Hoopinion: Al Horford as a First Offensive Option

[Hawksquawk]

I haven't seen a second of the FIBA Americas tournament and doubt that we should take too much away from a competition that's significantly different from NBA basketball but John Schuhmann's report on Canada's 73-72 upset of the Dominican Republic offers little encouragement that Al Horford is ready to be a first offensive option for a successful team:

Al Horford finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. Canada swarmed him whenever he got the ball inside, willing to let his teammates try to beat them.

Basketball's a game of context so, from a Hawks-centric perspective, there's a difference in how teams will defend Horford when he's playing alongside Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva* than when he's playing alongside Joe Johnson and Josh Smith.

*Schuhmann, again:

At this point, it's no longer newsworthy that both Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva have been awful in this tournament. Garcia scored 12 points, but six of them came in the final four seconds on threes that didn't affect the outcome. Villanueva had four fouls and four turnovers in eight minutes. Going forward, we'll note Garcia's or Villanueva's play when they actually perform like one of the most talented players on the floor.

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