Who would you most compare Big Al to?..

[pound4pound]

I think the way that it works is for us to be an up tempo team like Golden State, Washington, or Pheonix. Length isn't as much a premium as skill for teams that run. Lord knows we have the personnel, just not the coach.

We will try Horford at the 5, that I am sure. If the Hawks do anything well it is play players out of position.

Joe - PG

Chill - SG

Salim - PG

Smoove - SG

Sheldon - C

Woody - Head Coach

[bfwolf]

I think a comparison to Shelden Williams is pretty fair. Probably a little bit better.

[killa3312]

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I think a comparison to Shelden Williams is pretty fair. Probably a little bit better.

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It's not fair, though, because they really aren't similar players at all.

[bfwolf]

I'm probably being a bit rash with that comparison. Shelden is the obvious guy to compare to since he was the PF drafted a year earlier. But I don't think the comparison is too far off. Both are strong, good rebounders, have a decent mid-range game, but have overall limited offensive games. Horford is quicker, but we'll see if that translates to being able to beat guys off the dribble in the post.

[killa3312]

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I'm probably being a bit rash with that comparison. Shelden is the obvious guy to compare to since he was the PF drafted a year earlier. But I don't think the comparison is too far off. Both are strong, good rebounders, have a decent mid-range game, but have overall limited offensive games. Horford is quicker, but we'll see if that translates to being able to beat guys off the dribble in the post.

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They're compared because both were slapped with the NBA ready tag, and apparently, since SW has already maxed out, NBA ready on this board = no upside. That couldn't be further from the truth, considering you can be ready to make a contribution right away, but not have come close to reaching your maximum potential.

Shelden is three years older than Horford, he's shorter, has less reach, is considerably less athletic, doesn't have Horford's jumper (or, at least not consistently), doesn't run the floor or handle the ball like Horford, and doesn't pass nearly as well as Horford. That's why it's a bad comparison.

Shelden was a player who had reached his potential when he hit the NBA. As a 23 year old, you're typically maxed out in what you can do when you reach the NBA. As someone who just turned 21, however, and gets better each year, Horford hasn't reached his upside or ceiling yet. That's why so many aren't sold on a kid like Al Thornton, either, as most see him as a 'nice' scorer on the next level, but don't see him getting much better than he already is.

[bfwolf]

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I'm probably being a bit rash with that comparison. Shelden is the obvious guy to compare to since he was the PF drafted a year earlier. But I don't think the comparison is too far off. Both are strong, good rebounders, have a decent mid-range game, but have overall limited offensive games. Horford is quicker, but we'll see if that translates to being able to beat guys off the dribble in the post.

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They're compared because both were slapped with the NBA ready tag, and apparently, since SW has already maxed out, NBA ready on this board = no upside. That couldn't be further from the truth, considering you can be ready to make a contribution right away, but not have come close to reaching your maximum potential.

Shelden is three years older than Horford, he's shorter, has less reach, is considerably less athletic, doesn't have Horford's jumper (or, at least not consistently), doesn't run the floor or handle the ball like Horford, and doesn't pass nearly as well as Horford. That's why it's a bad comparison.

Shelden was a player who had reached his potential when he hit the NBA. As a 23 year old, you're typically maxed out in what you can do when you reach the NBA. As someone who just turned 21, however, and gets better each year, Horford hasn't reached his upside or ceiling yet. That's why so many aren't sold on a kid like Al Thornton, either, as most see him as a 'nice' scorer on the next level, but don't see him getting much better than he already is.

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I think you're overselling Horford's potential. I would agree that he's quicker and more athletic than Shelden Williams, but I do not see star-level athleticism in Horford...quickness is harder to judge and if he can beat people off the dribble that will be a huge factor in his ability to be a better player than Shelden. I don't think he has a better jumper than Shelden. Shelden actually has a pretty nice 15 footer, and I don't think Horford is proven in this area. Horford runs the floor better than Shelden (who doesn't?) but I would not call him above average in that regard for the NBA. Horford IS a very good ball handler, but this skill is pretty useless for an NBA PF. We didn't hire him to play PG.

Basically, by the time a guy is a Junior in college, I want to see him dominating college competition or show incredible athleticism/potential to want to spend the #3 pick in a deep draft on him. I see neither with Horford.

[bfwolf]

Don't get me wrong--nothing would please me more than to be completely wrong about Horford and have him play well right away and bud into a dominating post presence over the next few years. I've been wrong thousands of times before in my life, so I consider this a reasonable possibility. I'm just very skeptical based on what I saw from him in college. I think he'll be an OK NBA player but not a great or even very good one.

[dawgingermany]

last July.

[JackB1]

I dont think I have ever seen a 6' 9" guy play so well against Centers that have 2-4 inches over him. The kid has been a Godsend to the Hawks this year.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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I think you're overselling Horford's potential. I would agree that he's quicker and more athletic than Shelden Williams, but I do not see star-level athleticism in Horford...quickness is harder to judge and if he can beat people off the dribble that will be a huge factor in his ability to be a better player than Shelden. I don't think he has a better jumper than Shelden. Shelden actually has a pretty nice 15 footer, and I don't think Horford is proven in this area. Horford runs the floor better than Shelden (who doesn't?) but I would not call him above average in that regard for the NBA. Horford IS a very good ball handler, but this skill is pretty useless for an NBA PF. We didn't hire him to play PG.

Basically, by the time a guy is a Junior in college, I want to see him dominating college competition or show incredible athleticism/potential to want to spend the #3 pick in a deep draft on him. I see neither with Horford.

Horford is a unique prospect because how raw he is offensively coming out of school.

The way he can push the ball up the floor and finish on lobs I knew he was a helluva lot more athletic than Shelden Williams without ever seeing him on an NBA floor.

With the potential to add even more strength/weight to that frame of his and potential to refine his post skills and midrange game, Al HOrford can easily be a top 10 C in this league 1.5 years from now.