Premium Member Jody23 Posted January 25, 2016 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 From Basketball Insiders: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-am-they-are-not-getting-traded/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks Like Howard, Al Horford will be an unrestricted free agent in July. Horford also becomes eligible for a salary starting at what could be north of $25 million per season, which becomes a tough decision for the Hawks. As things stand today the Hawks are the four seed in the East, but not nearly the dominant and cohesive team they were this time last year. Horford is posting reasonably strong numbers this season, but is off his career averages in a pretty significant way, posting 14.4 points and 7.5 rebounds so far in 2016; not exactly max-contract type numbers. Hawks sources found the notion of trading Horford laughable, pointing to how important he was to the team dynamic in Atlanta and that he’s a core guy in Mike Budenholzer’s system. There is a sense among NBA insiders that a hefty offer could steal Horford away from the Hawks, especially if the team continues to regress from their record setting form from last season. As things stand today, the Hawks have $52.717 million in 2016 salary cap commitments, which means they could have $38 million in useable cap space in July. Horford’s salary cap hold is $18 million, so the Hawks could have roughly $20 million in cap space to spend and then exceed the cap to retain Horford. The question facing the Hawks is do they want to pay market value for a long-term max level contract with Horford in July? As things stand today, it seems the Hawks are staying to course with Horford and believing they have the means to retain him in July – making him a name you can take off the board. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkmoor Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 LMAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathan2331 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Well if a team is foolish enough to pay Horford big time money, they can have him. I'd like to keep him on the team, but with the way he's playing there's no way I give him a max contract (and FWIW I think he'd get that money from some lottery team). Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EazyRoc Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Count me in the camp who will readily admit we'd be worse without him, but still not good enough with him. I think it's time to make a tough decision and let him walk. He's not going to be worth what he's going to get if he hits FA. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBASupes Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 I love the idea of keeping him. I would love the idea of getting a talented SF who could rebound extremely well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUhawksfan Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 If there is some behind the scenes agreement that Horford is willing to take a bargain contract to stay with this team then I'm fine with that. If someone is willing to spend $20million plus to get him, they can have him. Horford seems to be pretty pleased staying pat with where he is at currently as far as his game goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimp Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) A contract starting at 25 millon a year for a guy who's been dogging it , and has been getting outplayed by scrubs every other game? And he could tear another peck at any moment. No thanks. 18 + for Sap and 25 For Horford when we are the worst rebounding team in the nba. Yuck Edited January 25, 2016 by pimp 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Jody23 Posted January 25, 2016 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 33 minutes ago, NBASupes said: I love the idea of keeping him. I would love the idea of getting a talented SF who could rebound extremely well. The Hawks have been looking for a "SF who could rebound" for about 10 years now. I wonder why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Jody23 Posted January 25, 2016 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 29 minutes ago, AUhawksfan said: If there is some behind the scenes agreement that Horford is willing to take a bargain contract to stay with this team then I'm fine with that. If someone is willing to spend $20million plus to get him, they can have him. Horford seems to be pretty pleased staying pat with where he is at currently as far as his game goes. If he's got that kind of mentality as a leader on this team, then it's no wonder why the teams effort is so inconsistent. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBASupes Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 3 minutes ago, Jody23 said: The Hawks have been looking for a "SF who could rebound" for about 10 years now. I wonder why? We had one last year and one in Marvin. Even GR was one. We won 60 games with one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Jody23 Posted January 25, 2016 Author Premium Member Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 1 minute ago, NBASupes said: We had one last year and one in Marvin. Even GR was one. We won 60 games with one. And did any of that change the fact that Hawks were the epitome of struggle when it came to rebounding and especially when it mattered in the playoffs? No. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Just now, Jody23 said: And did any of that change the fact that Hawks were the epitome of struggle when it came to rebounding and especially when it mattered in the playoffs? No. The Rebounding isn't a SF issue, we all know that. Top rebounding SFs, Durant, LBJ, Melo, PG, Kawhi. We ain't getting those guys. Example, Ariza (4.6) is averaging the same as Thabo (4.6) and a little more than Baze (4.4) more minutes per game. Right in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainview1981 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 2 hours ago, Jody23 said: From Basketball Insiders: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-am-they-are-not-getting-traded/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks Like Howard, Al Horford will be an unrestricted free agent in July. Horford also becomes eligible for a salary starting at what could be north of $25 million per season, which becomes