Question..Is Horf our center or pf of the future?

tmac13 · July 15, 2008

I see post after post of here about the Hawks either signing or trading for a center. Does this mean we think Horf is better suited for the 4 spot? I thought he actually performed very well for a rookie center. I don't think he will ever be a huge scorer but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he posted 13 points and 11 rebounds as soon as this season.. I also think he loses some of his advantage if he is trying to defend quicker power forwards. What he lacks in height he seems to make up in toughness. I do agree we need a defensive minded backup for those nights he gets into foul trouble, but as far as starting I think he is at home in the 5 spot. The domino effect of moving Horf to the 4 is moving Smoove to the 3. I think that would be a disaster. Smoove is a less than steller shooter and ball handler, both are needed to play the 3. I think it would also encourage him to hoist up more long jumpers.

Chris18 · July 15, 2008

With the way the NBA is set up Al will be fine as a center becasue there aren't very many 7 footers today. We still need to get someone who can backup Al becasue we cannot rely on Zaza until he shows us that he can get out of his funk.

coachx · July 15, 2008

Quote:

I see post after post of here about the Hawks either signing or trading for a center. Does this mean we think Horf is better suited for the 4 spot? I thought he actually performed very well for a rookie center. I don't think he will ever be a huge scorer but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he posted 13 points and 11 rebounds as soon as this season..

Did any one say he did not play well for a rookie ? The way you say it is as if your stance is contrary to popular belief which I do not understand.

13 ppg and 11 rpg is NO bold projection my friend. After averaging 10ppg and 10 rpg as a rookie, one would think normal progression of a player would at least be a 1 rebound and 3 point per game improvement from year 1 to 2.

The only trades I have seen are the worst case scenerio / sign and trade deal incase the Clippers offer Smoove $80 mill over 5 years.

I thought the basic consensus was that we just needed a defensive big off the bench if we keep the roster together.

I also thought the consensus was the only way Smoove can play the 3 is if we get a high post center with a long range jump shot who could spread the floor more then Marvin while at the same time bringing a big out of the paint.

I would have been easier on you but come on ....you only have 1700 post so you know what is going on and don't have to play Captain Obvious. You don't recall this topic being beat into the ground oh.....maybe 100 times ? Eh ?

hawkman · July 15, 2008

Horf is our center. There's no need trading for some stiff just because he fit everyone's definition of what they think a center should be. One of the reasons why people want to do a sign and trade with Smoove is that they want Horf to shift to PF and they don't feel that Smoove can play SF. I can't agree with that. I'm all about maintaining the quality of our starting five. Horf anchors the middle just fine and he and Smoove make a nice frontcourt tandem. Horf will only get better and stronger in the middle for us. He can flat out beat any center up and down the court. He just needs to settle down when he gets the ball with his back to the basket. He was good with his back to the basket in college so I think that will come. He has a nice looking jumper to pull opposing centers out of the paint and he has a great first step to drive by them if they fall for the up fake. He has a great bball IQ, so we could actually run the offense through him in the near future after he refines his post moves. I think he presents too many positives to dwell on the negatives of him playing center. Horf could very well make the All-Star Team AT CENTER before his Rookie contract is up if we keep him there.

tmac13 · July 16, 2008

Hardly a day passes here that there is not some trade Marvin for a center thread. There is one right now on the trade board with us trading Marvin for Camby and moving Horf to the 4 and Smoove to the 3. My point was I think Horf is a very good young five and Smoove is best suited for the 4.