Atlanta Hawks: Mixed signals from Al Horford on injury
Perhaps this is to be expected considering this is Al Horford’s first major injury. Or maybe it’s all part of some gamesmanship from Horford and the Hawks, who would rather the Celtics not have too much info about his progress.
But to judge by Horford’s comments over the past few days, he’s conflicted about if and when he can play in the postseason.
Last Thursday Horford told Chris Vivlamore he was “frustrated” by the pace of his progress and that he’s “not where I need to be.” By yesterday, Horford was telling Jeff Schultz that there’s a 70 percent chance he would play against the Celtics, saying: “I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing for me physically but I want to be out there and I feel like it’s realistic.”
Now today Horford told Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports that it’s actually not realistic that he can play in the postseason, saying: “[A]s of right now the way I feel I think I am out for the playoffs.” But he even hedged that statement by suggesting he could play if the Hawks advance past the first round.
(UPDATE: Now Horford tells Spears that not only will he be ready for the playoffs, he plans to play in Thursday’s regular-season finale against Dallas. Like I said, we may not know if Horford will play until he actually takes the court or the season ends and he hasn’t played.)
Maybe all of this uncertainty is why Larry Drew has consistently played down the possibility of Horford returning.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed but we are not totally counting on him,” Drew said yesterday. “We don’t want to have wishful thinking. When they told us about the surgery, that the probability [of return] would be very slim, at that point made our mind up we would not get him back.”
It looks like we may not know for sure until Horford actually takes the court or the playoffs end with Horford still on the sidelines.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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150 comments Add your comment
brigadierjerry
April 23rd, 2012
11:11 pm
I think if you check his stats, Marvin seems to have good games against the Knicks. That was the best I ever saw Marvin play in somewhat of a playoff type atmosphere game. Took it to the basket making aggressive moves. I dont think he likes the Knicks since he got into that fight with Shawne Williams of the Knicks last season!!
ALso interesting with Horford playing. If he can give 15 mintues that would be huge. Would be good to see.
One thing about the Hawks the sum is greater than the parts and when you have a team like that where you kinda depend on everyone to make a contribution to win, that is where coaching comes to play as far as execution and adjustments. This is where I have a problem with LD as coach. Having said that Hawks have better depth than last year and I expect if Hawks get homecourt which i think they will because the Heat will beat Celtics tomorrow, I expect Hawks to win series against the Celtics.
One thing I would like to say about Joe Johnson even though he isnt in the class of a Kobe, Mel, Durant, Wade, etc. What are Hawks expecting out of him?He is what he is. He isnt good enough to do it by himself. He needs help from his teamates. I think if he plays in the same manner as he has when he played against the Celtics in the playoffs in ‘07, then you really can’t have much to complain about him. not that he’s already met that challenge, but I think the expectations can only be so high.
I dunno. thing is, he’s a scoring small guard/forward. He’s not a center. he’s not going to alter shots in the paint or dominate the boards. there are only so many ways he can affect the game. if he scores like he’s been scoring, get a few more rebounds and moves the ball like he’s capable of doing, I don’t know what more you can expect out of him. I guess, the passing out of double teams is crucial. He has to get open shots for his teammates. he does that some nights, but it’s not consistent.
But again, I think expectations can only be so high. Is he the all around player kevin garnett was? No. If he can play something like how paul pierce and dirk nowitzki did during their finals MVP years, that’s about as much as you can reasonably ask of him. his play making needs to improve a bit, I agree. pierce is easily better than him in that regard. dirk probably isn’t much better as a play maker if he’s better at all, but dirk also plays a lot better without the ball which counteracts that somewhat.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 23rd, 2012
11:31 pm
Is doc now using capital letters? The Mayans were right…
doc
April 23rd, 2012
11:33 pm
o’b you know that quote of bibby used to get me so riled up. what were you trying to do to me, get me on a rant or something? heh heh
doc
April 23rd, 2012
11:38 pm
nice pick up there najeh. the blog monster failed to pick that one up and post it, so i had to recopy that rant in word to copy and paste. since it was doing caps on half of it after periods, on its own, i felt i needed to bring it all into some coherence. sorry to throw you off. heh heh
btw, appreciated the heads up to me and dmb the other day. mighty kind of you. always enjoy your own original efforts and thought. you have brought a lot here form day one.
ok then, back to being the illiterate me. much more comfortable in the loose skin rather than the up tight one.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 23rd, 2012
11:38 pm
Cosign Steve.
