Danny Ainge Knows Replacing Al Horford Is No Easy Task For Celtics

The Boston Celtics had a busy offseason, to say the least.

The departures of Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier headlined their losses, among others, which led to some uncertainty in the frontcourt.

Boston was fortunate enough to replace one All-Star point guard with another in Kemba Walker, but filling the void left by Horford’s departure is not nearly as easy. The dynamic big man serves a role that most bigs around the league can only attempt to replicate. Thus creates the problem for Boston’s front office.

“We had to replace Al Horford, who’s a terrific player, and that’s hard to do,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Saturday, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “He was a 3-point shooter. He was a rim runner. He could defend multiple positions. And so he could do a lot of things on his own, and he was very versatile. But we’re going to have to replace him with multiple players. There isn’t a player like him that was available.”

Yes, the Celtics brought in Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier, both centers who will help on the glass and offensive end. But they likely won’t provide a ton on defense — an area where Horford excelled. Ainge acknowledged this as well at the team’s annual open practice on Saturday.

“Can we make enough shots is always the key. But can we get the stops? Can we rebound the ball well enough? I think those are probably the biggest challenges,” Ainge said, per ESPN. “We’ve been good defensively over the last few years, so I worry about our defense taking a step backwards. We need to have everybody step up on defense.”

We’ll get a first peek at their new-look defense Sunday when they open the preseason against the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden. Tip off is slated for 6 p.m. ET.