C-Viv was just on NBA radio

[DrReality]

I wonder if he will psychologically be able to play without the fear of another injury

[DS17Fanboy]

That's a good argument if it weren't for the fact that outside of rebounding, Horford is pretty much right at his career averages. 

 

And I still would like to hear a single person debate the fact that our W-L record doesn't change much with or without Al. That's the true sign of whether or not someone is a game changer. 

 

Maybe I missed it but did you respond to the fact that his usage was easily the highest of his career last year? So obviously his PPG are going to increase, that's just logical for someone who's a very effective shooter. PPG is pretty much the worst stat you can use to prove a point about a player. 

Well if you look at the 29 games he played last year in the 1st year under coach Bud and Bud'd system, he got 18.6 PPG, a career best, while his rebounding per game declined sharply with that from 10.2 the previous season to 8.4. That might have something to do with the style of the play the hawks had since then, with allot more stretching the floor and passing the ball and the type of perimeter and forced turnovers type of defense being played more along the lines of the lebron Heat or Mavs to try and off-set the undersized roster.

 

And in that regard Horford has been great on defensive switches, which again is another factor that gets you less into defensive rebounding positions.

 

Rebounding on this Hawks team will never be a strong suit and demands more guard and wing rebounding.

[NBASupes]

Favorited for the future. 

[coachx]

It wouldn't surprise me if he's still only 70% recovered. But I'm willing to bet that his stats won't improve by more than 10% over the rest of the season even getting back to 100%.  Other than not getting winded as easily, which of course is a big deal, I believe this is pretty close to the best Al we're going to get going forward. 

I think as his wind and endurance return that we will see Al play with more energy and hustle. I'd like to see him running the floor more and playing with more energy / intensity in general. It sounds like that will come back.

Edited December 5, 2014 by coachx

[coachx]

couple points he made.

Al is only about 70 percent right now

and he is still having wind issues on court. could be awhile yet before he is 100%. he stated that Coach bud has zero concern over Al's play and that it was pretty much expected.

He also said the locker room is stunned over Dennis and his growth in maturity as well as his game. He stated that Jeffrey sat the 4th quarter of the Celtics game cause coach but just couldn't bring himself to the point to take Dennis out because he was playing so well

I'm really interested in how the Teague / Dennis situation works itself out over time.

 

Mack is a steady backup PG in his own right.

[Admin]

I think as his wind and endurance return that we will see Al play with more energy and hustle. I'd like to see him running the floor more and playing with more energy / intensity in general. It sounds like that will come back.

 

Some of that should come back. But I have to wonder how much he's losing by not being able to lift heavy weights now. He looks significantly deflated in the chest compared to previous years. That's got to affect his ability to bang in the post. 

[JETSET]

I think as his wind and endurance return that we will see Al play with more energy and hustle. I'd like to see him running the floor more and playing with more energy / intensity in general. It sounds like that will come back.

That is a big thing that has been missing so far.  Al used to beat his man down the court for an easy bucket in transition a couple of times per game.  Small things like this are what can bump his scoring totals up a few points and I don't see why he can't get back to doing this once he is 100%.

[Admin]

That is a big thing that has been missing so far.  Al used to beat his man down the court for an easy bucket in transition a couple of times per game.  Small things like this are what can bump his scoring totals up a few points and I don't see why he can't get back to doing this once he is 100%.

 

He could do that in the past more because he had a great passer on the team in Josh Smith who would look down the court and find him for those buckets and he'd hit him for alley oops sometimes too. As much improvement as Teague has made, he's not the type of guy to really excel in those areas. Once Dennis starts getting more PT and comfortable in the offense I can see those happening as he loves to throw lobs to his bigs. Assuming that the coaches haven't told him to avoid those. 

[IheartVolt]

He could do that in the past more because he had a great passer on the team in Josh Smith who would look down the court and find him for those buckets and he'd hit him for alley oops sometimes too. As much improvement as Teague has made, he's not the type of guy to really excel in those areas. Once Dennis starts getting more PT and comfortable in the offense I can see those happening as he loves to throw lobs to his bigs. Assuming that the coaches haven't told him to avoid those.

In all honesty with C-Vivs words and the Grant land article posted , it seems to me coach Bud handed out some tough love to Dennis. It also seems Dennis is taking it in stride! That's a little of Pop coming out in Buds style. Gotta love the guy

[Admin]

That and his experience playing for Germany this summer. There was no doubt he has elite talent, and the mention in this article about him having super powers he had to control was spot on and he was like a supercharged turnover machine.

[mrhonline]

Al's per possession stats during his 29 games last season were largely consistent with his career averages.

 

This year, his rebounding numbers are obviously down, but the biggest drop is in his free throw rate. Both could easily be attributed to not being fully recovered (mentally and physically) from injury.

 

The encouraging thing is that he's not keeping the team from winning, while playing at the team's weakest position.  He's still a decent shot-blocker, doesn't turn the ball over, passes well for a big man, scores efficiently, makes smart plays, etc.