Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford out 3-4 months with injury
The Hawks say Al Horford will miss 3-4 months with a torn pectoral muscle suffered during last night’s 96-84 loss at Indiana.. Horford is to get a second opinion on whether to proceed with the surgery.
Under the most most optimistic time frame, Horford would return in mid-April. Atlanta’s final regular-season game is scheduled for April 26.
“It’s disappointing news,” Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. said. “Al is a big part of our success. Hopefully he will be back by the playoffs. The tough part is we have been playing hard and playing well. We will have to try to get through it. We’re a veteran team and we have to find a way.”
Gearon said he hadn’t yet spoken to GM Rick Sund and wasn’t sure what moves the Hawks might make in the wake of Horford’s injury. In addition to Hoford, Atlanta’s centers include Zaza Pachulia and Jason Collins.
Atlanta’s payroll currently is slightly above the luxury-tax threshold of $70 million. The roster players without salary guarantees include guards Jannero Pargo, Donald Sloan and Jerry Stackhouse and forward Ivan Johnson
Veteran free agent centers include Erick Dampier, Kyrylo Fesenko, Dan Gadzuric, Joel Przybilla, Earl Barron and D.J. Mbenga.
Zach Klein of Channel 2 Action News first reported that Horford had a serious injury. Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported Horford would miss 3-4 months with a pectoral injury.
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605 comments Add your comment
Luke Cage
January 12th, 2012
5:27 pm
Are you Horford Haters happy now!!!!
Now watch ownership resign Keith Benson???? Or maybe bring back Mario West???
Atlanta Sports fan living in D.C.
January 12th, 2012
5:28 pm
If we do end up with a lottery pick, Won’t it belong to the Wizards??
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 12th, 2012
5:28 pm
Truest!
“Lockouts are owner-initiated actions. Nobody was “pushing” the lockout on the players’ end.” -Najeh-
_________
True, the players was perfectly happy to play under the old CBA. They NEVER wanted any changes whatsoever.
Just Joe
January 12th, 2012
5:30 pm
Wizards already got their picks, Crawford and Singleton.
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 12th, 2012
5:31 pm
“If we do end up with a lottery pick, Won’t it belong to the Wizards??”
___________
We are just good enough to never end up in a lottery pick. Even so, the top 10 is typically a protected pick.
Smith.Leuer.Bogut 2 7 footers for 1 tweener
January 12th, 2012
5:32 pm
Leuer and Bogut not looking so bad right now huh? Depth not looking so bad huh?
Pachulia starts, Radmanovic starts… No backups. Marvin’s lack of coordination. Horford’s robotic and lacks length = injury.
Every season. This is not piling on. Shaquille O’Neal saw it last night and did not even care. He said “get big” iirc.
Rebuild around Horford. Yeah right. Anyone who wants to say his value hasn’t peaked now? SMFH.
ATL: always trying to upskate uphill.
———
All NBA tried to out muscle a much larger man by throwing his shoulder into a 7′2″ mountain to create space and all he did was get his shot blocked and blow up his shoulder….
Its unfortunate the guy has limited offensive skills…
He could have pulled up on the 8 footer and banked it in over the out stretched arms of Roy Hibbert Just not part of his arsenal..
Get well soon Sir!
———-
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
5:32 pm
Hey AJ, isn’t Dampier available?
Randolph is a cheap man’s Tayshaun Prince, and not getting many minutes.
Wright not getting any minutes in Dallas and under 1M.
I bet Grandad has a thought or 2….with Mullens going against us tonight.
northcyde
January 12th, 2012
5:33 pm
LOL @ the give up mentality of ATL fans.
This is what others outside of the city see. Team hasn’t even played a full game yet without Al, and people are already talking about breaking this team up.
Memphis is in the 2nd week of playing without Zach Randolph, who will probably be out another 2 months . . . yet . . . that fan base isn’t crying about it. And the Memphis front office didn’t sid idly by and feel sorry for themselves either.
The Hawks have more than enough to make the playoffs. What they need now at the C position, is a big guy who can rebound a little. Przybilla should be the target, seeing that he’s traditionally a very good rebounding big man.
