Does Johnson & Smith equal a possible Horford exit?!

[JTB]

Since Johnson has come back from his injury he has been lighting it up! I mean dude has really been killing it! while J Smoove has a a stellar performance damn near all season and he even took over the scoring load while Johnson was sitting down!...thats some thing most of us wouldnt have thought Smith could do especially with both of our all-stars out at the same time. In all this team is starting to look good again and Johnson and smith are leading the way making it look easy (though some of the teams that we recently faced arent much comp)...ALL of this without are starting All star BIG MAN Al Horford.Now Im not getting ahead of myself Horford is good but Im going to say this, if ATL gets out of round 2 or gets close to getting out, this will scratch some heads heavily among the coaches of the NBA, Fans and Media. I mean keeping Josh and Al wasnt a great plan then because of too small of BIGS in the post but it isnt bad if Josh go full time SF and Al full time PF.....the point is though people, is that if we get out of round 2 or come within a game from reaching the ECF, Horford may need to be moved so we can keep the tandem of JJ and Josh!I mean to be honest that is what it boils down to. Josh is an all star just like JJ and Horford though he hasnt appeared in the games. Maybe Josh and JJ works better than JJ and Horford!....Looking at the future of the Hawks we have to be honest here about what we need to do because of johnsons contract.Because there will not be as many teams going after JJ because of his massive contract we need to put him with who he is best with and trade the other away. Right now that looks like J smoove fits best with johnson. Horford is good but something tells me that the 2 time All star BIG man would not have us in the same position had he been in smith's position this year! however this BIG man of ours can get us some excellent gifts in return. I say a decent SF like wilson chandler and a draft pick and send AL walking!Conclusion:Just my thoughts on where this team is. I like horford but because I know JJ isnt going anywhere cause I seriously doubt a team takes on his Huge contract we have to make the best we can with it and I cant see how he is better with Horford than he is with Smith. Yes its 3 all-stars on the roster but they all dont work well togeather. We can easily get rid of Horford and possibly get good picks for him as well but lets wait and see just how good this tandem of Smith and JJ is!...Im going on the record and saying I believe that Smith and Johnson are better without Al horford and it isnt because AL isnt good they just dont know how to play with eachother as well....but my opnion

[Joker]

I hate your options and no. Atlanta is basically winning v. bad to average teams. Nothing special about this team with or without Horford or Joe or Josh. This is a very good team with those guys, a good team without one of them, and an above average team without two out of three of them.

[thecampster]

Going to post without answering the questions as I don't like your options. 1st question - Keep Al and use JJ, Kirk and Marvin's contracts in the offseason for good value. Josh and Al are a better tandem if you consider value.2nd question - With the right personnel, Horford would be awesome. Horf needs a good pick n roll pg to play the PF and a shot blocking/rebounding center (ala Mailman having Ostertag) in order to be dominant.3rd question - Really???? Really???? Look man, everyone on here knows I'm the biggest Josh homer on the planet but this team is better with Al on it.

[Guest]

What....take a look around the NBA....superstars and stars are tyring to all be on the same team to try and win. YOU want to get rid of our good young center for a pick.

[Swatguy]

I believe what we see in Josh and Joe is evidence that we can beat any team, with a full roster. Zaza has been giving us quality play as the starting center. We know Al. Offensively he is a mid-range shooter, a big that can run the court in transition. Defensively he is a very good post defender particularly against any PF. With the ascending high quality bench it has become obvious our starters, Zaza,Al,JoshJoe,Jeff. If we cannot move Joe or amnest Joe, we should roll with what we got. This bench is the difference. The bench is actually the veteran mindset and a changing culture. Josh maturing is mind-tantalizing with his prowess.So, with a healthy Al we are a very very scary team. What we hoped we would be. This soft schedule the rest of the way should provide rest, bench minutes and confidence going into the playoffs. Look, Miami struggles with our zone and Rose maybe continue to fight against his body, this could be the year to "Steal" a championship.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Swatguy

[Buzzard]

I believe what we see in Josh and Joe is evidence that we can beat any team, with a full roster. Zaza has been giving us quality play as the starting center. We know Al. Offensively he is a mid-range shooter, a big that can run the court in transition. Defensively he is a very good post defender particularly against any PF. With the ascending high quality bench it has become obvious our starters, Zaza,Al,JoshJoe,Jeff. If we cannot move Joe or amnest Joe, we should roll with what we got. This bench is the difference. The bench is actually the veteran mindset and a changing culture. Josh maturing is mind-tantalizing with his prowess.So, with a healthy Al we are a very very scary team. What we hoped we would be. This soft schedule the rest of the way should provide rest, bench minutes and confidence going into the playoffs. Look, Miami struggles with our zone and Rose maybe continue to fight against his body, this could be the year to "Steal" a championship.

