BOSTON – Al Horford's career has been defined by his willingness to sacrifice personal triumph in exchange for team success.
The veteran big man's team-first mentality has allowed his teams to reach the postseason during each of his nine NBA seasons. His approach also enabled the University of Florida to capture two consecutive NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007.
Horford's former college coach, and current Oklahoma City Thunder head coach, Billy Donovan, says Horford's unselfishness and understanding of how to obtain team success is what makes him such a unique player.
“Just in my experience with him for three years in college and being around him is that he's going to impact winning at the highest level,” Donovan said this afternoon ahead of tonight's Celtics-Thunder matchup.
“He's always been a great team guy. He understands the chemistry dynamics inside the team. He's very bright and intelligent. He's got a great feel for understanding the feel of the game and what his team needs.”
Horford claims that he adopted his altruistic style while playing for Donovan's Gators in the mid-2000s.
During his three years in Gainesville, Florida, Horford had to adjust his game so that he and fellow future lottery draft picks Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer could play to their fullest potential while allowing the team to experience a high level of success.
“That's one of the things that I learned in college under coach Donovan,” Horford told Celtics.com this past fall. “When we were in college we were successful by doing it by committee, by group.
“In order to be successful you need to have a good team with a good core, so my whole thing is that I always encourage my teammates and I try to lead them by example to play together. To play as a team.”
Horford has brought that mentality to the Celtics this season, but unfortunately, he hasn't had as much time to utilize it on the court as he had hoped. He missed nine games due to a concussion, and was absent for another contest to witness the birth of his daughter.
The four-time All-Star is still working on building chemistry with his teammates, though Donovan is certain that it won't take long for his impact to be felt.
“With him being out some time and coming back, for him, he's smart enough that he's going to figure out how to best impact the team in a positive way,” said Donovan. “And Brad (Stevens) is going to put him in great situations to be successful.
“So I think for Al, whatever setback he had being out, will probably be very, very short-lived with him because he can do a lot of different things to really impact the game in a way that sometimes you don't see in the stat sheet.”
That being said, Horford has stuffed the box score on a nightly basis. In fact, he's the only player in the NBA that is averaging at least 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks per game.
But as Donovan pointed out, Horford also does the little things that lead to wins. On the defensive end, he deflects passes and knows when to provide help for his teammates. On offense, he sets perfect picks and he always knows when to make the extra pass.
“He does all of those things,” said Donovan, “so he's going to have a great impact on the team throughout the course of the year.”
Horford will look to continue to positively impact the Celtics tonight at TD Garden, as he faces off against the coach who helped him adopt his unselfish brand of basketball more than a decade ago.
