Warriors coach Steve Kerr already loves what new center Al Horford can do for his team.
In an interview with “The TK Show” host Tim Kawakami, Kerr described how Golden State’s free agent acquisition big man didn’t take long to impact the offense.
“Instantly, you see the spacing with Al as a 4 or a 5,” Kerr told Kawakami. “He’s out at the 3-point line, he catches it. He’s [six-foot-10] and he gets his shot off quickly. And so, it’s not just that he’s a good shooter, it’s that it is boom-boom, [the] shot is up there.”
Horford shot 39.2 percent from 3-point range over his last four seasons with the Boston Celtics, and the Warriors are counting on that proficiency to open things up for the team’s playmakers.
“If you space the floor with him, and you run the pick-and-roll with Draymond [Green], and you get downhill … that is a long way for the defense to go, to get to that shot,” Kerr told Kawakami.
But it isn’t just Horford’s proficiency from 3-point range that excites Kerr.
“Conversely, you put him in the post,” Kerr told Kawakami. “You give him the ball, space somebody else out [because] he’s a great passer. Our split game that we’ve been running for a decade—with Steph throwing the ball in and getting a screen from another guard—watching Al the first time we started doing that [in practice], instantly [he had] three assists, little back-door passes for lay-ups to guys, or hitting Steph on the perimeter.”
Horford’s presence figures to boost last season’s 17th-highest scoring offense, and before the first regular-season game has been played, he already has a big fan in his head coach.
“[Horford is] an all-around basketball player,” Kerr told Kawakami. “He’s seen everything at both ends of the floor. He’s a big-time player. We’re lucky to have him.”
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