Breakout candidate: Al Horford

[DERRENMATTS]

Normally, when we think about a player who is a candidate to have a breakout season, we think of a fairly young player just a few years in the league, who had not (up until that point) had success in the league -- a guy who put up pedestrian stats and did not make his mark yet. You wouldn't expect a 30 year old vet, who is a numerous time All-Star, to be considered a candidate to have a breakout season, but I'm going to nominate Al Horford.

He's a household name, he's well resected around the league, among players and coaches, and a super nice guy. And his nice guy demeanor carries over onto the court as well. Not a guy who wants glory for himself, or the accolades or the limelight, Horford has never been one who looked to put up gaudy stats. While others looked for their offense first, Horford first sought to pass to his teammates. And because of this mentality, he's never put up eye popping stats -- many fans even criticize him as not being worthy of a max contract because he's not putting up Anthony Davis type numbers.

But in the playoffs last year, we saw a different Al Horford. We saw an aggressive Al Horford, a take charge Horford, a give-me-the-ball-and-let-me-create-for-the-team Horford. Not passive on the offensive end, he looked to score, take his man off the dribble, and even dunk on people with no remorse.

It was definitely good to see Horford play this way. I don't know if this was initiated by Brad Stevens, or if it was something Al decided on his own. But we saw how much of an impact he can make by playing this way, and I'm sure Brad will want to incorporate more of this into the gameplan. And if this so, might not be out of the realm of possibility that Al has career highs across the board.

His career high in points is 18.6 ppg (last year was 14). 20 ppg is not out of the question. Career best in rebounds is 10.2 rpg. I'm sure he could match that. Career high in assists is 5 per game (last year). With more weapons around him, I'm sure he can exceed that.

At the age of 31, in his 11th season, Al Horford could still put up a career best 20-10-6, and be the key cog to the team's success. Kyrie and Gordon may score more and have more highlights -- but Horford is the one who gets the offense flowing.

[FLCeltsFan]

Very good case for Horford breaking out. I really like Horford and even before we signed him, he was the one player I thought we should go after. I agree that it's quite possible that Al can have a career year.

But, there can also be a case made that Kyrie can have a breakout year. He's going to want to prove that he's worth the big package that Danny gave up to get him. He's going to want to prove that he can win without LeBron. He's going to want to prove himself as a leader on the team. All that says that he's going to possibly put up career numbers also.

Then, there is Marcus Smart, who from all reports has worked extremely hard this summer to get into better shape and be more athletic and to improve his shot. He's always been driven and is one of the Celtics left that has a chip on his shoulder. He may also break out.

And we can't forget Gordon Hayward who is maybe our best all around player. He's got a new team and a max contract to live up to. He's going to want to prove that he's worth the max money and with more talented players around him, it should help his game as well.

We also can't forget Jaylen, who is poised to take a leap this season.  And Jayson who could surprise everyone and be rookie of the year.  And then there's Terry Rozier who, according to the gym where he worked out this summer, he's ready for a breakout year as well. 

It's really going to be fun to see how this season plays out. We could have a couple of players having career years.

[Roadrunner]

Oh, I love when there are multiple "high fliers." My candidate will be Jaylen Brown. Last year was good, however this year will be better!