Al Horford Starting at Center Instead of Aron Baynes

[Curmudgeon]

Well, Duh?

Where does RealGM get headlines like this? must have been a very slow news day.

[3D Chess]

To answer your somewhat rhetorical question, they got it from a Zach Lowe podcast, where he suggested that is the way the Celtics are going to go.

While I agree that it is barely news, this is the off-season of the off-season, so slow news days are expected.

A little sad that reporting these days consists of copying stuff you heard on a podcast, but here we are.

[celticfan42487]

He completely sucked at PF and has played Center about 80% of his minutes in the NBA.

And now he's in his 30s.

It really would be pure negligence to have him not play Center. Doesn't matter if he bitches and cries about it, I've got about top 10 salary in the league reasons to tell him to STFU.

[Green89]

I doubt it. Playoffs maybe, but there's no reason to throw Al out there to body up centers during the regular season. Brad goes small pretty quickly, as he used to take Amir out after 5-8 minutes, so it can be the same way with Baynes. Morris should come off the bench.

[Fencer reregistered]

I doubt it. Playoffs maybe, but there's no reason to throw Al out there to body up centers during the regular season. Brad goes small pretty quickly, as he used to take Amir out after 5-8 minutes, so it can be the same way with Baynes. Morris should come off the bench.

While your point has merit, it can only be implemented via:

-- Horford and Baynes totaling more than 48 minutes.
-- There being times that neither of them is on the court.

I'm not in love with either of those options.

[Celts17Pride]

Well, Duh?

Where does RealGM get headlines like this? must have been a very slow news day.

Shocking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zimpy27]

To answer your somewhat rhetorical question, they got it from a Zach Lowe podcast, where he suggested that is the way the Celtics are going to go.

While I agree that it is barely news, this is the off-season of the off-season, so slow news days are expected.

A little sad that reporting these days consists of copying stuff you heard on a podcast, but here we are.

Yeah, it's pretty Lowe

[Ed Pinkney]

Someone at Real GM seems to just read a particular article or listen to a podcast and then generate a bunch of wiretap headlines from it. There was like five headlines the other day that looked like they were lifted straight from the Zach Lowe article on the Irving/Thomas trade, and I am pretty sure this Horford one is from his podcast yesterday with Howard Beck.

Presumably this would mean Morris will start at the four, Hayward at the three and either Brown or Smart at the two?

[captain green]

Basically old news we been talking about this for weeks. Morris over baynes is optimal in starting.
Now say we kept zizic instead of yabu. I think most would say if we had a for sure 3rd center on roster then baynes over morris gets more talk but to me even if we had a legit third center I think morris toughness is needed in that lineup.

[Homerclease]

Still think Baynes gets the token start ala Amir.

[Celtics_History_Lesson]

I am impressed that 4 of the 5 headlines above are about Celtics.

At least green and white fans had something to talk about and to read and research, think of fans of the really bad franchises like Toronto, Memphis, Vancouver, Sacramento, they have to watch softball or tennis on TV to pass the time.

No need to wear out Horford, early in the season or early in games, so Baynes or the 15th roster spot free agent should start plenty of times.

Baynes would have played next to Timmy quite a bit during Baynes' last Spurs season? Next to Horford would be similar. Duncan is medium-range, Horford hits long-range, while Baynes and short-range Drummond couldn't do a lot together. The other team starts big, then Baynes makes sense as a starter.

Use division teams to see how Baynes is needed, a lot.

Mozgov-Booker, Hernangomez-Porzingis, Embiid-Ben Simmons or Dario Saric or Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas-Ibaka.

Most of those are two big players in the paint.

If a team has someone like Al-Farouq Aminu, or the other Morris brother, A Gordon, P Patterson, Ryan Anderson, Harrison Barnes starting at power forward then Morris can start, or later in the season Tatum might.

[chakdaddy]

If he didn't want to play center he could have stayed in Atlanta alongside Dwight.

I recall him mentioning last summer that long ago he preferred PF - but I don't think he ever took issue with playing C here. Small ball era C is basically PF anyway. Did Amir officially start at PF or C anyway?

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

They need to find some playing time at PF for Morris, Tatum, Thiel, Yabu, Semi... so it makes a bit of
sense to use Al as the starting center, Baynes as his back up on certain occasions or one of the Small Ball Centers,
which could be any of the candidates for PF - not a lot of true Big Men on the team but quite the plethora of players
who could fill in as needed.

[VeryMuchWoke]

I doubt it. Playoffs maybe, but there's no reason to throw Al out there to body up centers during the regular season. Brad goes small pretty quickly, as he used to take Amir out after 5-8 minutes, so it can be the same way with Baynes. Morris should come off the bench.

While your point has merit, it can only be implemented via:

-- Horford and Baynes totaling more than 48 minutes.
-- There being times that neither of them is on the court.

I'm not in love with either of those options.

Weird. I don't have a issue with either of those options, especially the latter. ~33 minutes for Horford and ~15 for Baynes seems reasonable. Moreover, I want to see guys like Morris, Semi, and Theis get some burn at the 5. Anyways we probably use that last roster spot on a 3rd string C, making all of this moot.

As for the OP, I always expected Horford to be the 5, but his brother and sister still clearly think of him as a 4 (which must be a reflection of Al's feelings on the matter). Thus, I wouldn't have been surprised by Baynes getting a ceremonial start.

[fallguy]

Small ball for evah!

[Darth Celtic]

Yabu at 5 works sometimes too. Semi or tatum at 4.

[SichtingLives]

Who gives a roiling fart about Al's I want to be a PF crusade. You're not a power forward. deal with it. Also we ain't starting a non-spacing big (baynes) over a spacing big (Morris). Cuz Brad Stevens, you know, the *new* head coach and his *new* system (ie. been around for a damn while now)

[Afam]

That puts Marcus Morris at PF position. At least for now. Not bad because Marcus Morris can shot the 3. A legit big man is still needed. By that i mean an all star/star big man, and not a one dimensional player.

[GoGreen]

Can someone direct me to where Al Horford has complained about playing Center for the Celtics? I know he mentioned something about it before free agency, how he'd like to play PF more l, but I feel like he gets a lot of heat for a single comment.

He's a professional, anyway. He'll do whatever is asked of him.

[LuckyLeprechaun]

In our positionless system he's a C in name only. We use him much more like a PF than a traditional C.

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