Al Horford Has Been Disappointing

[ATLnightwing]

Can we all come to agreement that he is absolutely struggling in all aspects? His rebounding is so bad

[Sothron]

Uh no, we can't. Al is having a good season all around. He needs to shoot the ball more and be more aggressive but I think he's just hard wired to be such a team first guy that Horace Grant is his ceiling on offense.

[WakaFlocka]

Can we all come to agreement that he is absolutely struggling in all aspects? His rebounding is so bad

His rebounding has indeed been pretty dreadful besides those first few games of the season. Dissapointing, for sure and Al is my favorite player.

[Diesel]

THIS! AL has to really bogged down and get serious about developing a post game to himself. If it wasn't for the pick and roll, AL would have a hard time getting his shot off. The kid has to work and what to be great. You can't just show up with a NCAA Championship and think you'll automatically gain respect.

The thing is that Al never developed real offense. That's why he was always a third or fourth option on offense. Being in a purely pick and roll offense shows his ineffeciency on offense. Honestly, Sap is better at PNR because he can pick and pop and play the 2 man game if needed. Horf doesn't have that ability yet. I think he can learn it but right now, good defenses takes the ball out of Teague's hands and makes Horf score over a bigger defender. Horf is not Duncan. Defensively.. Horf is not Duncan. Many Hawks fans have been gassed on Horf because he was voted into an allstar game or two in years when there were injuries in the East. However, he still lacks a goto move. He still lacks the ability to create for himself. He's a third tier scorer... and we're talking about depending on him.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens next.

[dirtypuppet]

I am disappointed in the rebounding numbers, but hos offensive efficiency is great.

I did notice in the first 6-7 games he had at least 1 travel on an offensive possession where the scored bucket was taken away. I'm surprised his footwork isn't a lot better.

[willthepureshooter]

I am disappointed in the rebounding numbers, but hos offensive efficiency is great. I did notice in the first 6-7 games he had at least 1 travel on an offensive possession where the scored bucket was taken away. I'm surprised his footwork isn't a lot better.

Seems like he's spending his off-season away from the game. He's too much of a vet to have these problems with his game. He travels a lot and its becoming painful to watch. Hopefully, the coaches are communicating this with AL and he begins to work and develop moves in the post.

[WraithSentinel]

It is something Horford has struggle with his entire career it seem. He just goes through these rebounding slumps. He is giving us about what we expected on offense. Horford is better as a 2nd option. Hopefully we can get a #1 option this offseason.

[Admin]

Your expectations of Al Horford have been disappointing. Quit expecting him to be more than he is and be happy with what he actually is and does.

[nathan2331]

Why is it wrong to expect ANY player to play better when we lose. Nobody's demanding a trade, nor has much been said that's really out of line. We are voicing our concerns about Horford because he's supposed to be the leader of the team and when we don't play well, he's the first we look to.

[hawkman]

The issue is there are unreasonable expectations of players here. The Hawks have good complimentary players and that's it. None of these guys are THE guy to be honest. Ferry knew that and Bud knows it. That's probably why we have this rotating captain thing going on. Horf is doing just fine. Teague is doing just fine too. They are complimentary players forced to carry a team in a league dominated by superstars and they are holding their own and then some.

[Admin]

Why is it wrong to expect ANY player to play better when we lose. Nobody's demanding a trade, nor has much been said that's really out of line. We are voicing our concerns about Horford because he's supposed to be the leader of the team and when we don't play well, he's the first we look to.

Because you guys are expecting a guy who's never had a post game to all of a sudden have one. You're expecting him to be a top notch rebounder when he's never been more than a good one. Putting false expectations on him this far into his career and then being disappointed when he doesn't meet them is silly.

[ATLnightwing]

He averaged 10.2 rebounds last year. Right now he's averaging around 8 and declining. Especially with no Zaza at center this year, I think it's a cause for concern. Aside from rebounding, like I mentioned before, his poor free throw percentage and many turnovers are unlike him.

[MaceCase]

His FTs are right on par with last year though and the added turnovers should be expected considering that he's increased his role and usage. The rebounds are the only concern but some of that is due to him operating as more of a rim protector rather than cleaning up on the boards and the scheme seems to be to concede offensive rebounds perhaps in favor of transition D as not only he is well below his career norms in that regard.

[willthepureshooter]

Because you guys are expecting a guy who's never had a post game to all of a sudden have one. You're expecting him to be a top notch rebounder when he's never been more than a good one. Putting false expectations on him this far into his career and then being disappointed when he doesn't meet them is silly.

