Jody23

One backup big is not going solve the Hawks size and rebounding issues. If they're insistent on Josh as a 4, a decision between Al and Smoove will have to be made because Al apparently does not want to play center for the rest of his career.

Smh.

chris bosh works.

Chris Bosh has made it clear he does not want to play center. I'll applaud Al Horford for taking the same stance as he knows he could be more effective playing his natural position.

Agreed, but I also tend to look at everything else we know about Al, and he just seems, otherwise, to get along with everyone so well, and always has going back to his Florida days.

That's why I think it's an honest comment intended to publicly admit that the players know what all the fans know... that the team is getting beat up by Orlando and by the Howard factor specifically, and that if that doesn't get solved, this team's going nowhere. Sure, Smoove could take offense to it, and ZaZa definitely could... but they know the truth of Horf's statements, so I think they understand the context.

Don't miss the point, too, that of the three, Horf's the one in the position that would normally attract the greatest criticism--ie, that he's not up to the task of guarding Howard. There is a sense in his words that, "I admit I'm not good enough against certain All-Stars, and we need someone else who can give me some help."

I think what Al is saying is consistent with his other comments this offseason. He wants to play the 4. I don't think he's saying he's not good enough, but rather that he could be more effective with "legitimate" big men and a move to his natural position.

Horford is a natural 4 and Josh is a converted 4 (came into the league playing the 3). Right now, he relies so much on his athletic ability to compensate for his lack of size. When that athletic ability starts to fade (and it will earlier as has other guys who have made the jump from high school), how effective of a 4 will he be?

More insight from Horford and here again, he's asking for help inside and it doesn't sound like he's talking about league minimum salary help.

I think joe is already playing with 2 all-stars in al and smoove.

Depending on who signs where I think smoove has a really good shot this year at making the team.

Possibly, but I doubt it. If Boozer and Amare are playing the 4 in the east next year along with Bosh, Smoove will have a very difficult time making the All-Star team as a 4.

I defenitely think Joe is gone and it's largely because the Hawks, for years, have been "satisfied". Joe had been asking for help for years, but the Hawks were content with their solid "core". So they pretty much never answered his request the way he would have liked. Now, Joe has a chance to go to a team that will pair him with legitimate All-Stars and has legitimate title aspirations. He won't get that if he stays in Atlanta. Losing Joe won't be the end of the world for the Hawks, but the reasons for him leaving, if he does, could be very damaging. Also, Al Horford is watching this. He's come out this offseason already and has asked for a center so he can play the 4. If they ignore his request, will the Hawks eventually lose him to?

We all anticipate LD's offense being installed.

However, I have just one concern. The Smoove, Horf Experiment. I love both players, but neither player is a low post scorer. We have lost of threads here examining Joe Johnson. And Sure, Joe is probably worth the money to US.. but how well will Joe and our offense fair without a low post scoring threat? I have not seen a system that was successful that didn't have a low post scoring threat!

Maybe the plan is to trade one of them for Stoudamire? He's not bigger but he can score in the low post.

Maybe we can go after Thompson (seeing that the Kings went in hard after a C thus far). I mean, Thompson, Dalembert, Whiteside, and Cousins... Somebody got to go.

Also, it looks like Orlando might trade Gortat.

Agreed. To me, it seems many want to hold on to both Horford and Smith, more or less, for sentimental reasons. But, sentimental reasons ain't going to help you inside or get the Hawks out of the second round. The last two years in the playoffs should have made it abundantly clear that this team needs a low post prescence. I don't think it's a wise goal to try to be the "Pheonix Suns" of the east.

But that's only because Maggette was playing the 4 when he came into that game and had to be matched up against Smith. And Maggette had 18 points and 7 rebounds . .in 22 minutes. So isn't that an indictment on Smith's abilities to defend a 3?

And Josh had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. To me it's an indication that Josh can abuse smaller players. It doesn't matter that Maggette was playing the four. He's still a perimeter player. When matched up against a 3, everyone fears Josh will want to play on the perimeter and shoot jumpers. Instead, he relentlessly attacked the basket and put up some of his best numbers for the season. Why did he not settle for jumpers against Maggette? Because, he knew it was easy to post him up and attack the basket. Imagine what he could do if given that kind of physical advantage every night.

So this is a very common topic with many of us. Some of us are ok with smith playing SF in the NBA and most of us dont even want to think about smith attempting to play the 3/SF. What gets me is that those that dont want smith to play the 3/SF only disagree because Smith cant Shoot! Which is a reason but I think we should be more concerned if wheather or not Smith can defend other 3/SF in the NBA? In other words can Smith whose known for a pretty good defender and finishing 2nd in this years defense player of the year award, defend the perimeter! That's the BIG question...............yeah anybody who knows about the hawks know Smith cant shoot thats no doubt but if thats your only reason that you dont want him to play the 3/SF it's not a very good one.