Get Przybilla, cut Pargo . . . because the Hawks aren’t going over the Luxury Tax, just to replace Horford. Challenge Zaza’s azz to step his game up. And give more minutes to Ivan ( not Jason Collins ).
Plus Hinrich will be ready in a few weeks, making us stronger in the backcourt.
In the end though, we need JJ and Smith to really take over the leadership of this team. And they’ll have to step their games up.
This is also a golden opportunity for Smith. If he plays well in the absence of Horford, he may make the All-Star team. But what Smith really needs to concentrate on doing, is rebounding the basketball. Somebody on the frontline will have to hit the boards HARD. And that guy may be Josh Smith.
I thought the Hawks could be something like a 39 – 27 team this season ( which would have them winning 48 or 49 games in an 82 schedule ). Without AL, that number probably drops to 36 – 30.
Still no reason to give up on the dang season. Let all of this play out and see how these guys respond.
Smith.Leuer.Bogut 2 7 footers for 1 tweener
January 12th, 2012
5:35 pm
If there are Horford Haters there must be Horford Lovers?
Shoulda traded him and picks for shooting 7 footer and all defensive team 7 footer.
Ask for Leuer + Bogut. Get this sh**.
Space Cadet, set for liftoff.
Scoop
January 12th, 2012
5:36 pm
2nd everything Northcyde just said!
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
5:37 pm
“Luke Cage
January 12th, 2012
5:27 pm
Are you Horford Haters happy now!!!!”
Luke, I think they wanted something of value in return for Al, not for him to meet his demise going up against Hibbert.
Saying that, you never ask for anyone to get hurt; you just want to improve the team and use whatever resources are necessary.
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
5:39 pm
If you even consider trading for C now, you pay a much higher price than you would have with a healthy roster.
But as we know, the ASG/Sund is far from being proactive about any personnel moves. And should Teague go down? Start slotting your draft position…
Heisenberg
January 12th, 2012
5:40 pm
drmaryb.[*_*].
Thanks for the clarification. I am not a doctor but have had enough of my injuries explained to me by one that I can use some of the words in a sentence.
Smith.Leuer.Bogut 2 7 footers for 1 tweener
January 12th, 2012
5:40 pm
@northcyde
Our team is built around tweeners. Not conventional players. Josh Smith is a tweener. Marvin is a tweener. Horford is a tweener. Teague is a tweener. Joe’s window is closing.
You have certain tweeners (Teague, Smith)that are uptempo and slashers and need shooters to spread the floor and a center to rebound.
To this day people are saying Al’s a PF. But when he and Zaza were in together did his scoring go up? If he was that good at PF we could’ve traded Smith for a conventional SF a LONG time ago.
Why did we hold onto players that arent compatible!
IceSkateUphill
Karma
January 12th, 2012
5:43 pm
Couldn’t happen to a better group of “owners”. Feel bad for Al, but feel great for the ASG. Wonder if they will sue his pectoral muscle???
ant banks
January 12th, 2012
5:44 pm
I DIDN’T THINK THAT THE HAWKS HAD A 1ST ROUNDER FOR 2012. I THOUGHT THAT WE GAVE THAT TO WASHINGTON WITH THE JORDAN FOR HINRICH TRADE…
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 12th, 2012
5:44 pm
The Music!
Just wanna’ take a minute to give a ton of credit to Arthur Blank for holding that press conference yesterday to face the music and answer all the questions about the Falcons loss and what the fans can hold them accountable to.
He made NO EXCUSES for their failures as an organization. He did not rationalize their loss with weak and irrelevant accomplishments.
_________
The ASKG can certainly take a page for Arthur Blank’s book. But, they NEVER will do that. That’s what a real man does, and I as a fan can respect that. Arthur clearly stated that anything less than a championship(s) will do. At least the fans know that is the goal and Mr. Blank will do whatever it takes or die trying. Sign me up for that, I’m all in!
Sautee
January 12th, 2012
5:44 pm
“Rebuild around Horford. Yeah right. Anyone who wants to say his value hasn’t peaked now? SMFH.”
Well, maybe now you won’t have to post the trade idea for the umpteenth time. Too late.
