I will say that I'm shocked at the Horford hate...

[ATL_BALLER]

Yes, he had an inexplicably bad series, but that, to me, is out of character. I have no idea what was going on with him, but one bad series and suddenly this guy has to get shipped out ASAP?

Even a cynic like myself is willing to give him more than that.

Edited May 13, 2011 by ATL_BALLER

[atlguitar]

Yes, he had an inexplicably bad series, but that, to me, is out of character. I have no idea what was going on with him, but one bad series and suddenly this guy has to get shipped out ASAP?

Even a cynic like myself is willing to give him more than that.

He certainly had a bad series which was unexpected. But he also has been so, so SOFT since that great reg. season game he had against the Bulls where he willed us to victory. It seemed like Amare rocked him in the game soon after that and for the rest of the season he was less than his former self. I haven't looked at the numbers but to me, if you were to flip the regular season around and make the second half the first half, I don't think he would be an all-star.

I used to think he was easily the most "pro" player on the team, and the most accountable. So I am bewildered as to why he became so undependable. What makes it worse for us is that in that regular season game against the Bulls, he was such a beast that he "leveled up" and gave us hope that he was going to be throwing down 30 points on the regular and willing us to more victories with whatever it took (he even made a 3 that game). Instead, he became more and more invisible.

Edited May 13, 2011 by atlguitar

[Randy]

He was 3rd team all NBA, so he's got to be better than he has looked the last few months. I'd rather see him progress they way he was going up till now, but he may be the only real trade chip we have - so its not Al hate as much as trying to figure our how to improve the team. We are pretty much stuck with a lot of the rest of the team for a long time.

[Guest]

I agee that Horford's play was unexpected and extremely dissapointing. I will wait and reserve judgement until we hear how injured he is :biggrin: ...He has to be right, there is simply no other explanation for his play.

Joe had that injured elbow in last years playoffs and we didn't hear about it until this season when he needed surgery. And I know, injuries are no excuse but sometimes it just is. It may not prevent you from playing but it can be limiting to some extent.

[atlguitar]

One other thing. I've noticed that Horf seems to tire quickly. Maybe he could work on conditioning? I know he's a big guy ... but Dwight makes playing the whole game look easy.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Baller . . it's waaaaay more than that.

He didn't just have a bad series, he had a bad playoffs. And worse, he had a bad playoffs playing his so called "natural position" . . . PF.

And the scary part to me was how the opposing PF scored on him and limited him so easily on offense. So now the question is this . . . is he REALLY a better PF than Smith?

I mean, that was once thought to be a no brainer in the favor of Horford. But now, you have to SERIOUSLY question that.

If Horford is most productive when he plays center . . but he can't defend nor score on bigger stronger big men . . and he's less productive against playoff PFs . . and his post game is non existant against both Cs and PFs . . .

. . . then what are we supposed to do?

Sad to say it . . . but Horford got exposed BIG TIME in these playoffs.

[frankthetank966]

He played with no energy this series. Not sure where he was but it was a pathetic series and poor effort from him.

[pimp]

Yes, he had an inexplicably bad series, but that, to me, is out of character. I have no idea what was going on with him, but one bad series and suddenly this guy has to get shipped out ASAP?

Even a cynic like myself is willing to give him more than that.

He's just being treated like everyone else that plays poorly on

this team.You play poorly in big games , you will get bashed.

It happens to JJ , Josh , and Marvin .I don't see why Al should

get a free pass.

[Joker]

Baller . . it's waaaaay more than that.

He didn't just have a bad series, he had a bad playoffs. And worse, he had a bad playoffs playing his so called "natural position" . . . PF.

And the scary part to me was how the opposing PF scored on him and limited him so easily on offense. So now the question is this . . . is he REALLY a better PF than Smith?

I mean, that was once thought to be a no brainer in the favor of Horford. But now, you have to SERIOUSLY question that.

If Horford is most productive when he plays center . . but he can't defend nor score on bigger stronger big men . . and he's less productive against playoff PFs . . and his post game is non existant against both Cs and PFs . . .

. . . then what are we supposed to do?

Sad to say it . . . but Horford got exposed BIG TIME in these playoffs.

