With the 27th pick in this year's draft, the Boston Celtics selected forward/center Chris Cenac Jr. out of Houston. And it isn't hard to find reasons for fans to be excited about what he can bring to the table.
Cenac is 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan. He is also an incredible athlete who can contribute in many ways. He is a good rim-runner, has a developing three-point game (he shot 33.3% from deep in his lone collegiate season but connected on 50% or more of his three-point attempts in 13 of his 37 games), and is a solid rebounder (7.9 rebounds in 24.8 minutes).
But most importantly, he has the potential to be a defensive menace at the NBA level. He is a switchable and mobile defender who can guard multiple positions, inside and outside the paint, and can be a presence at the rim (even if he's not much of a shot-blocker -- he averaged just 0.5 blocks per game in college).
Not to put too much pressure on the guy yet, but there's a lot to like about him and what he can bring to Boston (a team that desperately needs frontcourt depth) specifically. But even more than that, there's a chance that he turns into the steal of the draft (many expected him to go in the middle of the first round), and with his profile, he could turn into the Al Horford replacement the Celtics have been looking for.
The Celtics still haven't found their Al Horford replacement
Horford spent many good years in Boston, and even though he wasn't an All-Star anymore when the team re-acquired him in 2021, he still made a huge impact.
He turned into a reliable stretch big despite not starting his career as one (he shot 10-for-29, or 34.5%, from deep through his first seven NBA seasons), and was especially impactful as a smart, versatile defender who could guard multiple positions anywhere on the court (they're still making jokes about him being Joel Embiid's father out there).
Players like Horford aren't easy to come by, and the Celtics learned that firsthand (twice). There were hopes that Xavier Tillman could become that because of his profile, high basketball IQ, and defensive versatility (and sometimes uncanny resemblance to him on the court. Seriously, if you looked for a quick second, you would have thought the Celtics figured out a way to clone Horford and play both versions of him at the same time).
Unfortunately for Tillman and the team, that never really worked out. Even so, Boston might finally have the answer to its problems after its Cenac selection.
Chris Cenac Jr. could become Boston's next Al Horford, in a way
They both entered the league as not-so-great three-point shooters (even though Cenac was not even five months old when Horford was drafted, and the league has changed drastically in that time). They both have incredible defensive capabilities, versatility, and mobility. And they can both complement Jayson Tatum (and Jaylen Brown... maybe?) on the court because of their playstyle.
To be fair, this isn't a perfect one-to-one comparison. Cenac is more of a rim-runner who can use his athleticism to his advantage, whereas Horford was always more polished offensively, particularly as a playmaker, even coming into the league. But the Louisiana native has the tools and traits to develop into a Horford-like player, and that's exactly what the Celtics need right now.
Cenac is probably a year or two away from being a legitimate contributor, given that he's more of a project at this point. But the talent is there, the potential is there, and the fit is there. The sky is the limit for what he can bring to the table in Boston, and he may be the answer to a question the team has yet to figure out.
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