Our financial situation sucks going forward.
Joe contract……..sigh…
doc
April 23rd, 2012
11:44 pm
quote from al:
“It remains to be seen what I can bring,” Horford said. “But I hope to bring some scoring. They can’t expect a lot from me defensively because it’s been a while since I’ve even played. That’s one of the things that will hold me back, but scoring I can help. And also with presence with the team in general.”
uh oh! no al, we need a banger and tough guy to pay defense. sorry bud, that is the way it is. i dont know how i feel about this and it may be the ultimate problem for team unity.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 23rd, 2012
11:44 pm
“But players like him do not LEAD teams to championships, and that’s what should be a goal here.”
Nobody on this team is going to lead a team to a championship. That includes Al, Josh, Joe, and everyone else. Out of the players on this team, though, Josh and Joe are much, much better at being go-to offensive options than Al. To be honest even Teague is better at creating shots for himself and others than Al. It’s not that close. Al does plenty of things really well, but he is a complementary player at this point.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 23rd, 2012
11:51 pm
JeJe, get Lazarus Form Recovery to combat the blog monster. No need to copy/paste your posts. Also avoid using the words suolucidir and suolucarim (read them backwards).
High-sider
April 24th, 2012
1:31 am
Metta World [War and] Peace punishment – the first and/or second round of the playoffs
darrell starks
April 24th, 2012
1:58 am
LD will never learn, this team will not go any where as long LD starte the smallish lineup.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
April 24th, 2012
2:05 am
The tallest guy played in sundays game was 6′9 Josh Smith, if coach have not learn by now then his career is closen out as Hawks coach.
Hawks will not beat the Celtics unless coach go with big line up, but nowing him he will continue the same old BS.
Celtics will beat the Hawks 4 – 1
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
April 24th, 2012
2:10 am
STARTER TEAGUE, JOE, JOSH, IVAN, ZAZA
BENCH PARGO, GREEN, TMAC, MARVIN, COLLINS
RESERVE HINRICH, VLAD, DAMPIER
PLAYER ASSIST. STACK
HAWKS IN 5 WITH THIS ROTATION
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
April 24th, 2012
2:35 am
Hawks are 10 wins and 21 loss against teams with winning record how flawed is that, now i see why media never respect the Hawks, SMH.
Hawks have talent but and underachieve coach.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Robbie
April 24th, 2012
4:35 am
“Josh and Joe are much, much better at being go-to offensive options than Al.”
They may create their own shots easier, but so do Jordan Crawford and Nick Young. Means nothing. Offense is about high pct shots and unselfish play – and that is what’s holding this team back right now. Josh and Joe don’t shoot a higher pct than Al and both hurt the offense because those two love to pound the bball for no real reason, resulting in a bad shot, likely a long 2pt jumper. Have you guys actually looked at their stats or are you just blind loyalists? I mean, they aren’t leading you to a ring, why are you all so quick to defend them? lol
Robbie
April 24th, 2012
4:39 am
The problem here is you guys have been watching awful offense so long you have no clue what REAL offense looks like, lol. Watch the Spurs – they RARELY take bad shots and no one player dominates the bball. Because of the way they play, Horford would start on that team, Josh would be a 6th man.
James
April 24th, 2012
5:04 am
Interesting news about Horford. Personally, I would like to see him rest and heal fully before returning to the court for NBA basketball. I, simply, would not want him to risk re-aggravating an injury in a series that the Hawks will most likely lose anyway. Also, in terms of silly debates about who is the best player on the team, Joe, Josh, or Al, I will simply say this. Each player has his own strengths and area where he excels and each player is vital to this team actual achieving significant success. For the Hawks to really make an ECF push, they would need all 3 of these guys healthy, and that is just not happening this season, so while it will be fun to watch the Hawks play, I am not expecting anything more than possibly another second round exit, and perhaps more realistically, a first round exit.
