{"id":32755,"date":"2016-07-10T08:03:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T15:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/celtics-introduce-horford-their-biggest-free-agent-ever\/"},"modified":"2016-07-10T08:03:31","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T15:03:31","slug":"celtics-introduce-horford-their-biggest-free-agent-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/celtics-introduce-horford-their-biggest-free-agent-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics introduce Horford, their biggest free agent ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

WALTHAM, Mass. <\/strong>\u2014 Al Horford is the biggest free agent ever to sign with the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s going to try to make sure he\u2019s not the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople around the league, they appreciate, they understand how special it is,\u201d Horford said Friday at a news conference surrounded by championship banners at the Celtics\u2019 practice facility. \u201cI hope that if I\u2019m coming here, it will definitely open the door to other free agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horford agreed to a four-year, $113 million deal with the Celtics last week on the opening day of NBA free agency. A few hours later, he learned that Kevin Durant had spurned Boston\u2019s offer and decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been nice, but I have to move on,\u201d Horford told reporters Friday morning, after he was introduced but before the contract had been approved by the NBA office.<\/p>\n

Without Durant, the Celtics missed out on a player that could have elevated the team into immediate contention for the franchise\u2019s 18th NBA title. General manager Danny Ainge conceded that Horford alone doesn\u2019t do that, even on a roster that already included All-Star Isaiah Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now it definitely makes us better,\u201d Ainge said. \u201cWe\u2019re not done. We still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news conference was delayed at the start because of a paperwork problem that kept the Celtics from saying Horford was officially signed. Owner Wyc Grousbeck said it was just a formality, but in the meantime they were only \u201cwelcoming\u201d Horford to Boston.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t stop the player\u2019s wife from taking a panoramic photo of the 17 NBA championship banners ringing the practice court. The numbers on the scoreboards had all been changed to \u201c18\u201d \u2014 the next Celtics title.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might not have seen it, there\u2019s a blank banner up there on the right,\u201d Grousbeck said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to work together on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics have all those banners and retired numbers, but NBA free agents have traditionally been drawn more to the attractions of South Beach or the media possibilities in New York and Los Angeles. Boston has signed some big-name free agents in the past \u2014 Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Dominique Wilkins among them \u2014 but only at the tail end of their careers.<\/p>\n

During Ainge\u2019s last roster rebuild, Timberwolves big man Kevin Garnett balked at coming to Boston \u2014 in a trade \u2014 until Ray Allen was acquired \u2014 also in a trade \u2014 and added to a roster that already had Paul Pierce. Now that the Celtics have Horford, they could be a more attractive destination for the next crop of free agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great organization. There\u2019s a lot of history here,\u201d Horford said. \u201cI feel like everyone around the league respects it. That\u2019s a big part of the reason why I chose to come here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a special place. People are open to it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will see how special it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 6-foot-10 center who spent his first nine years with the Hawks, Horford has averaged 14.3 points and 8.9 rebounds in his career. And he saw firsthand what the Celtics were building in the playoffs this season, when Atlanta eliminated Boston in six games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very encouraged by the group of players that are here,\u201d he said. \u201cYoung, talented hardworking players. Playing in that series, I saw the passion that they played with and how much they had gotten better during the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling is mutual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that he was flying around in that playoff series, and the harm\u2019s way that he put us in, it\u2019s great to have him here now,\u201d Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WALTHAM, Mass. \u2014 Al Horford is the biggest free agent ever to sign with the Boston Celtics. And he\u2019s going to try to make sure he\u2019s not the last. \u201cPeople around the league, they appreciate, they understand how special it is,\u201d Horford said Friday at a news<\/a> conference surrounded by championship banners at the Celtics\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32755"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}