The narrative at the front-end of the season regarding the Boston Celtics was that they had a major deficiency in the center position. So far this year, sporting the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, that hasn’t proven to be a big enough issue to stifle success.
Losing Al Horford, a superb defender, and replacing him with Enes Kanter, a below-average defender, stings. Horford, per ESPN’s DRPM stat, was the 18th best defender in the NBA last year, Kanter 318th.
The loss of Horford has not proven to be monumentally impactful, in part because the Celtics also added Kemba Walker, one of the best guards in the Eastern Conference.