Also, when assessing the offensive ability of players, you have to keep in mind that Joe and Josh have both been given the opportunity to be go-to scorers, whereas Al has never been given that opportunity. We know that Al has typically provided increased production with an increased role, but we will never know whether or not he is capable of a large offensive role without him being given that opportunity, and I don’t think that will happen in ATL under the current coach with the current roster. So, it’s basically just theoretical speculation to discuss that.
Now, in terms of the playoffs this year, I don’t feel very good about the Hawks matching up against the Celtics. One thing that you can always count on from the Celtics is that whoever they put on the floor is going to play hard, and that is not always true of the Hawks, even in the playoffs. Also, when I look at both teams on paper, while the Hawks have more depth and more offensive weapons, the Celtics seem to have a slew of defenders that could give the Hawks trouble. The Hawks have shown all season long that they have problems against good defensive teams, and the Celtics play both good individual defense and good team defense. The Celtics have guys who can eliminate all of the Hawks major options on offense. Bradley and Rondo both have the physical tools to contain Teague and prevent his penetration. Meanwhile, KG can more than defend Josh 1 vs. 1 anywhere on the court, and if Josh manages to get by him, the Celtics know how to pressure Josh into turning the ball over with timely double-teams and by digging down in the post. Also, if you look at Josh’s games against the Celtics this year, he wasn’t very effective in a lot of them, and in the ones where he was effective, the majority of his offense came from perimeter jumpers, which are not the highest percentage shots for him, normally. This tells you that Josh was not comfortable scoring inside against the Celtics.
Looking at those factors alone, that tells you that the Hawks are going to have to base their half court attack on perimeter ball movement or isolation for Joe Johnson. The Celtics do a good job of rotating and preventing open shots, and to make matters worse, they have players that can effectively defend Joe. Pietrus is the perfect guy to put on Joe. He has the length, speed, and savvy to defend Joe and has proven to do a great job of doing so in the past. Also, the Celtics still have the options of putting Bradley or Marquis Daniels on Joe, each of whom is a capable defender. Joe could likely score on either of these two, but doing so repeatedly throughout the course of a game will wear on Joe and likely tire him out in crunch time.
This means that the Hawks are going to have to focus on transition baskets and offensive rebounding for higher percentage scoring opportunities. With Josh on the perimeter, and Ivan on the bench, that means that Zaza is going to be our only real rebounding threat on the offensive end, and if he is not healthy come playoff time, that could be a serious blow. I’m ruling Horford out of the playoffs, since I don’t expect him to be healthy or in rhythm by then, so I am not factoring him into the equation. That leaves just Ivan and Zaza as the “dirty-work” guys. Also, Ivan is at more of a disadvantage against the Celtics than he usually is against others due to the fact that they bring a lot of size off of the bench. The Celtics have Steimsa, a 6′11″ shot blocker, and Hollins, a very athletic 7′ player, that they can bring in off of the bench. While neither player is great offensively, both guys appear to give the Hawks a bit of trouble with their size and Steimsa does a great job of controlling the paint with his shot-blocking for being a rookie. I don’t see Ivan having a big advantage over either player, so I’m not looking for him to have a huge impact on the game, either.
That leaves guys like Marvin, Pargo, and Willie Green as x-factors on the offensive end. Each of these guys can get hot at any time and put points on the board. Marvin is capable of scoring in isolation and in catch-and-shoot situations, meanwhile Pargo and Green can be instant offense at time. However, all of these guys can also do the opposite and go very cold at times. If the Hawks are going to score enough to stay afloat against the Celtics, it’s likely going to require significant production from one of these three.
Now, on the defensive end, I think the Hawks can give Boston some trouble, but if need be, Boston has some favorable matchups to score in isoation. The Hawks don’t have anyone right now who can defend KG 1 vs. 1 in the post. Josh just doesn’t have enough size and KG can shoot right over him at will, meanwhile, Zaza doesn’t have the quickness/agility to defend a guy like KG who has played at the 4 for most of his career. Similarly, Pierce is a proven scorer and is capable of scoring on even the best defenders when he has it going. There’s no doubt that guys like Marvin can slow him down, but I never count Pierce out after seeing what he has done in big moments in the past. Furthermore, the Celtics have the luxury of having a rested Ray Allen who is a master of moving without the ball and capable of scoring from anywhere on the floor if he has a clean look. Whoever is defending Allen is likely going to be exhausted as the series wears on, and I expect Allen to get off and start putting up points at some point in the series. After seeing what Bradley did against the Hawks last week, I am even a bit worried about his offense. We know he can lock people down and rack up the steals defensively, but he is now showing that he can a big-time offensive spark as well, which could spell disaster if the Hawks have to start giving him a lot of defensive attention in addition to the big three plus Rondo.