So he shouldn't work on his post game? There's a bunch contradictory here Dolf. As a leader and previous all-star he's responsible for improving his game because it makes him and his teammates better. What kind of message would that send to the younger players if they don't see AL working to improve his game after every practice, game, and season? It's surprising to see a low post player that has spent 7 years in the NBA without a post move at all. Hell, Smoove had an efficient post game! It's okay to be critical of the players on our team. We all have favorite Hawks but come on with the blind eye crap. Everyone notices his loss of focus and timid play.

[Sothron]

He averaged 10.2 rebounds last year. Right now he's averaging around 8 and declining. Especially with no Zaza at center this year, I think it's a cause for concern. Aside from rebounding, like I mentioned before, his poor free throw percentage and many turnovers are unlike him.

Er, lol, ok guy. The team is using Al to contest shots for the first time in his career which is why his blocks are up but his rebounds are down because he's pulled away from the basket.

[Sothron]

So he shouldn't work on his post game? There's a bunch contradictory here Dolf. As a leader and previous all-star he's responsible for improving his game because it makes him and his teammates better. What kind of message would that send to the younger players if they don't see AL working to improve his game after every practice, game, and season? It's surprising to see a low post player that has spent 7 years in the NBA without a post move at all. Hell, Smoove had an efficient post game! It's okay to be critical of the players on our team. We all have favorite Hawks but come on with the blind eye crap. Everyone notices his loss of focus and timid play.

I have to say this: have you not considered that maybe Al's post game is the best he CAN make it? That after seven years in the league who he is now is the PEAK of what he can be? The only thing at this point I think anyone can realistically criticize him over his bringing his free throw percentage back up to what it was before last season and this season.

Al's post game is what it is. He's not going to suddenly become Kevin freakin' McHale out there because fans think he's not practicing hard enough.

[Admin]

He averaged 10.2 rebounds last year. Right now he's averaging around 8 and declining. Especially with no Zaza at center this year, I think it's a cause for concern. Aside from rebounding, like I mentioned before, his poor free throw percentage and many turnovers are unlike him.

His minutes are down quite a bit and he's playing a lot more outside of the paint so that affects his raw numbers.

[Admin]

So he shouldn't work on his post game? There's a bunch contradictory here Dolf. As a leader and previous all-star he's responsible for improving his game because it makes him and his teammates better. What kind of message would that send to the younger players if they don't see AL working to improve his game after every practice, game, and season? It's surprising to see a low post player that has spent 7 years in the NBA without a post move at all. Hell, Smoove had an efficient post game! It's okay to be critical of the players on our team. We all have favorite Hawks but come on with the blind eye crap. Everyone notices his loss of focus and timid play.

I was going to respond with my opinions until I read that last line. Enjoy your haterade.

[willthepureshooter]

Lol. So I'm a hater for sharing my opinion on the obvious? Wow....

[Guest]

His minutes are down quite a bit and he's playing a lot more outside of the paint so that affects his raw numbers.

His per minute rebounding is down and are at career lows. His rebound percentage is also at career lows. I am ignoring his 11 game season two years ago and I'm also putting a disclaimer that it is still early.Al's general lack of rebounding could be due to him attempting to defend the paint more now that we don't have a shot blocker. He could be bailing on his rebounding responsibilities to try and defend the paint. He is at a career high for blocks per minute by a good margin, but it is not much more than "pretty good" compared to league average for bigs. I think we are just seeing that Al is not someone who can be both a great rebounder and a defensive presence in the paint. Shocking, huh? Even when he focuses on one of those areas he is not elite and now he appears to be trying to do both.Lack of effort could be an issue with Al. I look at free throw shooting as a general proxy for that. See my arguments with AHF for more details on that but Al is in the middle of a guaranteed contract that pays a lot and ever since he signed the extension his free throw percentage has been pathetic for someone with such a high jump shot fg%. We also have a quote from a Schröder article that claims Al is the first to leave practice. We also have Al coming off an injury to his boobs, I mean pectoral muscle. So it could be an injury issue. But if it was an injury issue, shouldn't we see his jump shot fg% decline as well?Hard to say, but Al is playing less minutes and has lower output per minute (and per available opportunities) in rebounding. Generally one thinks of those as hustle stats. So there is mounting evidence for the lack of hustle argument. But gosh darn it if it wasn't for this still being early in the year (so the differences may just be noise) and for his responsibilities on this team changing. Hard to say. Edited December 2, 2013 by hawksfanatic