Al Horford Believes The Celtics Have What It Takes To Win A Championship

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The Boston Celtics are going to have one of the scrappiest teams in the NBA this season. They finished the 2015-16 with 48 wins and the fourth most efficient defense in the NBA, but they lacked a guy outside Isaiah Thomas who could create shots for himself and others down the stretch.

So this summer, the team was aggressive in its recruitment of Al Horford, who signed a four-year, $113 million contract with Boston as a free agent. After just a day of practicing with his new squad, Horford told ESPN’s Chris Forsberg the Celtics have what it takes to win a championship.

“Looking at my career at this point, I’m going into my 10th year and want to be able to be a part of something special and win a championship,” he said in an interview with ESPN. “With the type of guys that we have here, we have that possibility, and that’s something I wanted to be a part of.”

The Celtics lost in the first round of the playoffs last year to Horford’s Atlanta Hawks, and after seeing how the team played over 10 regular-season and postseason meetings, Horford believed that Boston was the city in which he could finally have a shot at a Finals appearance.

Horford will improve the Celtics frontcourt on both sides of the ball as he’s an excellent defender who can also score in bunches when needed. He’s an unselfish player, which falls right in line with how this version of the Celtics operates on the floor. With Thomas, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder working on the perimeter, the Celtics should improve on what was already one of the league’s best defensive teams.

The only real question is if Horford is enough of an improvement to lift the team above the Cavaliers, who are looking to defend their title for the 2016-17 season.

(via ESPN)

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