Examining Al Horford’s fit with the Detroit Pistons
By Duncan Smith
After the Detroit Pistons traded Jodie Meeks to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, the Pistons may have almost enough cap space to sign free agent Al Horford.
Historically speaking, the Detroit Pistons don’t make big free agent splashes. It’s hard to think of any big name or big money free agent the Pistons have signed since Chauncey Billups in 2002, other than the disastrous misadventures of Ben Gordon (five years, $58 million), Charlie Villenueava (five years, $38 million) and Josh Smith (I’m not going to use profanity in this post, I promise).
The Pistons are going to try to change that on Friday, July 1st. Thanks to Wednesday’s trade of Jodie Meeks to the Orlando Magic, the Pistons will have about $21 million to spend. There will have to be more moves made, however, if the Pistons want to make a serious push for Atlanta Hawks’ free agent Al Horford. His first year max will a staggering $26.3 million, which means the Pistons will have to find another $5 million and change somewhere just to throw all their cap space eggs into one basket.
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The Pistons will have stiff competition from a number of other suitors. The Hawks will be in the running and they could probably end the competition quickly if they gave him the fifth year in his contract that he is seeking and only his current team can offer. Alongside the Pistons and Hawks will be the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets, the Orlando Magic, the Washington Wizards, the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets.
It’s safe to say that some of these teams have no chance to get his services, and the Pistons have perhaps a better than average shot at him given this motley crew. It doesn’t mean they’re the favorites though.
That said, if the Pistons did manage to sign Horford to that monster deal, they would have an interesting fit dynamic between him and center Andre Drummond. Both are classified as centers, although Horford has some outside shooting ability and would be the more natural fit to switch to the four and play power forward. Horford has added the three-pointer to his bag of tricks in recent seasons and his 34.4 percent of his 3.5 attempts per game from behind the arc.
Horford averaged 15.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and hit 50.5 percent of his shots from the field. Also of note, he shoots 79.8 percent from the free throw line, meaning that the Pistons could shift from this twin-towers type lineup late in games and put Drummond and his 35.5 percent free throw shooting on the bench and play a more traditional lineup to protect themselves from those free throw woes.
The Pistons will expect to go from being one of the top rebounding teams in the NBA to perhaps the very best rebounding team, rivaled only by the Oklahoma City Thunder and perhaps superseding them thanks to their trade of Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Victor Oladipo, former Piston Ersan Ilyasova and 11th overall draft pick Domantas Sabonis. The Thunder got better overall, but probably will not be a better rebounding team minus Ibaka’s services.
The Pistons should be an even more punishing team offensively in the paint, and Horford could become the primary rim protector on defense. Drummond isn’t where his athleticism would indicate he should be on that end, so slotting Horford there would likely cover a multitude of ills defensively.
It stands to reason that Horford could provide stability and consistency that Drummond isn’t yet able to, and overall he could have a solid impact on a team that lacked consistency at times last season.
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So what do we think? Is Al Horford worth one of the most lucrative contracts in NBA history? Should the Pistons be the team that gives it to him?