Why is Al Horford not considered one of the best players in the NBA by the common fan?

[Soulcatcher33]

That's because people commonly associate "best" with top-5 to top-10 and Horford is neither.

I think Horford is a top 10 player. I don't think it's debatable either. I look at the overall impact. I don't just look at the scoreboard. I actually watch and understand Basketball and understand how players play and how you can be utilized said player.

I am not one of those fans who sees a player struggling and says, well he sucks. I look at his role, his personnel grouping, his ability to fit said scheme and his ability to adjust to said scheme. I see the ENTIRE game. Not just if he can pass, rebound, shoot, has the tools. I look at everything. So when you said Al Horford, I see something different. I don't know what you see, but if you don't see what I see, that's fine but I just want you to acknowledge what I see and understand the effect it has on Millsap, Noah, Kyrie, IT and other players he's played with in the past. The man literally single-handedly made Kyle Korver an All Star. Name one player in NBA history who could do that?

[Mylie10]

He's been the main piece behind two #1 seeds.
His impact on the game is always beyond numbers and ALWAYS appears on the game tape.
His movement both on offense and defense, ability to break from the play to the right read like a top tier NFL route runner.
His defensive awareness.
His defensive movement with his quick hands.
His elite agility off of the ball.
His screen setting ability, especially off script screens which are backdoor cuts, flares, pin down curls, at the ability to finish while making an elite decision off of that.
His intangibles are as good as anyone I've ever seen in the NBA ever.
His ability to run all sets of offenses. You can put him in an isotype offense, movement type offense, grit n' grind type of offense, uptempo, midtempo, slow tempo, perimeter-centric, post-centric, screen-centric, PnR centric offense.
His ability to defend multiple positions and not just protect one player on the court but ALL players on the court on defense.
His ability to blend into his teammates' strengths which further helps them in terms of development and impact.
We have seen this with almost every player who's played with Horford.

He's the most impactful player I've seen that gets no respect for his impact. I mean, we see Giannis, LeBron, Kobe, etc. But it's like Al does SO MUCH more to make others better but gets no respect. I've heard knowledgeable fans compare him to Horace Grant who was, all in all, a good role player but he didn't make no one's life easier. He just had a define skill-set which is similar to Al's but it completely removes all of what Al can do above which Horace could NEVER do.

Maybe I just see the game better than most and of course, I've seen 100's of Al's games live or different versions of the tape so I have more experience with him than many others do but at some point, put some respect on his name.

Opinions?

No Flash, Not Brash

[Soulcatcher33]

yea top 10 player is a reach..

harden
curry
durant
westbrook
lebron
cousins
davis
giannis
kawhi
chris paul

is all better than him. and even in top 20

klay thompson
draymond
marc gasol
lillard
paul george
butler
towns
john wall
irving
griffin

is arguably better... (especially to the common fan)

like others have said, he's a great systems guy. plays within himself. within a system, in a role. a significant role. but even if you ask common fans in boston in terms of importance, they would say irving, hayward, horford. and before the trade, IT, avery bradley, horford.

Bradley was certainly not more important than Horford...that's ridiculous.

[Finchination33]

I love Horford's game, it's great. His defence, passing, and ability to spread the floor is great for any contending team. But to say he's a superstar or a top 10 player in the league is silly. He's pretty much the ultimate glue guy super duper role player, and there's nothing wrong with that at all.

[Zerostatic]

I haven't really followed the Celtics this year, I know they're winning, let me guess, Al Horford had some really good games during that stretch which explains this thread and the claim that he is a top 10 player. Please guys, stop with the knee jerk reactions, I remember at points last year people claiming that Al Horford was washed up and not worth his deal (which also was a knee jerk reaction). Al Horford is a top 30 player who is glue-guy type of player.

[Cappy_Smurf]

Every year we have reactionary threads that come to conclusions over a handful of games, but this year seems even worse than normal.

He's not considered one of the best players in the NBA because he isn't one of the best players in the NBA. He's really good at times and just good at others. Nowhere close to top 10 in the league though. Top 30 maybe?

[whatisacenter]

Better than draymond

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

Draymond for Al, which team says no?

I don’t think Al could give the Warriors what they get/need from Draymond. Maybe each fits their team better?

Draymond is infinitely better than Horford. A Defensive Player of the Year that also makes All-NBA and racks up triple doubles and leads championship teams in assists??? Not really even close.

While I agree with you this poster apparently does not and I wondered what Boston fans would say.

[jfs1000d]

As a big Al fan, this is easy...he isn't a dominant player. He can't take over a game and he doesn't do one thing dominantly.

If we were rating players skills from 1-10. Al is an 8 at everything. LIKE EVERYTHING.

He does everything well. He can score in the box, put it on the floor, pass, set pick, face up, shoot mid range and shoot 3s. He can defend the 4 and 5 spots, decent rebounder, very good defender, very good passer at the 5.

And, his best asset is he can play without the ball. If he scores 6 points and take 3 shots, he is still doing his other stuff at an 8 level.

He's probably an all-star, but if he isn't, he's probably the best player in the league who is not a sure-fire all-star.

[Effigy]

Maybe I just see the game better than most and of course, I've seen 100's of Al's games live or different versions of the tape so I have more experience with him than many others do but at some point, put some respect on his name.

This must be it.

[jfs1000d]

Draymond for Al, which team says no?

I don’t think Al could give the Warriors what they get/need from Draymond. Maybe each fits their team better?

Draymond is infinitely better than Horford. A Defensive Player of the Year that also makes All-NBA and racks up triple doubles and leads championship teams in assists??? Not really even close.

