Couch: Where Al Horford ranks all-time among Lansing area basketball players and athletes

In the hierarchy of basketball players from Greater Lansing, Al Horford stands alone at No. 2.

All-time, it’s Magic. Then Al.

It’s been this way for a while. This year’s NBA playoffs, however, have elevated Horford’s place in the game and are reason to reassess how he’s viewed and where he stands among great athletes — not just basketball players — to come out of this area.

Through two playoff series and the beginning of a third, the former Grand Ledge High School and University of Florida star has shown he is the backbone of a young and shorthanded Boston Celtics team.

He is easily the Celtics’ most important active player — a cerebral veteran big man, a savvy low-post scorer, a versatile defender, a determined and reliable performer in big moments.

“He's our rock. He's the guy we really, really lean on,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after Horford tallied 20 points, six assists, four rebounds and two blocked shots while taking his turn defending LeBron James in a 108-83 thumping of Cleveland on Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Boston is plus-71 points when he’s on the court during the playoffs, despite outscoring Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Cleveland by by 44 points over 13 games. If you watched Horford in the Celtics’ series against the 76ers, you know his impact. He was the difference in that 4-1 series win, a stat-less all-star, as I’ve heard him described, who also put up some pretty good stats.

Horford, a five-time NBA all-star, has been the second-best player to come from Mid-Michigan for about five years, ever since his consistency and production with the Atlanta Hawks surpassed Jay Vincent’s early years with the Dallas Mavericks.

Vincent, a 1977 Lansing Eastern graduate who starred in the city opposite Everett’s Earvin Johnson (and later starred with Magic at Michigan State), averaged better than 18 points in three of his first four NBA seasons, before injuries derailed his career. Sam Vincent (Eastern, 1981), Denzel Valentine (Sexton, 2012) and Bryn Forbes (Sexton, 2012) are probably next on that list.

Lansing has gone through stretches where it’s produced multiple Division I players annually and great high school basketball overall. But post-Magic and the Vincents and pre-Valentine and Forbes, the area’s NBA resume is light.

Horford, in high school, wasn’t even among the more likely to make it. Not like Marcus Taylor (Waverly, 2000) or Ron Banks (Sexton, 1996). Nor was he for sure the best big man prospect in the Capital Area Conference. Goran Suton, who MSU coach Tom Izzo liked as a player as least as much as Horford, won the 2004 state title with Everett.

Grand Ledge upset Everett that year in double-overtime. Horford said last summer that it was “one of the defining games” for his group, which also won Grand Ledge’s only CAC or CAAC basketball championship a year earlier in 2003.

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Horford was late-bloomer: 6-foot-3 at the beginning of his sophomore year and 6-8 when he finished high school. He’s 6-10 and 245 pounds now.

“His sophomore year, when I was bringing him up to varsity, he was about 6-3, 170,” former Grand Ledge coach Tony Sweet said Monday. “He talked to me and said, ‘I’m going to play in the NBA.’ I said, ‘That’s a great goal. Your dad played in the NBA. But it’s a lot of work.’ At that point, I thought it was kind of out there.

“The first time I went to see one of his games at Florida the year after he was out of high school, I said, ‘Who is this monster.’”

Horford is now, arguably, the best active NBA player from the state of Michigan. The other choice is Saginaw’s Draymond Green, a similar player in many regards.

While Horford is clearly No. 2 all-time from Greater Lansing and No. 1 or 1-A among current NBA players from Michigan, where he stands among great athletes in any sport to come from Mid-Michigan is a bit more muddied.

Again, he’s behind Magic. Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz (Waverly, 1985) is also an obvious notch above Horford. Same for Tigers Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer (Fowlerville, 1922).

But you could argue that Horford should be next. Certainly in the next group: NFL standouts Brad Van Pelt (Owosso, 1969) and Muhsin Muhammad (Waverly, 1991); NHL goalie Ryan Miller (East Lansing, late 1990s), tennis’ Todd Martin (East Lansing, 1988), and recent gold medal Olympic gymnast Jordyn Wieber. 

I’d rank the top 10 in this order — taking into account career and peak value and achievement at the highest level of their sport — with Horford, at this pace, perhaps still to climb.

1. Magic Johnson
2. John Smoltz
3. Charlie Gehringer
4. Jordyn Wieber
5. Al Horford
6. Brad Van Pelt
7. Muhsin Muhammad
8. Todd Martin
9. Ryan Miller
10. Jay Vincent

(Note: Olympic gold medal wrestler Kevin Jackson, of Lansing Eastern, belongs on this list, somewhere between 4 and 10 - Thanks for pointing out the omission, Brad Newitt.) 

I don’t know that Horford is thought of as top five all-time from Mid-Michigan, if people even think that way. He wasn’t born here. He didn’t win big in high school or play at MSU. Perhaps that’s why. I don’t think folks from elsewhere realize he’s from here, not like with Magic or Smoltz.

Horford remains connected to Lansing, however. He and his brother Jon continue to host summer basketball camps at Grand Ledge, where Horford’s picture is on the gymnasium wall. Grand Ledge is planning to retire his number as soon as their in-season schedules better collide. 

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This entire area ought to embrace the Horford connection, if we aren’t already. We’ve had very few in any sport ever do it at his level and on this stage. 

He isn’t Magic. But he isn’t far down the list.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.