Horford a successful Center?

[A-town Hawks]

Due to the make-up of our team with Josh flourishing at the 4 spot for us, and Horford having a amazing rookie season while playing Center when most say he is a PF. I see no reason to even look at a starting C this summer or anytime in the near future. I think Horf and Smoove complement each other perfectly together as bigs and we shouldn't look at trading Smith for a Center. Only reason to trade for a Center is for depth IMO.

These two together are cornerstone bigs and I can see them as a formidable frontcourt during a deep championship run.

Thoughts?

[Basketballfan]

Good post, but Smoove and Horford both said something like they feel abused playing those positions and that they're undermatched. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

[Chris18]

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Good post, but Smoove and Horford both said something like they feel abused playing those positions and that they're undermatched. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

When did they say this???

[Basketballfan]

Right around early April, they said that they have to work harder because they're undersized. It might be from a Sekou Smith article on AJC.

Also, Mike D'Antoni said that he felt he was "abusing" Amare by playing him at the 5 instead of the 4, so that triggered a large reaction around here.

[A-town Hawks]

Amare is not as mature or tough as Horford is so he may feel as abused by playing out of position. But I think if anything Horford really showed to us he is fine with playing the Center position, because if there was any doubt that he could play there it would have arose during his rookie season, we would've seen a him hit a rookie wall or something where the coaching staff would see that he needs to be a PF.

But nothing like that, arose so I think he is fine in his role and is only worried about getting better as a player and team.

[Diesel]

When you think about it. They do have to play out of position and it does hurt them as players. We have the age old argument around here that Smoove doesn't defend threes well. However, when was the last time Smoove had to defend a three.. When Al was here? Moreover, I would rather play Smoove at three and make up a zone that utilizes his ability to roam than to keep playing him and Horf out of position. It's definitely hard on Horf too. Big Centers give Horf a very hard time. When we played Boston.. Kendrick Perkins looked to score on Horf. Perkins is just mediocre.. but the argument that nobody else has a big is a disservice to Horf. He's a PF. Play him in position and let's see what we have. IMO, he played Better when Zaza was on the court.

[Packfill]

I don't think there is any question that Horford can be effective player center. The real question is whether the Hawks can be a championship contender with Horford at center. I don't think we know the answer to that question yet, even though Horford put in a solid rookie season.

[Chris18]

Kendrick Perkins didn't do anything against us in the playoffs. If you move Al to the 4 and Josh to the 3 you sure as hell better get a center that will replace the 15 points that Marvin gives you.

[Basketballfan]

I agree--I am fine with Horford at center if he gets a bit bigger, but I don't know if we can make it to the Finals with him and Smoove at the two biggest positions. If we had someone like Sheed next to Horford (our Ben Wallace) I might feel more secure.,

[Zone034life]

All the Hawks need is a big off the bench who can defend the five and take pressure off Smoove and Big Al. Smoove and Al have great chemistry on the court and that seems to go over some peoples head. They play well off each other and there is something to be said about that. If the Hawks could get a Pryzbilla, Jeff Foster or Diop to come off the bench and defend the 5 spot it would help Smoove and Al tremendously.

[AHF]

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However, when was the last time Smoove had to defend a three.. When Al was here?

Did Josh Smith matchup against Charlotte SF Gerald Wallace last season?

[Basketballfan]

Nobody "matched" up against Gerald Wallace last year. He owns every player on our team who guards him.

[exodus]

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However, when was the last time Smoove had to defend a three.. When Al was here?

Did Josh Smith matchup against Charlotte SF Gerald Wallace last season?

Smith isn't nearly quick enough to guard Wallace.

When we played the Clipps the first time this past season Smith had to guard the rookie Thorton and it wasn't pretty.

[Zone034life]

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However, when was the last time Smoove had to defend a three.. When Al was here?

Did Josh Smith matchup against Charlotte SF Gerald Wallace last season?

Smith isn't nearly quick enough to guard Wallace.

When we played the Clipps the first time this past season Smith had to guard the rookie Thorton and it wasn't pretty.

Thats partly true. But Thortan torched JJ,chillz and Marvin in that game. He scored on anybody the Hawks tried to throw at him. Smoove started out guarding Tim Thomas in that game I thought? Marvin was the one who got abused first by him.

[exodus]

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However, when was the last time Smoove had to defend a three.. When Al was here?

Did Josh Smith matchup against Charlotte SF Gerald Wallace last season?

Smith isn't nearly quick enough to guard Wallace.

When we played the Clipps the first time this past season Smith had to guard the rookie Thorton and it wasn't pretty.

Thats partly true. But Thortan torched JJ,chillz and Marvin in that game. He scored on anybody the Hawks tried to throw at him. Smoove started out guarding Tim Thomas in that game I thought? Marvin was the one who got abused first by him.

Smith took the brunt of it because Thornton started at the 4. Their front line was so decimated by injuries that they started Josh Powell at center.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280130012

[Diesel]

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Thornton started at the 4.

You mean Thomas started at the 4?

[exodus]

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Thornton started at the 4.

You mean Thomas started at the 4?

Oops that's right Thomas started at the 4. Thorton went off so bad I thought he started. But Smith was the one who took most of it.

They had to go small because they didn't have Brand and Kaman.

[AHF]

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Nobody "matched" up against Gerald Wallace last year. He owns every player on our team who guards him.

I wasn't trying to say whether or not we adequately guarded Wallace. I was just trying to ask whether or not Smith guarded him in those two games because I consider Wallace a SF.

[HawkNJersey]

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Nobody "matched" up against Gerald Wallace last year. He owns every player on our team who guards him.

Smoove played in less than 20 minutes vs the Bobcats, the one game Wallace played. Although Wallace scored 27pts....Smoove wasn't on the floor. I distinctly remember Smoove having about 3 or 4 blks on Wallace when he was in the game. Marvin was matched up Wallace along with Joe...for the most part.

[AHF]

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Nobody "matched" up against Gerald Wallace last year. He owns every player on our team who guards him.

Smoove played in less than 20 minutes vs the Bobcats, the one game Wallace played. Although Wallace scored 27pts....Smoove wasn't on the floor. I distinctly remember Smoove having about 3 or 4 blks on Wallace when he was in the game. Marvin was matched up Wallace along with Joe...for the most part.

Thanks! I saw Charlotte's starting lineup in that first game indicating a good deal of small ball from Charlotte (where Okafor and Horford were likely matched up) so I wasn't sure how we faced off:

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Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts

G. Wallace 42 8-18 3-4 8-13 2 6 0 3 0 2 4 27

E. Okafor 34 3-8 0-0 0-0 3 8 1 0 2 2 5 6

P. Brezec 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0

J. Richardson 38 10-19 3-7 4-4 1 4 4 2 3 0 2 27

R. Felton 33 7-12 0-0 2-3 1 1 5 5 2 0 3 16

R. Hollins 24 5-7 0-0 1-2 3 6 0 0 2 2 1 11

M. Carroll 20 3-7 2-5 0-0 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 8

J. McInnis 28 4-7 0-0 0-1 1 1 6 2 1 0 1 8

J. Dudley 9 1-4 0-0 4-4 1 1 1 1 1 0 3 6

J. Davidson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

W. Herrmann 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0