How was he exposed? This is what he's been doing since we traded Bibby. His impact has dropped a lot. He wasn't bad defensively in the playoffs, he was our best defender stat and on tape wise is both series. Offensively, this is what he's been since the Bibby trade. I don't see how he was exposed. He looked worst than usual but a lot of that is due to the Bulls defense. His post game is above average, Chicago really forces you into areas where your not comfortable and if you don't have a player who could negate that for everyone, this is what happens. Kinda like Pau Gasol and Odom. A very good and good player. They looked awful v. Dallas. Were that exposed, in a sense yes but in reality, they just needed a break and too much turmoil got in the way of Basketball. The Hawks just has a messed up personnel. It's like they mixed yellow, party, red velvet, and devil mix all together and decided to make a cake. Good luck.

[Atlantaholic]

I´m more shocked at how much Horford sucked in the playoffs. The dude was supposed to be a leader, and I mean he has shown it in the past... but this was PATHETIC. I hope the injury rumors are true and that this years performance was an aberration.

[SadiX]

horford went all gasol on us. lmao

[Diesel]

Yes, he had an inexplicably bad series, but that, to me, is out of character. I have no idea what was going on with him, but one bad series and suddenly this guy has to get shipped out ASAP?

Even a cynic like myself is willing to give him more than that.

right now, I think that there's a question of is Horf hurt or has Horf been exposed. Unfortunately, there were many times that Horf had the ball and he just didn't know what to do. Thibbs played him right. Is that a weakness we can overcome? The other thing is that yes, there is a Horf vs. Smoove competition going on now. Both are Pfs. So what you're seeing is the naturally lining up of people who realize that one must go.

[thecampster]

right now, I think that there's a question of is Horf hurt or has Horf been exposed. Unfortunately, there were many times that Horf had the ball and he just didn't know what to do. Thibbs played him right. Is that a weakness we can overcome? The other thing is that yes, there is a Horf vs. Smoove competition going on now. Both are Pfs. So what you're seeing is the naturally lining up of people who realize that one must go.

We all know I'm a Josh fan but that isn't going to keep me from being honest. Anyone that saw Al after the Blake Griffin foul, knew he came back too soon. His production dropped by 3 points a game after he came back and he just wasn't the same player. I'm expecting in the coming days a story about Al's back being jacked up from that hard foul. Al got worse and worse as the playoffs went on and his only good game against Chicago was aided by 3 easy dunks off of Josh Smith passes. Without those 3 plays, Al would have had 14 points in the game. This has been going on for about 2 months now and it got worse the longer it went on.

[frosgrim]

This just came to me. I wonder if that fall Horford took against NYK in early March messed up his back? I coming off a significant back injury right now myself. Those sorts of injuries take forever to get right. A low-grade back issue could explain why he stopped bodying up and really looked more mechanical than usual.

Just a thought with very little evidence.

[Sothron]

Remember how we all wondered what happened to Joe in last year's playoffs? Turned out he had significant elbow problems that whole season and playoffs that required surgery. I can't help but think that Al was hiding some kind of injury in the playoffs. He simply looked like a totally different player than what we've seen for years now.

[Randy]

One problem with Al playing PF is that then we start Collins who has no offensive game at center and move Josh to SF. As long as Josh was hanging around outside, that's now 2 guys the other team didn't need to worry much about. With ZaZa in the game it helps a little but you've still got a lot of extra guys around to gaurd Al, Joe and Jeff/Jamal.

[HawksFan87]

it's not hate it's the truth, AL is not above being called out for his horrible play .. He couldn't hit a shot, his defense was soft. He just didn't play well, period..

[sasuke]

Al needs 2 things:

1, Make Hibbert some company at the sport psychologist to get his manhood & confidence back.

2, A real run & gun offense.

[NJHAWK]

Al Horford got his contract and his Randy Whitman wanna be trophy and peaced out. GARBAGE.

Edited May 13, 2011 by NJHAWK

[AHF]

I am a believer in Al but think he has a lot of work to do this offseason. He has a deadly midrange game but needs to focus on adding to his ability to score in the post, drive to the basket, and draw fouls on the interior. We need that a lot more from him than anything else.