to a team than the face of the franchise.

That’s why Boston's top scorer Jayson Tatum has on several occasions, spoke about the importance of having the 35-year-old Horford as a sounding board to both ideas off of, but also provide sound advice based on having experienced many of the things that Tatum has had to endure.

And Jaylen Brown, an All-Star in his own right who often takes a back seat perception-wise to Tatum, he too leans heavily on the veteran experience that Horford has provided as a mentor.

Although Horford has been named an All-Star five times, a large chunk of his success took a back seat to Joe Johnson who was one of just 44 players in NBA history to score 20,000 or more points.

So when it comes to navigating the seas of being an All-Star next to an All-Star with a higher profile, yes, Horford, the third overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, has been there and done that.

It’s not all that surprising that when Brad Stevens made the transition from the Celtics’ head coach to becoming their President of Basketball Operations upon Danny Ainge’s retirement, the first deal he made was trading away Kemba Walker for Horford.

Much of the attention paid to the deal centered around Boston moving on from Walker. But having a chance to re-acquire Horford was done not only to give the team more depth in the frontcourt, but also provide some much-needed mentorship from a player that would come in having already earned the respect and admiration of his teammates.

No Celtic seems to have benefited more from Horford’s mentoring more than Robert Williams III.

When the Celtics drafted Williams in 2018, Horford soon took him under his wing which set into motion a Teflon-strong bond between the two big men.

Naturally, Williams was among those excited about the news that Horford was returning.

“Al's giving me a lot of teaching points,” Williams said earlier this month. “A lot of stuff to look for as far as when he’s got the ball, just communicate, telling me what he wants to do.”

What Horford wants to do is help Williams continue to improve and become, as Stevens says often, “be the best version” of himself when he’s on the floor.

That’s more than just Horford being a good teammate.

It’s being a good mentor, the kind that every team - scratch that, every organization - could use plenty of.