Smith can play affective at the 3 if he can:

-defend the perimeter

-keep up with most SF in the NBA which shouldnt be a problem for smith

-run LD's offense gameplan

Let me remind you that LD is bringing a whole new offense to Atlanta and the NBA. It's a new motion offense and knowing LD he's pretty intelligent. LD is going to put players in postion thats best for them to score he said it himself, with that said we wont have to worry about Smith on the perimeter on offense no matter what position he's playing. we just have to worry about his defense and playing other SF in the NBA! Also LD has already planned this offense out and he has even stated that he wants to get smith away from the perimeter! Again it seems as if it wont matter if smith plays 3 or not cause either way he wont even be put in position to even attempt jump shots! Smith will be postioned in the post and horford will probably be in position to take jumpshots a whole lot more this year

I think you make some valid points. People making a big deal about what forward position Josh plays is overrated. Many want to conveiniently forget that Josh came into the league playing small forward and went to the 4 out of necessity and poor draft selection (you figure it out). I think Josh's success is tied to how he plays more so than what position he plays. If he's attacking the basket or posting up, he'll be a factor. For example, go back and look at the game against Golden State this season in Phillips arena. He was matched up with Corey Maggette for most of that night and basically gave him the business.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. If the Hawks do draft a two, what message are they sending to JJ if they truly intend to re-sign him? Also, if the Hawks draft a two or three and then are successful in retaining JJ, you'll be looking at a guy who will be behind JJ and Crawford at the two and behind Marvin and Mo Evans at three and, as a result, won't play very much if at all. So, the pick is going to reveal a lot about the Hawks' confidence level to keep JJ. Also, Al has made comments about the team needing a center and his desire to play the four. With his free agency coming up, it would be unwise not to look at solutions to that issue.

I think it bears mentioning that Josh deals with many of the same struggles that Al Horford deals with as far as being undersized at the position he plays. This also plays apart in the rebounding issues. Let's not forget that Josh came into the league playing small forward. Having to battle bigger and stronger guys for rebounds for a whole season will wear on you at some point.

Simply put, no. That team would win some games, but would not win a title.

Horf is not a true 5, Smoove is not a true 4, Bibby and Marvin are not starters, and Joe may not come back. I would say something is wrong with our starting 5.

Bingo.

People complain about Josh's perimeter D, but I know that basketball is played from the inside out. Center positioning settles many things which is why Ewing's Knicks were so good for so long. He changed the floor spacing. It's not Al's lack of height, it's his lack of weight that hurt him against Howard. Howard backed him down with ease and that made the distance with the spot up 3's that much harder to cover when people came to double. if we get a center, he needs to be able to hold the block and that is where true defense begins.

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself and as soon as the Hawks figure this out, the better off they'll be. Too many people focus on stats and ignore the importance of being able to match up or create mismatches at critical positions.

I'd only tinker as well as oppossed to totally rebuilding. I don't think that's necessary. However, the Hawks have to address the weaknesses of this team instead of trying to hide it with gimmicks ala small ball front court and switching defense.

I agree that this team has a lot of pieces to offer in trade (contrary to what others may say). I'll say this though, Horford is the one guy the Hawks must hold onto. He's exactly the type of physical, back to the basket power forward a team needs to have an advantage in the playoffs. Seeing as how he's said he wants to play the 4 in recent weeks, the Hawks would do well accommodate his request. If not, he may find somewhere else where they will grant his wish and he'll become a perennial All-Star and the Hawks will be left looking foolish once again.

Precisely. This team needs a proven commodity. Experimentation time was six years ago.

I hope they choose Avery. He's exactly the type guy this team needs at this point in time and his resume backs that up. I believe Sund has wanted Casey all along, but hiring Casey wouldn't make sense. Why would you turn to hire an assistant as the head coach for a 50 win playoff team looking to take the next step? Not trying to knock Casey, but if Rick Sund wasn't the GM, would he be a candidate for this job? Just sayin'.

If the Hawks continue to play Horford and Smith together at the 4 and 5 for the majority of the minutes, the second round will be the ceiling for this team imho.

I don't think so.

I think if it's up to Sund, he's hiring Casey. I think he has limited the choices for the ASG. I really believe that Gearon is pushing AJ. It just feels like Sund is trying to go with a coach he has trust in... who is not a threat to minimalize his job.

Mitchell is a good choice and I think he would not be afraid of the task. What Coach can't turn around a 53 win team? 53 wins suggests that talent is there.

I was thinking the same thing and if this is the case, I would be worried. The ASG should be VERY leery of allowing the GM to create a situation where his coach is essentially a yes man. We saw how that turned out earlier on in the Billy Knight era. Effective checks and balances are needed for successful personnel decisions in my opinion (unless your Poppovich or West).

Conceptually, I agree with Diesel. The Hawks may not get Lebron, but if their really serious about keeping Joe, I think they need to use a couple of their current assets to bring in a major player. Simply hiring a new coach won't cut it.

Great question and insightful answers, guys... so, is the stable of Perkins, Wallace and Davis that much greater than Horford, Pachulia and Joe Smith, or is it really exclusively a matter of bad defensive coaching?

Honestly, defensively, Perkins, Wallace and Davis are better because they have both the size and skill to guard Howard single coverage with minimal help. In theory, one could say the Hawks should have done the same, but none of the Hawks bigs could hold their own and make it difficult for Howard the way the Celts did. I do think Woody had flaws that were detrimental to the team, but the fact that this roster has flaws cannot be ignored.