Double big lineups might be back in Boston, with a top analyst hearing Al Horford to play the 4

Can the fan-favorite big man still play as a forward?

For much of the 2020-21 NBA season, fans of the Boston Celtics struggled to endure watching the infamous “double big” lineups pairing emerging center Robert Williams III with veteran big men Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson in various iterations and levels of effectiveness.

And while Williams’ helped make some of those combinations more functional than others, Celtics fans were not particularly fond of the throwback lineup, to the point it may have eased the pain of moving on from Theis at the 2021 trade deadline — and was practically celebrated in some corners when the Celtics traded away Thompson this offseason.

If you happen to be among those fans you may not be so crazy about what the Athletic’s Jared Weiss has to say about their plans for old friend Al Horford in 2021-22 with regards to Timelord in the lineup. “I expect him to play the four for the most part,” explained Weiss. “That’s generally what I was hearing.”