Come up with another one, now.
bigdave
January 12th, 2012
5:46 pm
wow.. so according to Jeff Shultz, we just lost our most important player. dont get me wrong, though critical of Al, this hurts..
however, i think a loss of Joe or Josh would’ve been equally devastating..
time to step it up Josh.. !
Ra'mon
January 12th, 2012
5:47 pm
I wonder if Orlando would take a trade of Joe, Zaza and 2 first rounders for D12 (if Dwight agrees to no opt out this summer, for an extra year) and Hedo. .If the Hawks kept Kirk, they could go in the playoffs with a line up of Teague, Kirk, Josh, Al, D12. With Hedo and Vlad as shooters off the bench.
The Truth
January 12th, 2012
5:48 pm
Sautee
5:44 pm post
LOL
bigdave
January 12th, 2012
5:49 pm
im actually excited about tonight’s game..
its show time..
Sid
January 12th, 2012
5:50 pm
Effectively he’s out for the season period. Let’s see what they can do.
HoosierHawk
January 12th, 2012
5:52 pm
Whoever said we would be in the lottery drafting Drummond, a. he just said in an interview he would play his sophomore season no matter how high he was drafted, b. we would never go that high in the lottery, even without Al
Ra'mon
January 12th, 2012
5:52 pm
You guys know a quick fix, could be to make a small deal for Reggie Evans with the Clippers! Statistically, we’re more concerned with replacing the rebounds even more so than the points. Adding more rebounding on the bench would bring a lot more possessions leading to more points.
Hawks4Eva
January 12th, 2012
5:55 pm
This Hawks Ownership is not going to do sh!t. Never has. Never will. The only way we can show our displeasure for their foolishness is to NOT SHOW UP for games. Period.
yodaddybrother
January 12th, 2012
6:12 pm
This season is over…..unless Josh Smith carries us…..
we could go in the tank and get a lottery pick though
yodaddybrother
January 12th, 2012
6:14 pm
Josh Smith will make the All Star team. bet on it
SALVADOR
January 12th, 2012
6:16 pm
After months of reading this Hawks Blog I am still trying to figure out the Atlanta fans.
When Al got to Atlanta the Hawks were a less than respectable team,with him being undersize for the position he’s been playing,the Hawks made it to the playoffs 4 years in a row,after a drought of 8 years.He does no get any credit or respect for that.
I do not think Al should be blamed for the mediocrity of the owners of the team,and the lack of effort, or interest to go out there and get the pieces this team needs to be more competitive.
But some bloggers have taken their hatred too far.They are happy because Al went down!!!!
Atlanta is a beautiful city,I loved it when I went in November 2009 to the Phillips Arena to see The Hawks play against Dallas and Boston,and I know you guys and Atlanta deserve a better team.But blame the owners,IT IS NOT AL’S FAULT!!!!!
Excuse me for my lack of command of the english language…..
Harry Hawk
January 12th, 2012
6:16 pm
Horford, Josh, Marvin: The Curse of Billy Knight
aytunstopable
January 12th, 2012
6:17 pm
well we are screwed…… We will go to the playoffs but hopes for a home playoff series might have just went up in smoke..
Harry Hawk
January 12th, 2012
6:20 pm
Tweeners create matchup problems, but they also create ball-handling problems if a team is made up mostly of such players. Everybody thinks they can bring the ball up the court, create, etc. At least the Heat have Wade and LeBron. If you’re going to build a team around tweeners, you need great ones.
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
6:24 pm
“ant banks
January 12th, 2012
5:44 pm
I DIDN’T THINK THAT THE HAWKS HAD A 1ST ROUNDER FOR 2012. I THOUGHT THAT WE GAVE THAT TO WASHINGTON WITH THE JORDAN FOR HINRICH TRADE”
That draft pick occurred this year with the Wiz selecting Florida State’s Chris Singleton.
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
6:26 pm
Schultz is wrong….Teague is the most critical piece to this team, now and going forward. If we don’t keep him healthy, write off this season.
Al’s replacement will come from a team effort on the boards and in the paint…both of which are needed even with Al in the lineup.
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 12th, 2012
6:27 pm
Lords of London!
