ESPN ranks Horford in Top 20 in the NBA

[Guest]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9144675/#nbarank-player-ratings-16-20

[Ruckus]

I do too.

[Jody23]

Horford definitely is and should be recognized as one of the best players in the league. I wonder who makes up the top 15?

[Guest]

15. Dirk

14 .M. Gasol

13. Blake

12.Kyrie

11. D12

10. TD

9. Carmelo

8. Harden

That's as far as it goes.

Horford definitely is and should be recognized as one of the best players in the league. I wonder who makes up the top 15?

[Jody23]

15. Dirk14 .M. Gasol13. Blake12.Kyrie11. D1210. TD9. Carmelo8. Harden That's as far as it goes.

Thanks Jay. Interesting list.

[Guest]

Al was 25 last season (even with injuries)

Thanks Jay. Interesting list.

Thanks Jay. Interesting list.

[Nicholasp27]

Parker #7So lebron, wade, Durant, Kobe, Paul and who am I missing? I'm sure it's super obviousROY lillard didn't crack top 30

[Nicholasp27]

Oh yeah, Westbrook duhAl horford primed to get his second all-NBA this year???

[Admin]

Hard to argue against this as he's clearly among the 20 best players in the game both on and off the court.

[frankthetank966]

He deserves it. Been saying for years he would reach this level. I'm a huge fan of josh but it's time to move on and build around horford.

Edited April 10, 2013 by frankthetank966

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I'm mad that Joakim Noah at #19 is ranked ahead of Horford. If Noah is #19, then Horford is #16 or #17.

[ATLSmith]

I'm mad that Joakim Noah at #19 is ranked ahead of Horford. If Noah is #19, then Horford is #16 or #17.

I don't watch Noah enough to say for sure, but this does seem a bit off.Either way, Horf is in good company in the top 20.

[coachx]

I don't watch Noah enough to say for sure, but this does seem a bit off.Either way, Horf is in good company in the top 20.

I'm a big Horford fan but he needs to perform better against Noah when they are matched up against each other. It seems Noah has gotten the better of him in their last few head to head matchups.

[swolehawk2]

I'm a big Horford fan but he needs to perform better against Noah when they are matched up against each other. It seems Noah has gotten the better of him in their last few head to head matchups.

Actually, Horford usually gets the better of the match ups with Noah. It's obvious that Horford has a more complete game than Noah.

[Gray Mule]

So

We don't get to see the top players.

Ya gotta believe J Smoove is there somewhere, don't ya?

(Sarcasm)

[benhillboy]

I think Noah and Al are about a wash. Al is the more polished shooter, Noah is a tougher interior defender. Their outstanding rebounding, passing, and emotional leadership is even. I'd love to have either. It's surprising ESPN even knows who Al is. With some of the names around him and how much coverage they get compared to absolutely none that Al or the Hawks get, it's cool to see him get recognized this way. If they did this list on television I'd be much more impressed, and I'm sure he would be too after not making the All-Star team. Al is smart enough to know it means nothing though and won't let it go to his head. There's still some strength to be shown in his post game and a left hand to work on.

Edited April 10, 2013 by benhillboy

[AHF]

We were only one pick away from having both Noah and Horford in that draft class. I was praying that Chicago would pass Noah up at #10 when we were at #11.

[benhillboy]

I'd like to know where Josh and Al Jefferson ended up. Weren't Josh and Al both between 30-33 last year?Z-Bo at 29 seems a bit low to me. Not very engaged in defense, but his beautiful repetiore in the post while undersized and under-athletic always has been outstanding to me.Chandler at 24 seems a little high. Defensive, championship-caliber anchor for sure, but as limited as it gets offensively.D-Will at 17 seems a little high, and I honestly cant tell you why. It just always seems something is missing when I watch him.Dirk at 15 seems a little high. At 7 feet, he rarely ever finishes at the rim anymore and hasn't played much defense since The Finals.Griffin is pretty high at 13. No matter how explosive, he's still a complimentary player.I'll give Howard 11, I guess, even though I hate the guy. Rebounding and rim defense wins championships, and there's no one more dominant in those areas, but soley due to his physical attributes a la Shaq, not skill or hard work like a Vucevic, Love, or Noah. The rest of his game and intangibles are horrendous.

[coachx]

Actually, Horford usually gets the better of the match ups with Noah. It's obvious that Horford has a more complete game than Noah.

I agree that Horford has a more complete game then Noah.

Noah and Horford have faced each other twice this year. The 3rd game Noah did not play. I just remembered the Bulls blowing us out the last 2 games but forgot all about the 1st game Atlanta won where Horford played well.

http://www.nba.com/games/20121222/CHIATL/gameinfo.html

Hawks 92 / Bulls 75 on 12/22/13

Horford: 9 - 12 FG / 2 - 2 FTs / 20 pts / 10 rbs / 1 blk

Noah: 5 - 9 FGs / 0 - 0 Fts / 10 pts / 9 rbs / 1 blk / 6 TOs

Horford easily got the better in their 1st matchup this year.

http://www.nba.com/games/20130114/ATLCHI/gameinfo.html

Bulls 97 / Hawks 58 on 1/14/13

Horford: 3-10 FGs / 0 - 0 FTs / 6 points / 11 rebounds / 1 blocks

Noah: 2 - 11 FGs / 5-6 FTs / 11 points / 16 rebounds / 2 blocks

Horford's role is to be Atlanta's #1 or #2 offensive option. Noah does not play that same offensive role for Chicago. I'd say Noah got the better of Horford in the game above. Al was not aggressive on offense in that game....as is evident with zero FT attempts.

http://www.nba.com/games/20130202/CHIATL/gameinfo.html

Bulls 93 / Hawks 76 on 2/2/2013

Noah did not play

Horford 7-18 FGs / 0 - 0 Fts / 14 points / 12 rebounds / 3 blocks

Bulls blew us out without Noah. I remembered the loss but forgot Noah did not play.

If memory serves Horford got the better of Noah last season before he got injured as well.

[coachx]

We were only one pick away from having both Noah and Horford in that draft class. I was praying that Chicago would pass Noah up at #10 when we were at #11.

I think BK would have still taken a PG / Acie Law. It would be interesting to see who he would have selected has Chicago passed on Noah. AHF, that is why I'm rooting for the Hawks to lose. The difference in 1 or 2 draft slots could be the difference of having future allstar on the draft board or not.

After passing on PGs in the previous drafts BK was over anxious to right a wrong. Problem is he only made another wrong with the selection of Law.

I can't blame him b/c I loved Acie Law coming out of college. He was one of the most clutch players I have ever seen in NCAA basketball. In those days the Big 12 had Taxas A&M, Kansas, and Texas as top 10 programs. (Remember Texas had Kevin Durant and DJ Augustine while Kansas had NBA players like Julian Wright, Darrell Auther, Mario Chalmers back then). So those are 2 NBA PGs you could scout Law against and he normally got the better of them. Law would get his teamates involved early and then hit big shots in crunch time game after game while also being a very good size / speed physical specimen for a PG. He truely carried that Texas A&M team that year and got their coach the head coaching job at Kentucky.....to AHF's dissmay. I really thought Law was the 2nd coming of Chauncy Billups.

Acie Law is one draft evaluation that I missed on. That year I was scouting PGS like crazy b/c I knew we needed one in the draft. The last few years I've been doing the same thing for middle to late 1st round centers. However, I'm now glad we took John Jenkins over his Vandy teamate, Festus Ezeli. Kudos to Ferry there............even though Ezeli is giving some good minutes on a playoff team in the tough Western Conference.

Edited April 10, 2013 by coachx