Why Al Horford is the key to unlocking Warriors’ historically old starting lineup

The Golden State Warriors held off all offseason on making an official addition, but, over the last few days, all the dominoes have fallen. Al Horford signed. So did De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II. Then came the news on Tuesday night that Jonathan Kuminga is returning on a two-year, $48.5 million deal with the second year being a team option. Shortly after that, it was announced that Seth Curry will be joining his brother in the Bay. 

And just like that, a roster that was sitting limbo all summer has been rounded out, and it’s a pretty damn good one. It’s also a very, shall we say, experienced one as the Warriors expected to become the first team in history to start four players age 35 or above on opening night. 

Those four players are Horford (39), Stephen Curry (37), Jimmy Butler (36) and Draymond Green (35). If 22-year-old Brandin Podziemski is the fifth starter, the average age of this lineup will be 33.8. If Moses Moody or Melton or maybe Buddy Hield is the fifth starter, that average number will be even higher. 

By NBA standards, this is beyond senior-citizen territory. This is nursing-home stuff as by far the oldest projected starting lineup in the league this season — appreciably older than the Clippers‘ projected starting lineup of James Harden, Bradley Beal, Kawhi Leonard, John Collins and Ivica Zubac, which carries an average age of 31.6.

Now, the Clippers do have the oldest overall roster, top to bottom, at an average age of 33.2, which qualifies as the oldest team in history, per Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports, while the Warriors have the youth edge on their bench. But either way, the Warriors are running out some serious gray beards this season. 

It’s important to note that athletes age far better these days than they used to. The science, the technology, the prioritization of rest and strict minutes monitoring, all of this is keeping guys playing at peak and closer to peak levels for a lot longer. Age can be a pretty overrated. 

It’s not nothing. Injury risk certainly goes up, and if the Warriors are going to have any chance to compete with the best teams in the West come playoff time, they have to be healthy. But what team doesn’t? 

The bottom line is this is a very good team and, specifically, starting lineup. Consider that last season, the four-man unit of Curry, Butler, Green and Podziemski blitzed opponents by 15 points per 100 possessions, and the lineup that was most used (with Moody as the fifth; a lineup that logged 459 possessions) won their minutes by 17.9 points per 100, according to Cleaning the Glass. Swap in Horford for Moody and this is a very formidable five. 

There is almost no overstating how great of an addition Horford is to this team. Whether it was Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia or the recently departed Kevon Looney, these Warriors have never been afforded the luxury of a center who could shoot. 

For years, Steve Kerr has had to prioritize shooting with the three starting spots outside of Green and a center, which was hard enough when he had Klay Thompson. When Thompson left and Butler, another non-shooter, came along, the problem became even more magnetized. 

That’s part of the reason Kuminga was squeezed from the rotation, because Kerr just couldn’t afford to play him in meaningful minutes, even in small lineups, alongside Butler and Green, as that’s three non-shooters, and with a center it was four. That’s just no doable from a spacing standpoint. 

Hell, Quentin Post became a major contributor simply because he’s a big man who can shoot, but with Post you have to compromise defense. With Horford you get the shooting and the defense, to say nothing of all he brings as an ideal offensive connector for Golden State’s read-and-react offense designed to spring Curry loose off the ball. 

With Horford, Kerr should feel confident playing Kuminga alongside Butler, a pairing he almost entirely shied away from last season for its shooting limitations. Horford along with two other shooters, whether it’s Curry, Podziemski, Hield, Melton or Moody, makes the Kuminga-Butler pairing a lot more viable. 

This is just one example of the greater lineup optionality Kerr will enjoy thanks to Horford. Even at 39 years old, he honestly changes everything for a team that was already on the cusp on contention last season before Curry got injured in the conference semifinals. 

So yes, the Warriors are old (my editor threw out the moniker Olden State and I full endorse it). But don’t let that fool you. Curry remains an All-NBA player. Upon his arrival after the trade deadline last season, Butler proved to be one of the best No. 2s in the league (the Warriors were a .500 team when he arrived and went 23-7 when he was in the lineup down the stretch of the regular season). 

Meanwhile, Green and Horford remain All-Defense level players and highly skilled facilitators. The bench is deep. The IQ is high. The experience of 10 collective championships in the starting lineup is unmatched by any team in the league. Golden State had itself one heck of a summer, even if it took until the last minute to come together.