Disabled Player Exceptioh = 50% of Horfords salary ($12M) for one year, so up to $6M. Naturally, Hawks not paying luxury tax, ” -tyger-
__________
Along this line of thinking … If the CBS gives the ASKG a 50% salary exception for 6M, then the ASKG can file an injury claim for the remaining salary of 6M. So, even if the 6M puts them over the luxury tax threshold, which is should not because they are under/slightly over now:
Then, their financial loss should be negligible. In other words they should have 12M to spend with that 6M cash payment from the Lords of London insurance policy. The down side is that Al would have to declared lost for the entire season and unable to play in the post season. If there is a post season for this team.
The question is do you just shut Al down totally for the year. Even if Al returns, how effective will he be psychologically playing hard and with relentless contact. Will he be the same player, having lost all that physical conditioning. The post season is not training camp to get your legs back. I would scratch him for now and just move on this year. How will the team play without theor third captain. He will be surely missed in every way possible. He is one of our all stars. Guess, I’ll hang my hat on zaza, I love him … He is foul prone though.
yodaddybrother
January 12th, 2012
6:28 pm
Zaza can start too….he’s good enough to be a starter in this league. But with that…it weakens our bench…so now they must go out there and sign a big man…hopefully Pzybilla. Pzybilla and Ivan off the bench would be mean because there is no dropoff rebounding wise from Josh Smith and Zaza.
Zaza Pachulia will bring the fire every night
bob from account temps
January 12th, 2012
6:30 pm
now the asg will be forced to go look for a real center
Smith.Leuer.Bogut 2 7 footers for 1 tweener
January 12th, 2012
6:36 pm
Smith ain’t carrying sh**. Lesser quality players enter the rotation and we’ll be forced to play Zaza and Ivan big minutes. Injury risk increases for everybody.
I see a domino effect. Zaza might be first to go down.
Wolf
January 12th, 2012
6:37 pm
Did someone say DWIGHT HOWARD!?
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
6:39 pm
Anyone want to give your true feelings to the ASG? They’re trying to change their email addresses to @hawks.com from @asg.com and they have a little survey here for you….you determine if this is for you…
http://alexanderbabbage.com/Hawks/hawks2011pulsestudy.htm
Wolf
January 12th, 2012
6:41 pm
Trade:
Hawks: JJ and Smoove
Magic: Howard
PG.Teague
SG:McGrady
SF:Williams
PF:Horford * when healthy
C;SUPERMAN
*get a SG in the draft next year or FA
Hawks Center Al Horford Will Miss 3-4 Months After Shoulder Injury « PRO HOOPS CENTRAL
January 12th, 2012
6:42 pm
[...] losing to the Indiana Pacers by a final score of 96-84; according to a report from the “Atlanta Journal Constitution” they will be without center Al Horford after he injured his shoulder early in the game. The [...]
Wolf
January 12th, 2012
6:42 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mw1ttspuLY
****NEED HIM****
MattP
January 12th, 2012
6:43 pm
No Marvin or McGrady tonight this is going to be ugly.
KevinM
January 12th, 2012
6:45 pm
Hawks survey: I’m struggling with this one………
Which of the following characteristics would you say currently apply to the Atlanta Hawks?
Please select all that apply.
Aggressive
Athletic
Determined
Entertaining
Exciting
Fun
Hardworking
Passionate
Positive
Scrappy
Underdogs
Winners
Caring about the fans and community
Other
None of these
Justin
January 12th, 2012
6:46 pm
This is the really bad news… We should be just good enough to contend for an 8 seed, which will mean that we don’t get a good pick and we get clobbered in the first round. Without Al, there’s no way we win a 7 game series against any of the 1-4 seeds. The only two good scenarios are that Al comes back earlier than expected or the Hawks just tank this season and get a good pick for next year.
Karl
January 12th, 2012
6:50 pm
Am I missing something here ? Won’t he be back for the playoffs ?………..And yes the Hawks can make the playoffs without Al.
Wolf
January 12th, 2012
6:50 pm
WITH THESE INJURYS WE MIGHT NOT EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! IF WE GET A FUTURE SG STAR IN THE DRAFT! Well look like the Lakers….nuff said
MattP
January 12th, 2012
6:50 pm
Justin,
Hawks will not tank a season because both Sund and LD are trying to get an extension.
Pete
January 12th, 2012
6:54 pm
Dallas would give you Brendan Haywood…