While I agree with you this poster apparently does not and I wondered what Boston fans would say.

On this. I think Draymond is a Hall of Famer. I love him. Infinitely better is a stretch however.

Al is a PF/C. Draymond is a SF/PF. They are close and do kind of the same things. Draymond and Al have the same kind of effect on their teams.

If Warriors traded Dray for Al, Al would make the Warriors impossible to deal with. Warriors would lose perimeter defense, but would be even more versatile on offense and better inside.

I like both of these players. BUt, like I said above, Al doesn't do anything as well as Draymond defends.

[Foreva21]

I barely hear his name brought up as far as best big man in the league..he pretty much has everything you want from the modern day big man with a old school throwback element.....plain and simply put his game is not aesthetically pleasing especially that ugly shooting form plus he doesn’t play loud or flashy to gain everyday attention from the average fan..

[Jables]

While he's a good player I can immediately think of a lot of reasons. He makes a teams rebounding worse. His contested rebounding has been amongst the worst in the league for years.
He did get hype in his prime, and then in the playoffs proved the doubters right time and time again when he was one of the guys expected to lead his team.
Every All Star game he gets to he is one of those 'only in the East' guys that make up the team, compared to Griffin, Jokic, Gobert, Adams, guys who didn't even make the West All Star team, he'd have tough competition making the West second All Star team last year? Playing in the East has done wonders for his career in terms of accolades.
He is also not a guy you'd ever expect to take over a game, nor is he that interesting to watch.

Rating him as Top 10 is honestly just a joke, I think he can make a strong finish to his career and improve his legacy because he IS underrated as a player, but at the same time there are reasons for why he doesn't get the respect you think he should.

[RingsDontLie]

Exceptional role player. Lamar Odom's class for sure, but still a role player.

[dhsilv2]

Exceptional role player. Lamar Odom's class for sure, but still a role player.

Neither are role players. not even close

[John Murdoch]

1) He's a big. Bigs generally dont get the house hold names
2) He's not flashy or does anything athletically elite compared to his peers
3) He's never made a finals
4) Numbers arent eye popping

He's basically what Pau Gasol would have been if he stayed in Memphis all his career and never two titles

[Pennebaker]

Draymond is infinitely better than Horford. A Defensive Player of the Year that also makes All-NBA and racks up triple doubles and leads championship teams in assists??? Not really even close.

While I agree with you this poster apparently does not and I wondered what Boston fans would say.

On this. I think Draymond is a Hall of Famer. I love him. Infinitely better is a stretch however.

Al is a PF/C. Draymond is a SF/PF. They are close and do kind of the same things. Draymond and Al have the same kind of effect on their teams.

If Warriors traded Dray for Al, Al would make the Warriors impossible to deal with. Warriors would lose perimeter defense, but would be even more versatile on offense and better inside.

I like both of these players. BUt, like I said above, Al doesn't do anything as well as Draymond defends.

Well the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

In any case, I've been watching Horford for a very long time and I couldn't disagree with you more. Trading Draymond for Horford would be a disaster.

[jonjames]

Horford is top 50ish player. Calling him a top 10 player is just disrespectful.

In order*

LeBron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Stephen Curry
Anthony Davis
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden
Giannis Antetounkompo
Kyrie Irving
Demarcus Cousins
Blake Griffin
Isaiah Thomas
Demar Derozan
Damian Lillard
Karl Anthony Towns
John Wall
Jimmy Butler
Draymond Green
Paul George
Carmelo Anthony
Klay Thompson
Kyle Lowry
Kemba Walker
Joel Embiid
Chris Paul
Mike Conley
Gordon Hayward
Marc Gasol
Andrew Wiggins
D'Angelo Russell
Devin Booker
Brad Beal
Nikola Jokic
Lamarcus Aldridge
Paul Milsapp
Andre Drummond
Kristaps porzingis
Ben Simmons
Eric Bledsoe
Goran Dragic
Dennis Schroeder
Harrison Barnes
Myles Turner
Hassan Whiteside
Dwight Howard
Rudy Gobert
Victor Oladipo
Deandre Jordan
Jeff Teague
Tobias Harris
Khris Middleton
Brook Lopez
Al Horford

[CSL_1904]

He's not a superstar, not a top10 player, but he's also not "just" a role player. Can easily be a 3rd option on a contending team with two other legit stars.

[miman15]

Had he played in the west, he would have 0 all-star appearances... hes a good system player, but there is nothing special about him...

[Baller1234a]

Horford is top 50ish player. Calling him a top 10 player is just disrespectful.

In order*

LeBron James
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Stephen Curry
Anthony Davis
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden
Giannis Antetounkompo
Kyrie Irving
Demarcus Cousins
Blake Griffin
* Isaiah Thomas
Demar Derozan
Damian Lillard
Karl Anthony Towns
John Wall
Jimmy Butler
Draymond Green
Paul George
*Carmelo Anthony
Klay Thompson
Kyle Lowry
Kemba Walker
*Joel Embiid
Chris Paul
Mike Conley
Gordon Hayward
Marc Gasol
*Andrew Wiggins
*D'Angelo Russell
*Devin Booker
Brad Beal
Nikola Jokic
Lamarcus Aldridge
Paul Milsapp
Andre Drummond
*Ben Simmons
*Eric Bledsoe
*Goran Dragic
*Dennis Schroeder
*Myles Turner
Hassan Whiteside
*Dwight Howard
Rudy Gobert
*Victor Oladipo
Deandre Jordan
*Jeff Teague
*Tobias Harris
*Khris Middleton
*Brook Lopez
Al Horford

The 17 with * are worse than him and there are a few more that are debatable (millsap for example)