Being scary or the cinderella is not what I hoped for. Sure we can beat anyone for one game, but we need dominance to beat the best over a seven games series. I agree with NBASuperstar in that we are good enough to dominate lesser teams but not good enough to beat the best. And anyone who is hoping for a 6th seed or higher, is also hoping to avoid Miami and the Bulls in the 1st round, so they feel the same way even if they won't admit it.To add insult to injury a few of us are hoping like hell we do not draw the 76ers either. What the camptser said about us being better with Al, should be common sense for all of us. But even with him, we are not going to threaten Miami or Chicago. And if we draw the 76ers in the first round, that may be the best 7 game series in the playoffs this year. Edited March 19, 2012 by Buzzard

[Diesel]

Hold on... Horf is a good player with a great contract. Right now, there's no real reason to send Horf unless we can get a talented C for him (Dwight, Jordan). The moves we should make is getting rid of Marvin and Hinrich. We missed our chance this trade deadline.

[Admin]

The JJ and Josh that you're seeing now isn't a byproduct of Al being out, it's because they're simply playing better basketball. Al isn't a guy that dribbled down the court and goes ISO, he gets the ball in the flow of the offense or on bailout passes where he's spotted up near the elbow for his favorite jumper so he'll be just fine when he gets back and so will Josh and JJ. One or both of them may regress but it won't be because of Al returning. The only player I suspect will get worse with Al returning will be Zaza but we'll see how that goes when the time comes. I know one thing, I definitely want to see what Al looks like next to this greatly improved Josh that we've seen lately.

[Diesel]

The JJ and Josh that you're seeing now isn't a byproduct of Al being out, it's because they're simply playing better basketball. Al isn't a guy that dribbled down the court and goes ISO, he gets the ball in the flow of the offense or on bailout passes where he's spotted up near the elbow for his favorite jumper so he'll be just fine when he gets back and so will Josh and JJ. One or both of them may regress but it won't be because of Al returning. The only player I suspect will get worse with Al returning will be Zaza but we'll see how that goes when the time comes.I know one thing, I definitely want to see what Al looks like next to this greatly improved Josh that we've seen lately.

Just one second here.This team rises and falls based on how much and well we play inside. Our inside game compliments our outside shooters. When Horf is here, we're like Missouri. We look good but we're really soft on the inside. With Zaza on the floor,we're less soft... Like Fla. The thing is that if we had somebody who was an inside specialist like ___________ we would be very hard to beat. Horf is good because he will go in and get boards.. But Horf doesn't have a matured inside presence offensively.

[Admin]

Just one second here.This team rises and falls based on how much and well we play inside. Our inside game compliments our outside shooters. When Horf is here, we're like Missouri. We look good but we're really soft on the inside. With Zaza on the floor,we're less soft... Like Fla. The thing is that if we had somebody who was an inside specialist like ___________ we would be very hard to beat. Horf is good because he will go in and get boards.. But Horf doesn't have a matured inside presence offensively.

We don't win or lose because of being soft or hard. We win or lose by the jumpshot and that's the bottom line. Our top 2 scorers are both primarily outside shooters (88% and 61% of their shots are jumpers) and as we've seen over the years if our jump shots are falling we'd beat anyone and if they're not we could lose to anyone.

[Buzzard]

We don't win or lose because of being soft or hard. We win or lose by the jumpshot and that's the bottom line. Our top 2 scorers are both primarily outside shooters (88% and 61% of their shots are jumpers) and as we've seen over the years if our jump shots are falling we'd beat anyone and if they're not we could lose to anyone.

Yep and add Al with his midrange game as well. We are almost like the Suns of five years ago without a Nash. Add Nash to our team, and some of those bad shooting games could be balanced out by Nash's own shooting and his obvious ability to set Al and Smoove up for some easy dunks.

