Al Horford’s streak status gets a solid endorsement from Steve Kerr

SAN FRANCISCO – As one of the oldest teams in the NBA, challenge for the Golden State Warriors this season he will maintain his health for 82 games. That means managing the minutes of their stars Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, as well as strictly calling plays 39-year-old center Al Horford is playing this year.

After the Warriors’ Monday morning practice, the head coach Steve Kerr reaffirmed that Horford will not play both ends in back-to-back games this season, a reversal from how the Boston Celtics and Joe Mazzula managed veterans center vacation.

“Al (Horford) won’t be playing back-to-back,” Kerr said, referring to the upcoming matchups against Denver and Portland later this week. “We’ve already announced it, he’s not going to play in any back-to-back games all year. So that changes the rotation for one of those two games, depending on which one we pick Al.”

The Warriors are on a 15-game hitting streak this season, meaning Horford has missed at least 15 games solely due to rest. Last season, Horford played 60 games for Boston, starting 42 of them. That’s about the benchmark for Horford this season, as he hasn’t played more than 69 games in the past four seasons, but not less than 60.

Later, Kerr talked about the Warriors’ plan for determining where Horford will be resting at the end of those back-to-backs and how they will evaluate his health as the season progresses.

“It’s going to be something we visit every week. It’s going to be Rick (Celebrini, Warriors vice president of player health and performance) and I, and the player involved, and we’re going to flesh it out. We’re going to have a plan, and then the plan might be scrapped based on something that happens. But we’re definitely going to plan it every week.”

How Al Horford’s streak status affects Golden State’s rotation

Workload Management Horford is looking for an intact and healthy postseason. However, their plan presents important rotating issues that Kerr and the team acknowledged. Kerr has been largely undecided on a starting five — although on Monday, Kerr indicated he has a finalized starting lineup for the season opener against the Lakers that he declined to share.

Part of that openness in the starting lineup comes from how Horford’s minutes limit affects who he plays with and when he’s on the floor.

“It’s hard to start a guy if he’s only playing 20 (minutes) and (get him) to finish the game,” Kerr said last week. “If he starts and ends, he sits almost the entire middle of the game, which is very inconvenient. So you have to take that into account; we have to take Draymond into account. I don’t want him guarding a seven-footer for 82 games. So we could end up with, you know, multiple starting lineups. We haven’t decided.”

Moses Moody’s calf injury, which will hold him through the season opener and potentially a bit longer, also complicates matters as they plan on him being their de facto POA wing defender. Kerr told reporters that he and his coaching staff have had extensive discussions about the rotation.

“Some teams a couple of years, you spend five minutes on a rotation, you see it, it’s clear as day, and you move on to the next topic. We just talked for an hour today as a coaching staff about all the possible combinations of the five. It’s not a clean clear look right now, especially without Moses. That’s another part of the equation. One thing I know about playing different is that I feel different.

Al Horford’s longevity in the NBA

Regardless of their rotational question marks, Golden State will stick to its workload management plan with Horford. Led by Celebrini, the Warriors are one of the strictest teams in the league when it comes to keeping their players healthy. They tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to players returning from injury, rarely rushing players back before they are 100%.

For Horford, he understands the plan to keep him healthy so they can have him available when it matters.

“I feel like the staff and the medical group here are doing a really good job with it,” Horford said after the final preseason game when asked about the team’s load management plan for him.

“As soon as I got here, they were helping me put me in the best position to be ready to perform. And for me, it’s really just staying consistent with this and that plan. And I understand that we play very differently here. The game is faster and there are different challenges. For me, it’s about doing everything I can to stay healthy and ready to play.”

Horford will make his regular season debut for the Warriors tomorrow in Los Angeles.