What really bothers me about the Horford injury

[GameTime]

Honesty I am scared of Horford banging with any Forwards or Centers right now. Torn pecs are no joke.

[MrMeltdown]

Noone wants to discuss the part about trading Al now for value. That is the part I agree most about. I am starting to think this is going to happen to him way too often for the rest of his career.

[Guest]

What guys like Dolfan, atlhawks3 and HawksFanatić don't understand is how blessed we are to have Al. This mediocre team will see greatly the effects of Al and this could have been avoided FERRY.

Really? This freak injury could have been avoided because of Horford's position? That's silly. Smh

[LamarHampton]

Really? This freak injury could have been avoided because of Horford's position? That's silly. Smh

Hey now, I'm sure everyone who said that was a licensed medical doctor with specialties in this sort of thing. [/sarcasm]

[MaceCase]

I love it. A guy goes down with a second pec injury and it becomes irrefutable evidence that it's the position.....not the pecs themselves. Never mind that there is an overwhelming number of guys playing "out of position" yet only two guys total have suffered pectoral tears. Naw, not hard at all to draw a correlation from that.

[rd79]

Blair is smaller, but he has 20 lbs more. I think it's not only about height, it's about strength and that's where al isn't comparable to Blair. Additionally not everybody has the body to get muscles and strength at will...

[tonegully]

I blame the strength and conditioning coach for this pec tear

[Guest]

I blame Al for trying to be a stud in his freshman year of high school and doing bench presses to gain strength. I mean if he would have avoided chest exercises (flat bench, incline bench, decline,etc.) his pecs wouldn't have been in this situation now. I think we should abandon the weight room altogether. The nba is much more interesting to watch with guys like Micheal Williams, Manute Bol, and Danny(u ruined the hawks in my childhood years) Manning. I mean, once you go skinny you never go back, right?

[DJlaysitup]

Al needs to strengthen his upper body to handle the banging

Actually, I tend to think AL lacks the mid-to-lower body strength/thickness and has to make up for that with upper body strength. Look at a guy like Ivan. Nobody worried about him paying center at 6'-7" strength-wise...

Even at PF AL doesn't have a really imposing body. Anyway...sorry for AL....bummer.

I can't imagine he will want to battle back from another torn pec just to do this drill over again. I would certainly bet that we have seen the last of AL Horford as our starting Center. So whatever everybody thinks about why this happened again, the Hawks are likely gonna need a different center not only for the rest of this year - but for the future.

[Guest]

Even at PF AL doesn't have a really imposing body. Anyway...sorry for AL....bummer.

Please tell me ur kidding?

[DJlaysitup]

No - not kidding at all. I'm not talking about skill level or athleticism....I'm talking about AL's physicality versus other PFs around the league. He doesn't stand out in that comparison as a "bruiser".

http://www.ranker.com/list/best-nba-power-forwards-2013-14/ranker-nba

Edited December 28, 2013 by DJlaysitup

[tonegully]

I agree AL needs to hit the weights. He is not physically imposing.

[AHF]

I don't feel any need to bash Horford and don't see any reason to connect his pec injury with playing center. The play he got hurt on was certainly not a hard contact play - he could have gotten an elbow like that as easily at SG as at C.

[nathan2331]

I don't feel any need to bash Horford and don't see any reason to connect his pec injury with playing center.  The play he got hurt on was certainly not a hard contact play - he could have gotten an elbow like that as easily at SG as at C.

I don't think the incident in itself is being attributed to playing center but rather an extended playing time out of position is what made him susceptible to that injury.I don't know anything about pec injuries let alone any injury in general, but I would think playing in a physical position would do this type of thing to him.

[atlbraves93]

I don't think the incident in itself is being attributed to playing center but rather an extended playing time out of position is what made him susceptible to that injury.I don't know anything about pec injuries let alone any injury in general, but I would think playing in a physical position would do this type of thing to him.

I don't buy it, because the injury wasn't a cumulative thing, it was a sudden thing. It's not like playing center wore down his pec until it finally gave out, he tore his pec as a result of a single play, which could have occurred if he was playing at any position.

[nathan2331]

 I don't buy it, because the injury wasn't a cumulative thing, it was a sudden thing. It's not like playing center wore down his pec until it finally gave out, he tore his pec as a result of a single play, which could have occurred if he was playing at any position.

I see what your saying. Plus considering pec injuries are uncommon, it's more likely Al susceptible to those injuries. Not anyone's fault, just the way it is. Like I said though, I don't know anything about injuries so my opinion isn't valid, just my train of thought.

[AHF]

If the pec injury was connected with playing against centers by virtue of centers being taller and stronger players, I would think that players who bang in the post would get them most frequently. It isn't like Horford is in any way unique or particularly distinctive in playing out of position like he is. Heck, Spud Webb was more physically undersized at PG than Horford is at C. My worry isn't about him playing center in the future, it is about Horford being prone to incur this injury again after he returns regardless of his position.

[Guest]

So many players have been playing undersized for so many years and haven't torn one pec let alone both. Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Charles Barkley (considered undersized), JJ Hickson (Portland last season) and my fave Ben Wallace!

It's a freak injury - it's like a non contact injury to the knee. He was reaching for the ball, arm extended - wasn't hit or pulled.

[hawkman]

^^^^ +1000 to this.

[Diesel]

So many players have been playing undersized for so many years and haven't torn one pec let alone both. Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Charles Barkley (considered undersized), JJ Hickson (Portland last season) and my fave Ben Wallace!

It's a freak injury - it's like a non contact injury to the knee. He was reaching for the ball, arm extended - wasn't hit or pulled.

You're right, it's a freak injury. Only two NBA players have had this injury... Horf and Kwame Brown. Odd right. Two undersized Bigs. The problem is rebounding and fighting for positions and banging at the same time. Maybe Horf needs to learn how to use his butt to create rebounding space. So that he wouldn't get hit so much while his arms are extended... or maybe he's just out of position. Either way, bad biomechanics + continual punishment by things like elbows = torn pectoral muscle. Get Horf a rebounders and put him high post and this is less likely to happen.