Danny Ainge explains why Horford, Celtics still close after exit

Team President Danny Ainge explained why Boston Celtics players are still close with Al Horford despite him leaving to join the Philadelphia 76ers.

It may confuse or even upset some Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics fans alike to see the collegial, even warm relationship former Celtic big man Al Horford has with his young ex-teammates on Boston’s roster during their first-round playoff series with the Celtics, but to Team President Danny Ainge, it makes  lot of sense.

Making his regular appearance on the popular WEEI radio show “Toucher and Rich” earlier in the week, the former Celtic shooting guard and current exec explained why the ties with Horford remain strong despite him leaving the team in free agency to sign with a rival.

“It was a very unique situation. Now I had to make a decision. We were trying to resign Al,” explained Ainge.

“Everybody knows that Al really prefers to play the power forward as opposed to playing the center. Philadelphia was offering him a lot of money and and an opportunity to be a starting power forward and playing against one of the best centers in the league. And our team, he didn’t know that Kemba Walker was going to be part of our team, and he knew that Kyrie was not coming back, and we had a very young team.”

“I just think that everybody understood that Al at the time that he made those decisions,” offered Ainge, “he was doing what he thought was best for him and his career and I just don’t think anybody  holds any grudges against Al now.”

If anything, the mano a mano exchanges with wings Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and — before his injury — Gordon Hayward rekindled some pleasant memories in Ainge.

“I’ve said this before, but some of the biggest battles of my life and competition were against my brothers — my older brothers. It was fun.”

“When I remember playing against my Celtics team after I had been traded away — and I know being traded is different than choosing to leave — but those are games that are fun and intense, and they do have extra meaning, they do have meaning when you play against your [former teammates] just for the respect and the trash talking.”

“Even if you have great relationships with those people, it’s still a little bit more than when you play against the team that you used to play with,” he added.

This helps explains how Horford could be called for a flagrant foul against his former teammate, yet he and Brown ended the contest praising one another.

While the battles the pair have on the court remain intense and will likely continue to be pitched for the remainder of the series no matter how the outcome appears to be headed, their bond on the court will likely endure.

Especially given all it had before they started donning different uniforms.

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