I feel like if the Hawks are going to win a series against the Celtics this offseason, it is going to be in a grinding fashion where the offense doesn’t look pretty and the games don’t have any flow or rhythm. It’s possible, but I just don’t like the Hawks chances. I’m sensing a first round elimination, even if it is a competitive series.
If Al comes back and, surprisingly, is producing well somehow, that could swing the tide, but I don’t expect it to happen. Even with a healthy Al, the Celtics are still tough to get by. They play hard and they play the right way, plus they never takes plays off. That always gives them a chance to win every game.
James
April 24th, 2012
5:09 am
“The problem here is you guys have been watching awful offense so long you have no clue what REAL offense looks like, lol. Watch the Spurs – they RARELY take bad shots and no one player dominates the bball. Because of the way they play, Horford would start on that team, Josh would be a 6th man.”
I agree with most of this. I love watching the Spurs play, their style is the epitome of team basketball in today’s NBA. Coach Popovich is, in my eyes, one of the best coaches not only of today, but of all time because of his ability to always find a niche for his players and always put them in positions where they can play to their strengths and still play within the context of the team. It’s truly impressive. I think Horford would be a great fit in that system, and if he is traded one day, I think it would be good for him if he was sent to San Antonio.
vava74
April 24th, 2012
5:28 am
A general Co-Sign to Rod’s posts.
We don’t need another jump shooter out there (Al) who is even saying that he can’t play D.
What we are really missing at this moment in time is Zaza back at full health and for LD to give major minutes to Ivan.
For instance, he should start him these last two games in order to see what he can count on if Zaza for any reason has a relapse.
It bewilders me that we may not have Zaza and LD is not testing other options beyond playing Collins and moving Josh to C like he – stupidly IMO – did against the Knicks.
Steven
April 24th, 2012
5:42 am
“We don’t need another jump shooter out there (Al) who is even saying that he can’t play D.”
That “jump shooter” that you are referring to was making a concerted effort to play more inside this season before he was injured. In case you don’t remember, he got injured playing inside. If he was just taking jump shots, the injury probably never would have happened. And, for the record, Horford never said that he couldn’t play D. He said that he wasn’t able to be as effective on the defensive end yet because he was having trouble keeping his left arm raised for extended periods of time. It’s common sense that he is going to have some weakness in his pectoral muscle after going through surgery to repair it just 3 months ago. Yes, he should sit out and let it heal thoroughly, but let’s not act like it’s some sort of failure that he is not able to operate with his repaired muscle at 100% percent efficiency yet. How many people do you think could tear a pectoral muscle to the degree that he did and have it surgically repaired and then return to play NBA-caliber defense just a few months afterward?
doc
April 24th, 2012
7:36 am
a few comments on gadzuric being signed by the knicks, just four days ago. now why werent the hawks talking to this guy? instead we are applyingprssure on al to come back as early as physically possible at 70%. boy, it must suck to play for the hawks, kniw it sucks being a fan of the team owned by the group formerly known as asg, the basg.
doc
April 24th, 2012
7:39 am
here tis:
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/veteran-center-lands-with-the-knicks/?ref=sports
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 24th, 2012
7:41 am
LOL @ Al.
Not even gonna be able to play defense.
And smh @ Gadzuric signing. I begged for this guy for like 3 years
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 24th, 2012
7:43 am
Najeh,
Will that Lazarus thing GUARANTEE my posts appear? I am not having trouble losing the conTent of posts. They just are not appearing
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 24th, 2012
7:44 am
Horford looks extremely skinny in recent pics I’ve seen of him. Hopefully not KG-like
doc
April 24th, 2012
7:52 am
vava ld is addicted to your guy twin the way he was to you whipping by jamal. karma bro. heh heh
that is why he was too stupid to play ivanmajor minutes against the celts and knicks amongother teams.
so celts and knicks bring in williams and gadzuric and we bring in al. i hope he is ready but he aint in playoff shape because he cant rumble and play defense. could get ugly real fast.
