Al Horford's return on a new two-year deal before free agency suggested the Golden State Warriors were about to make a big move to elevate their chances going into this season.
Not only have the Warriors not made a big move, they haven't really made any moves at all. An underwhelming offseason has left one Boston Celtics writer shredding Horford's decision to land with Golden State 12 months, and left the franchise needing to justify why they gave the veteran center a two-year extension.
Celtics writer criticizes Al Horford's return to Warriors
It's not that Horford's completely washed and now a bad player. He was still valuable for the Warriors late last season when healthy, including in the thrilling Play-In Tournament victory against the L.A. Clippers where he drilled four 3-pointers in the fourth-quarter alone to help lead a comeback win.
But it's the context of this team that makes the Horford move a head-scratcher. Why was Horford motivated to return to a team that once again looks destined for the Play-In? Why was the team willing to give a 40-year-old a two-year contract when they're at least viewing the first season as a gap year?
Horford's first departure from the Celtics for the Philadelphia 76ers resulted as a disaster and him being traded after one year, but Hardwood Houdini's Matt John claims his second exit to the Warriors may actually be worse than the first.
"The difference is that Horford has not gotten any blame for what's gone wrong for Golden State, as he definitely did in Philadelphia. However, it's even sadder that Horford is playing out the rest of his NBA career with a team whose playoff chances are decreasing rapidly," John wrote.
Warriors now need to justify Al Horford move
Perhaps this is simply bigger than basketball. Perhaps Horford simply wants to finish his career playing alongside similar-aged veterans in Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. Plus, he now gets to mentor a fellow player from the Dominican Republic in Yaxel Lendeborg, and the presence of Kristaps Porzingis gives him some familiarity from the Boston days.
This move still needs to be justified regardless. As much as he'll continue resting from back-to-backs, Horford needs to play more than the 45 games he did last season. He also needs to be impactful in getting the Warriors back to the playoffs, otherwise the decision to return will look a bizarre one all round and could even lead to a mid-season trade.
The Warriors and Horford deserve time to see how the season unfolds before jumping to any great conclusions, but they are facing an uphill task for this to become the game-changing move everyone had hoped for when he left the Celtics last year.
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