[benhillboy]

As awful as the Hawks have been in the draft, I would hate to see either of our two winners of the past twenty years, Josh or Al, retire as non-Hawks. We already saw the Jet leave and help win a chip.

Edited March 19, 2012 by benhillboy

[Buzzard]

As awful as the Hawks have been in the draft, I would hate to see either of our two winners of the past twenty years, Josh or Al, retire as non-Hawks. We already saw the Jet leave and help win a chip.

Yes he helped Dirk win a title. Did we ever or do we now have a Dirk that Jet could have helped with? Lets put this into perspective, Jet was our star. He did not win a title until he got on a team that was talented enough and deep enough to make him their 6th man... Edited March 19, 2012 by Buzzard

[JTB]

I get what people are saying but I still believe that our 3 all-stars dont work well with each other...Im betting that as soon as horford returns the J smoove we see now will not be the same. instead we will see the Josh smith of the previous years and johnson who has been on fire lately is only on fire to me because Smith has stepped it up to a point where we are calling him a star and johnson is in the mist of trying to redeem his status...Im telling you guys as soon as horford comes back we are going to say "whats wrong with our hawks?"its not horford its smith's mindset that he can play like crap because he thinks horford can make up for it so take as many jumpers as he can and johnson is just making sure josh or al doesnt steal his "star of the team" title....I could care less of what others think..this team just dont fit well and somebody needs to go. AGAIN the players we have are good in jj,smith, horford but these 3 dont work. there's no flow to them as a unit against the competitive teams.

[Randy]

I wouldn't get rid of Al until we know for sure Josh is staying around after next year.

[phoostal]

Its a ridiculous poll, I didn't vote. How do you know what JJ and Horf could do? They have never had significant time together like josh and jj. This also makes the other questions null and void since Horf has never been in the position that Josh has been. Anyone claiming that they know how they would be guessing. For the record we could more than just a draft pick for Horf. He has been an all star for two years.

[JTB]

Its a ridiculous poll, I didn't vote. How do you know what JJ and Horf could do? They have never had significant time together like josh and jj. This also makes the other questions null and void since Horf has never been in the position that Josh has been. Anyone claiming that they know how they would be guessing. For the record we could more than just a draft pick for Horf. He has been an all star for two years.

The post I made said "even for a draft pick?" I know we can trade him for more than a draft pick maybe not a top 8 pick but of course he can be traded for more than a pick. an to be honest it is clear that horford cant impact the game like smith wheather he ever gets in this position or not so the questions i asked are indeed good questions....al is good but jj and smith dont fit with him, maybe one of the 2 does but all 3 just isnt good enough for me. one needs to go i'll leave it at that.

[phoostal]

Your entitled to your opinion on Al. But to say Al couldn't take over games like Josh is pure speculation on your part. Last year I remember a game against Chicago at home. Al took over the game and won it by doing what you claim that only Josh can do and not Al. Thats just one example I'm just thinking of off the top of my head. I'm not a team Al or Team Josh guy. I just want this team to win. Who is on the roster doesn't matter to me as long as we win.Yes it might be necessary to trade one of the three. I think I would prefer to get a better coach and ownership as well. Then see how the team would play or the trades we should make. If we did trade one of the three we better get a significant piece back. And No Woody wasn't a good coach, so we didn't go wrong by letting him go.

[Jody23]

It appears that one of the three wants to go already, so there's your answer. Honestly though, Josh has been Josh from what I've seen. The difference is he's getting a significant increase in shots per game. Bottom line, he's a really good player who the ASG is probably gonna let walk and it's a shame because he's out of ATL after next season. However, I don't think Horford and Smith fit well because their both 4s and when Horford gets an opportunity to go there full time, I think we'll see how really good he can be.

[MaceCase]

Yes he helped Dirk win a title. Did we ever or do we now have a Dirk that Jet could have helped with? Lets put this into perspective, Jet was our star. He did not win a title until he got on a team that was talented enough and deep enough to make him their 6th man...

Well this statement here is rather misleading. JET is no more a 6th man than Ginobili is. He plays starter minutes and has been their 2nd leading scorer for quite some time now. He's not Batman and is most definitely not a PG like we attempted to use him but he most definitely would have benefitted from a ball dominant scorer like Joe while serving as a far more reliable secondary option on both ends of the floor than we got out of Jamal.