Even for a numbers guy like myself, the numbers are incomprehensible.<\/p>\n
$113 million.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the cost of a Manhattan skyscraper but an Atlanta skyscraper.<\/p>\n
Al Horford, the Atlanta Hawks\u2019 6-foot-10 free agent forward, has agreed to a 4-year, $113-million contract with the Celtics.<\/p>\n
The newest Celtic is quite good, no doubt about it, but he\u2019s not great, never has been, never will be.<\/p>\n
But everybody seems giddy. You didn\u2019t win megabucks, you spent megabucks.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the salary cap explosion era of the NBA.<\/p>\n
Horford, who turned 30 on June 3, averaged 15.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in the regular season. The numbers dipped to 13.4\/6.5\/2.4 in the playoffs for an Atlanta team which struggled to beat Boston in six games in the first round then was swept by LeBron James and Cleveland in the East semifinals.<\/p>\n
If you are looking for someone to dominate the paint, he\u2019s decidedly not your man.<\/p>\n
How many free throws a game do you think \u201cThe Boss,\u201d as he is known, attempted last season?<\/p>\n
8.2 a game?<\/p>\n
6.1 a game?<\/p>\n
Try fewer than 1.6! That\u2019s 129 free throw attempts while playing all 82 games. His new teammate, Isaiah Thomas, all 5-foot-9 of him, went to the line four times as often.<\/p>\n
The four-time All-Star is a reliable mid-range shooter, which some say make him a perfect fit in Boston. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s taking more and more 3-pointers with limited success. Last year he was 88 of 256 for an Antoine Walker-esque .344 3-point percentage. The 256 was a huge increase from his previous high of just 36 treys. That\u2019s often a sign of an older guy shying away from the bruisers in the paint a la Rasheed Wallace.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s to say what anybody is worth when the television contract-fueled salary cap for the 2016-17 season will spike from $70 million to $94.1 million then to about $110 million in 2017-18. That\u2019s almost double from 2013-14 ($56.8 million).<\/p>\n
Maybe the former Florida All-American is worth it. Maybe Solomon Hill is worth 4-years, $52 million, too. That\u2019s 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds a game Solomon Hill.<\/p>\n
The strange thing about the Horford signing is the euphoria is so closely aligned with widespread pie-in-the-sky hopes from fans and media alike that it will inevitably be followed by bringing in Oklahoma City superstar forward Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n
Danny Ainge did it with the Ray Allen trade in 2007 leading to the Kevin Garnett 7-for-1 deal. KG also received a hefty contract extension.<\/p>\n
Voila, the New Big 3 was born and 10 months later the C\u2019s were celebrating the franchise\u2019s 17th title … but first in 22 years.<\/p>\n
But to bank on that again is sheer folly. That was one of the most brilliant executive performances in modern sports history.<\/p>\n
Durant may announce his decision as early as Monday (today). To court him, Boston brought out the big guns … including Tom Brady. Of course, the meeting was at the Hamptons, and we\u2019re not talking the affordable motels or the beach next to Salisbury.<\/p>\n
The NBA has become the beautiful people so it wasn\u2019t blue-collar Oklahoma City but blue-blooded Long Island for the wooing of Durant.<\/p>\n
Most think he\u2019ll resign with OKC for another year. He and Russell Westbrook can make another run at a title. Then Durant can sign an even larger blockbuster deal a year from now.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not a \u201cfeel the Bern\u201d guy wallowing in jealousy over others\u2019 hard-earned success. If Al Horford, Al Pacino, or Al the CEO can make $28.3 million, more power to them.<\/p>\n
But is Horford the man the C\u2019s should be giving their $113 million to? The numbers are so crazy I can\u2019t call that the proverbial $64 million question.<\/p>\n
But after watching Horford\u2019s pedestrian play in the playoffs, I have a sneaky suspicion we\u2019ll look back and not be so giddy over this signing.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
Follow Michael Muldoon on Twitter at @MullyET.<\/p>\n
HORFORD AND LAWRENCE<\/p>\n
Al Horford is already popular in Lawrence after visiting Lawrence High on Sept. 24, 2008. He was in the area for the Latin Pride Awards in Boston.<\/p>\n
He was born in Puerto Plata in the Dominican to ex-NBA player Tito Horford and journalist Arelis Reynoso. He spent his early years in Santo Domingo before moving to Lansing, Michigan in 2000.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s married to singer-actress Amelia Vega, the first Dominican named Miss Universe. They reportedly met in Boston.<\/p>\n
ESPN Deportes called him \u201ca Dominican icon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even for a numbers guy like myself, the numbers are incomprehensible. $113 million. That\u2019s not the cost of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,2747,677,2740,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-167382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-features","13":"tag-hawks","14":"tag-massachusetts","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114844678598452325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}