Dawg
April 24th, 2012
8:40 am
I wish that Al would stay out this entire season and get healthy. Then I would like to hear that he is working out to get stronger in order to bang and play the role that he needs to play with this team.
He is quick and he can shoot. But he is not the best PF on our team. If he would dedicate himself to being more Charles Oakley type player instead of perimiter Al, the Hawks could be very good considering the usefulness of Zaza.
Admiral SnAckBar
April 24th, 2012
8:52 am
Don’t do it Al.
Al wants to do this so he can play for tiny island this summer.
there is no I in team.
it’s a TRAP!!!
vava74
April 24th, 2012
9:26 am
Stephen,
The issue is not what Al was trying to do early in the season. I know and acknowledged that he was playing inside more now that the updated scouting reports were reducing his open looks to virtually none.
The issue is: he is not physically in condition to play D nor to play inside and he said that he could contribute as a scorer, presumably as a shooter.
Those shots will NOT BE AVAILABLE in the playoffs, even if he is featured as a back up C/PF, so his time on the floor probably will only be negative.
History tells us not to mess with line ups to introduce too early guys coming off injuries.
ORL lost any chance to win the title in the finals with the Lakers because they forced the minutes for Jameer instead of relying on Alston who had taken them there.
O'brien
April 24th, 2012
9:48 am
For the hawks to win in the playoffs, I think they should be more focused on defense and rebounding. But LD is an offensive minded coach, and here comes Al already talking about offense.
I know we have struggled to score points (especially against the celtics). But if we committ to playing defense and rebounding, we will be in every game (IMO).
Doc,
I figured the Bibby quote would take you down memory lane. Now that zaza is out, why hasn’t ld given dampier any minutes? They signed him, and went into luxury tax, and with al and zaza injured, he can’t get any minutes?
Collins has looked better the last couple games, but who knows what to expect from him on a game to game basis.
And for the record, I don’t like the idea of Al coming back if he is only at 70%.
Punanny Jones
April 24th, 2012
9:51 am
It was the most stupid thing we could do, in not trading Al when we had the chance. The dudes career average, 12pts 8 rbs, all star average 3 rbs 5 pts, play off average 10 prt 7 rbs and college average 12 pts 7 rebound clearly mark him as an average Al. We should have traded him while other teams believed the hype.
Al is a loser and the Hawks will continue to fall out of the second round as long as Al is associated with this team. Should of dumped him a long time ago.
If you think is career, allstar, playoffs and college numbers are weak, wait til you see the after major surgery Al.
If he fought opponents the way he fights his teammates over who plays what position hed be more of a force. But he works harder on not defending than defending.
Trade all For a center who cares.
Zaza> Al
Ivan> Al
Josh 10X> Al
Najeh Davenpoop
April 24th, 2012
9:56 am
“Will that Lazarus thing GUARANTEE my posts appear? I am not having trouble losing the conTent of posts. They just are not appearing”
No, but when your posts don’t go through, it will let you recover everything you typed with one click.
Also, don’t use those magic words. I only have a problem with the blog monster when I use those magic words. I think the blog monster eats them because they contain the Spanish word for ass, which is ironic because the English word for ass gets past the blog monster.
Punanny Jones
April 24th, 2012
10:00 am
Thats some funny sh it Al talking about not playing defense. When did he ever? His lack of defense and nonchalant attitude about low post defense is why we never get out of the second round anyway. The dudes attitude sucks. We dont need his 10 -12 pts. we get that from zaza/ivan We need his ass to embrace the defensive role of the center position.
Al is not a team player and is only thinking about hisself. His me me me attitude is what starts the fighting in the locker room
Al horford. EMBRACE THE DEFENSIVE ROLE YOU ARE CALLED TO DO. IDIOT.
