Al Horford Quotes

You look at today, it's a different situation. You have a game that has been transformed into a game where almost every shot is either an outside shot - a three-point shot - or a dunk.

The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court.

I remember I came into the NBA in 1999; the game was a little bit more rough. The game now is more for kids. It's not really a man's game anymore.

If you give him a 3-point shot, you might as well count it. I'd rather have Steph Curry beat me 14 points and 14 assists than let him get 40. Because his 40 is just so loud. And it's because of those 3s.

The game is definitely evolving. It's becoming more guard-oriented. But, at the same time, we've got a lot of big guys who still kick butt. We'll never be extinct.

That's what Europe brought to the NBA: the passing skills, the shooting skills.

When I came into the NBA, coaches wanted you to shoot a midrange shot or two before you shot your 3 - you know, to get an 'easy one' first.

But to be fair, if you take players from my era to now, the game has changed and the players have many more shots. They use them differently than we did. The speed of the game has changed.

We talk about players of yesteryear, guys who could play or couldn't play, and I think it's ridiculous to try to even compare people... The things that you can do in basketball today that you couldn't even do then... you can carry the ball; you walk all over the place.

I always thought the objective of basketball was to get the maximum amount of movement to get the easiest shot, closest to the basket. With the three-point rule, the whole strategy changes, and you make a move and then throw it 30 feet out, where somebody takes a standing jump shot.

Obviously, Ray Allen is a huge threat, Eddie House coming off the bench is a huge threat, as far as three-pointers go.

I think I'm changing the game. In that sense, I'm what Steph Curry is to basketball. Don't get me wrong: I don't necessarily think Steph Curry is the best basketball player, but he changed the game, so he's going to always go down as being remembered. Now everyone wants to shoot the 3 and shoot it from deep.

Basketball has turned into an offensive-minded situation. They don't play on both ends. They don't play defense.

I don't like 7-footers shooting threes, it's a disrespect to the game for me.

To be honest, I'm looking at today's game, and I put myself in that position and how I would benefit from the faster basketball, more threes, catch-and-go opportunities, attacking the paint with more space, that's what kind of gets me juiced up and riled up when I watch today's game.

I do realize that it's important to be a threat at the 3-point line.

Marc Gasol, he's more of a true center. There are guys who play that traditional center role, but the game is also played differently now.

I made a lot of big threes throughout my career, but it was the 3-point shot that allowed me to maneuver inside the paint, post-up, mid-range game and so forth.

At all levels - with men and women - the 3-point shot has utterly transformed the way the game is played. More and more, the players are spread out, looking to pop behind the 3-point arc.

I used to be a wait-at-the-rim big, more of a Rudy Gobert-type of player.

Instead of me going out and having eight shot attempts with six 3s, let me see if I can have just four 3s and attack the basket and try to get fouls and rebound better.

The value in having bigs that have the ability to shoot from the perimeter has increased and having bigs that have the defensive versatility to not only protect the rim, but to switch out and defend smaller guards, the value of that has also increased.

Offensively, Lowry is a great catch-and-shoot player from deep, and he's very comfortable shooting the trey off the bounce in isolations and pick-and-roll.

I look at like this: Any player I guard, long twos or shots like that, if they make them I still think that's good defense. You can't make those shots at a high percentage the whole game. It's just hard to make long two-pointers, step-backs, fadeaways, off-the-dribble crossovers.

As I get slower and older, I'm going to shoot more threes.