a tough decision for the Hawks. As things stand today the Hawks are the four seed in the East, but not nearly the dominant and cohesive team they were this time last year. Horford is posting reasonably strong numbers this season, but is off his career averages in a pretty significant way, posting 14.4 points and 7.5 rebounds so far in 2016; not exactly max-contract type numbers. Hawks sources found the notion of trading Horford laughable, pointing to how important he was to the team dynamic in Atlanta and that he’s a core guy in Mike Budenholzer’s system. There is a sense among NBA insiders that a hefty offer could steal Horford away from the Hawks, especially if the team continues to regress from their record setting form from last season. As things stand today, the Hawks have $52.717 million in 2016 salary cap commitments, which means they could have $38 million in useable cap space in July. Horford’s salary cap hold is $18 million, so the Hawks could have roughly $20 million in cap space to spend and then exceed the cap to retain Horford. The question facing the Hawks is do they want to pay market value for a long-term max level contract with Horford in July? As things stand today, it seems the Hawks are staying to course with Horford and believing they have the means to retain him in July – making him a name you can take off the board. This means that this team has a dark future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainview1981 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 59 minutes ago, NBASupes said: I love the idea of keeping him. I would love the idea of getting a talented SF who could rebound extremely well. Horford is almost done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plainview1981 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 We have poor rebounding guards and almost no rebounding off the bench. You can't have a shitload of guys like Muse, Splitter and Scott off the bench and expect to have good rebounding team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdizzle5 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 All I that got from that excerpt was "WLOC (Bud Mix)." If Horf gets a max, that kind of puts us back on that treadmill doesn't it? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopack10 Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Quote Hawks sources found the notion of trading Horford laughable, pointing to how important he was to the team dynamic in Atlanta and that he’s a core guy in Mike Budenholzer’s system. It is that type of mentality that is going to put us right back to where we were with the Joe Johnson contract. How can trading Horford be laughable? He's not the player he used to be and he's going to command a max contract. Why wouldn't the team at least be kicking the tires to see what they could get for him. Clearly we aren't winning titles with him. But as I said on another topic, go ahead, sign him to that max deal. But when we are talking about the same problems next season, only with $25M less in cap space for the next five years, it will only be the organization's fault. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUhawksfan Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 1 hour ago, gopack10 said: It is that type of mentality that is going to put us right back to where we were with the Joe Johnson contract. How can trading Horford be laughable? He's not the player he used to be and he's going to command a max contract. Why wouldn't the team at least be kicking the tires to see what they could get for him. Clearly we aren't winning titles with him. But as I said on another topic, go ahead, sign him to that max deal. But when we are talking about the same problems next season, only with $25M less in cap space for the next five years, it will only be the organization's fault. I hate to bring him up but I could totally picture Ferry being the "bad guy" and questioning why Horford should be a lock to stay. The fact that they find it laughable scares me into thinking we are going right back to the good ol' boy Hawks, who were just happy to put a competitive product on the floor. Don't rock the boat too much, we aren't a contender but we can make the playoffs. I thought were turning the corner after last season but reading this leaves a bad taste in my mouth about our future. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benhillboy Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 We're in a very similar situation as Memphis. They had a great niche player (Allen, Kyle) and an underrated, steadily-improving PG (Conley, Jeff). Sap and Z-Bo are very similar in spirit but of course on different sides of their peaks. By most accounts Gasol is a "better" player than Al. He got his max. How's that working out? I'm fine with not trading him. Bud won't try to install a guy mid-season with slim hopes of slithering into the Finals aided by injury to Toronto or Cleveland. I have to believe they won't even entertain 20+ a year for Al and allow him to walk, though. We're talking about a guy who's career compares to the aforementioned Gasol, Bill Cartwright, and Brad Miller with currently a 1% chance of being a Hall of Famer. You don't long-term max those guys when they're 30 years old, you wait until they're where David West is financially, mentally, and physically and pay them minimally to be a super-sub. Maxing him would be worse than Joe (50% chance at HOF BTW) and it's well known how ecstatic I was on that one. At least he didn't have any medical red flags and his career averages were holding steady or climbing with the Top SGs. I'm looking forward to a quiet deadline outside of Cleveland, like it always is. Most of these owners could care less about winning this year. They're looking to maximize profits, managing this new upcoming cap, and readying their pitch to KD. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Let Horford walk or do a sign and trade. Trade every veteran except for Millsap and do what Portland did last offseason. Try to avoid the playoffs next season but if not, enter them as a low seed and play spoiler. I've actually read rumors that they are going to be balk-ish at signing Horford to a 20+ million dollar deal, which pretty much means they're strongly considering pulling a Portland and letting their franchise player go and rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now