TRADE AL NOW!
doc
April 24th, 2012
10:25 am
o’b yes ou know how that quote got me the first time i read it of bibby and he was our vet leader.
and, twin is better. better to what? how does one get better than the worst center in the nba? if he gets better is that any better? celt’s williams was better than him, gadzuirc too. oh for a few dollars more. but we can eat better at RED because that is revenue producing, isnt it? BAH HUMBUG, BASG
KevinM
April 24th, 2012
10:34 am
Jeje: ” remember his brother Herb was an assistant here for years and one game Larry Brown was behind our bench (I think?) and David Aldridge ( think?) reported he would be a candidate to be a coach for us. Does anyone here remember this? Big Ray or northcyde maybe?”
Oh yes, I recall that JeJe; I thought that was the next step that was going to be taken bringing Larry in here if he had had enough in Detroit.
And from Day 1 I have said that after drafting Al, he was going to have to be our Tim Duncan for us to be successful at that time. I don’t see a lot of similarities though. While both may have a high IQ, Al’s ‘nimbers’ have never rivaled those of Duncan. Yes, I know he’s not the first option on offense, but if there was a true center on this team all these years, we may have seen a totally different development.
Instead, we have our ‘other’ PF at 70-80% for games going into the playoffs. He will share minutes with Josh and let Josh take on the C role because I don’t expect much from Al. At this point, I think we need Zaza more than we need Al, because Zaza is more of a C and plays strictly around the rim.
We go with who we have, and mixing different rotations will be upcoming yet again. Let’s see if LD can figure out how to mesh the pieces together.
Wow, to get to this field lately takes so many clicks and scrolls, it’s almost not worth posting. What is the AJC trying to do here….this has to be the most inefficient platform out there. Even realgm.com is better than this.
KevinM
April 24th, 2012
10:37 am
I hope for Al to come back and make a statement that he can play and we can send he or Josh away this summer. There is just a logjam there and having Josh behind the 3 pt line is not any more attractive than it was when he started doing it. I think we need his defense though and I think I have enjoyed this roster more with Al on the sidelines.
But the ASG will come out and make excuses why everyone from Sund down needs to return and make another run at it.
BIG DOG
April 24th, 2012
11:03 am
Hawks have something special and you guys keep talking about AL like he is worthless, JUST DAM.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
BIG DOG
April 24th, 2012
11:05 am
Al Horford 2times allstar, so what’s the problem folks ?
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
BIG DOG
April 24th, 2012
11:19 am
Sam Mitchell should be the Hawks next coach, LD have no clue.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
Classifying the NBA's Playoff Contenders, Part 2 | 4th and Done
April 24th, 2012
11:20 am
[...] they deserve credit for competing all season without perhaps their best player in Al Horford, who may or may not be out for the playoffs. In Horford’s absence, Josh Smith took a major leap in carrying the Hawks. [...]
BIG DOG
April 24th, 2012
11:20 am
Next year starter Teague, Joe, Josh, Horford, Zaza.
could win the east next year.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
vava74
April 24th, 2012
11:26 am
Big Dog,
Al is not worthless, but he is definitively a worse PF than Josh.
So, if he does not want to embrace the C position, we are better off trading him since his perceived value in the league is actually higher than is actual value on court.
Al seems to be a very nice guy and I would even go out on a limb and say that for a front court player, he is too nice.
Really effective front court players who happen to be nice guys are very few and far apart and typically a lot more gifted technical and/or physically than Al.
Duncan, for instance, is much much much better technically than Al will ever be.
If the ASG want to make a final push next year and keep the core together one more year, then Al must play C and do it like he did at the beginning of his career:
Hustling and getting his points out of offensive rebounds, pick and roll plays, rather than pick n pop, …).
His low post moves are not good enough – and probably never will be – and his outside shot needs a lot of space and time, which was given to him last year due to slow scouting but closed in the playoffs and this season’s early games.
Rod from College Park
April 24th, 2012
11:47 am
This is the problem. I like Al. He is way overhyped, but he is solid. The problems are:
1. LD seems to have problems when he has more options. His substitution patterns are already horrible, and adding Al now will simply complicate things for him more.
2. Al coming back will mean little or no time for Ivan. Ivan is not on Al’s level as a player yet, but is is much more physical, and rebounds the ball just as well. Against the Celtics, I think we need more physicality, and less jump shot shooting.
