Al Horford made a somewhat surprising decision to leave the Boston Celtics in free agency to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, and he spoke about the move in an interview with the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett.
Horford said in the interview, which was published Wednesday, that he left for two reasons: concerns over the direction of the franchise, and a dispute with the Celtics in contract talks.
Horford told Bulpett they knew Kyrie Irving was leaving, which led the veteran to be concerned about the Celtics’ ability to win a championship. When you combine that with the differences the two sides had in contract negotiations, Horford decided to move on. After learning Irving would be signing elsewhere, Boston quickly reached agreement with one of the other top point guards available — Kemba Walker.
Horford acknowledged to Bulpett that had he known Kemba Walker was going to sign with Boston, things might have been different.
“I don’t want to get caught up in the past, but, yeah, that would have been totally different,” Horford told Bulpett.
Horford also said that even if Irving returned to Boston, the team would have needed to make changes, because what they had was not working from a chemistry standpoint, which is something their players had said all year.
The Celtics collected some very talented players, many of whom played the same positions. In the end, things didn’t work out, much to the surprise of everyone. Now Boston has retooled, while Horford’s Philly squad looks like a championship contender. But as we all know, that is far from a guarantee that success will follow.