3. Al states he will provide scoring. Al is not a scorer. He scores because teams were leaving him open for that 15 to 20 foot jump shot. In the playoffs he will not be left open (See last year). We need him more for rebounding and banging down low than scoring. Will he be able to provide that?
Rod from College Park
April 24th, 2012
12:11 pm
Robbie,
“They may create their own shots easier, but so do Jordan Crawford and Nick Young. Means nothing. Offense is about high pct shots and unselfish play – and that is what’s holding this team back right now. Josh and Joe don’t shoot a higher pct than Al and both hurt the offense because those two love to pound the bball for no real reason, resulting in a bad shot, likely a long 2pt jumper. Have you guys actually looked at their stats or are you just blind loyalists? I mean, they aren’t leading you to a ring, why are you all so quick to defend them? lol”
Horford aint leading us to a ring either. Horford shoots a higher percentage than Josh and Joe, so what. David Lee shoots a higher percentage than Kobe Bryant, that don’t make him better than Kobe. It’s a function of his position, and where his shots come from. Al shoots a higher percentage than Josh and Joe because of Josh and Joe. His gets wide open looks because teams defend Josh and Joe, and he is left open when he plays center, because the other teams center does not want to be out guarding a guy on the perimeter. Al shot 55% during the regular season last year, and then in the playoffs shot 42%. The reason is percentage dropped so much was because in the playoffs they stopped leaving him open, and guarded him with PF’s, instead of centers. FG’s should not be taken literally. Lot of things determine FG%.
“The problem here is you guys have been watching awful offense so long you have no clue what REAL offense looks like, lol. Watch the Spurs – they RARELY take bad shots and no one player dominates the bball. Because of the way they play, Horford would start on that team, Josh would be a 6th man.”
LOL. who would he start over, Tim Duncan? Pop has started starting Diaw, at PF as opposed to Bonner. Both of the guys are more stretch 4’s than power 4’s, which is what Horford would probably be. I think you would be more than surprised to see what Pop could do with Josh. I think he would no doubt start at the 4 on this Spurs team. Can’t say the same for Horford. I guess we have a difference of opinion. The Spurs not taking bad shots is a function of the coach not letting them take bad shots, not the players.
KevinM
April 24th, 2012
12:17 pm
Al coming back impacts Marvin, Ivan, Zaza and Josh. I have always stated he and Josh are counterintuitive with each other. I would rather have Josh on the inside than Al, and I don’t want Al on the 3 pt line either.
We have seen Josh and Zaza can play well together. Can we compete with +.500 teams? Adding Al back doesn’t help much IMO. His value can be used in a swap this summer, but Sund won’t do it.
J
April 24th, 2012
12:37 pm
have to agree with atlthrasha … this series will be good, regardless of who’s on the court. Anybody who says Atlanta is getting an automatic first round exit didn’t watch any games during the regular season (let’s not count the home win). There will be an intense rivalry, so get ready!
KevinM
April 24th, 2012
12:52 pm
We are still one win from getting HC…..huge IMO.
cdog
April 24th, 2012
1:50 pm
rick sund need to take notes of the falcons thomas dimitrop. he’s not sitting back letting everyone gets better and not do nothing to improve the team as sund does.sund is the main problem with the hawks.look at the players he brought in, has-beens and cheapos. show you he’s not looking to win the championship.hopefully, this is his last go around.the charlotte bobcats would be a good fit for him.the hawks need a GM looking for a finals championship. sund isn’t
Slimjr
April 24th, 2012
5:23 pm
Robotus and Melt maybe the two most over hyped professional athletes today?
If All whatever played out West, LaMarcus and others would whip up on his stiff butt nightly…
This guy would not even get mentioned for All Star accolades…
And Ryan will be replaced with in 2 years… Yawn.
Kudos to Mr. Escort to the rim uncontested for finally being honest and telling the fans he’s bringing no “D” to the playoffs just 1950’s set shots. Yippee! Yahoo!
Slimjr
April 24th, 2012
5:29 pm
Clippers are extremely hungry tonight..Expect a 2nd quarter Hawk deficit..How much? Who knows.
If LD puts Captain Kirk on Randy Foye? Oh the humanity!
A MUST WIN FOR THE HAWKS!
Dwayne
April 25th, 2012
10:22 am
Hawks have no answer for Rondo…Celtics in 6.