Horford for Blake Griffin - ESPN Trade Idea

[Vol4ever]

http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/14691758/atlanta-hawks-top-trade-targets-assets-nba

That would be interesting.   He does rebound.

[bird_dirt]

Insider
Trade targets: Al Horford for Blake Griffin?

Al Horford would give the Clippers more spacing and better defense. 

Bradford Doolittle
ESPN Staff Writer

Atlanta Hawks

Record: 28-22
4th place in East

Status: Buyers

The Atlanta Hawks have taken an inevitable step back from the past season's 60-win bonanza. Although mired in a midseason slump, the Hawks can still hope to take advantage of any Cleveland stumble in the East playoff bracket. With franchise stalwart Al Horford in the final year of his contract, the time for Atlanta to make a push is now.

 

Potential trade targets
Blake Griffin
There's no real sign that the Clippers want to unload Griffin, despite his off-the-court foibles. If they do, a package headlined by Horford creates a fascinating scenario.

Griffin would give the Hawks a star player and the ability to create some unorthodox lineups. They could play Paul Millsap at all three frontcourt positions, in effect turning him into their Draymond Green.

Horford would fill in nicely for Griffin on the win-now Clippers, where he would offer more floor spacing and better defense.

EDITOR'S PICKS
Danilo Gallinari
Gallinari is the perfect player for the Hawks. Crafting a realistic scenario that gets him from Denver to Atlanta is another story.

Rudy Gay 
Gay is another player who has been popular on the rumor mill. It's hard to say what makes sense from the Kings' perspective -- it'd be quite a package -- but Gay is the kind of scoring forward with size who could boost the Atlanta offense, though his lack of 3-point shooting can't thrill the Hawks.

Luol Deng 
Through no fault of his own, there is baggage concerning Deng as it pertains to the Hawks. Nevertheless, if they want a two-way player and more size at the 3, this could be the time to nab him from Miami.

Most trade value

1. Al Horford
Horford's value is limited a bit by his impending free agency. Still, he'd be a heck of a rent-a-player for a team looking to get over the top, and a great player to keep as well. The problem is the Hawks want to mount a charge of their own and would demand a significant piece in return.

2. Paul Millsap
The Hawks' lone All-Star plays both ends of the floor and plays inside and out. He's a championship-level player who, if moved, would be the centerpiece of a blockbuster transaction.

3. Jeff Teague
Teague's name has been hot on the rumor mill of late. He fits well with a win-now team and has a bargain contract. The Hawks have a ready-made replacement for Teague in Dennis Schröder, who has the best raw plus-minus on the Atlanta roster and a markedly higher real plus-minus (plus-0.95) than Teague (minus-1.77).

4. Dennis Schröder
If the Hawks want to cash in on their point guard depth -- as ESPN's Zach Lowe wrote, Atlanta is sold on Schröder as a team leader -- they wouldn't have a hard time finding a taker for a player so young, talented and demonstrably productive.

5. Kyle Korver
Korver hasn't been as sharp as he was in his career season last year, but teams still have to game plan for him. Although his percentages are down, his raw plus-minus leads the Atlanta starters. In a league that values shooting more than ever, Korver and his bargain-basement deal would be easy to move in an Atlanta shake-up.

6. Thabo Sefolosha/Kent Bazemore
Sefolosha and Bazemore split the small forward position, and the quasi-platoon forces Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer to choose between offense and defense in a way he never had to with DeMarre Carroll. Bazemore has Plastic Man arms but is still undersized defensively at the 3, while Sefolosha doesn't space the floor. He's hitting around 14 percent on above-the-break 3s. Both are solid players, but if Atlanta wants to turn over a position, this is the obvious choice.

Most valuable draft pick

2017 first-rounder
It seems unlikely the Hawks will land in the 2016 lottery, but if Horford leaves and an Atlanta shake-up falls flat, the 2017 pick might look pretty attractive.

Player most likely to be traded

Jeff Teague
There's more than your usual amount of speculative smoke surrounding Teague's name. Schröder is ready to replace Teague, and if the Hawks want to escape their good-but-not-great level, it'll take a bold move.

[ATLHawks3]

Speculation. I need facts.

[JTB]

Yeah brought this up about a week ago...Blake would instantly fix a ton of issues. He's a way better scorer than Al on every part of the offense game except for the mid range shot but he's much improved in that area to a point where opponents have to respect him. 

Defensively however he's terrible at protecting the goal and I will definitely say al is better but neither is spectacular.

 

A two punch combo of Sap and Blake on offense would fix those long droughts Atlanta seems to have nearly every game offensively. I personally would take Blake and try to build  around between him and Sap. What most fans will enjoy about Blake is his incredible dunking but I'm more impressed that he has developed a fantastic low post offense game! It may not be pretty but understand that Blake can drop buckets! And we haven't had a player that can just flat out score since nique.

 

 

[Duff_Man]

That topic title is extremely misleading.  The click-bait nature of the internet is just spreading like crazy, and it's sad.

[NBASupes]

Using Blake Griffin on defense as if he's Green.  Lol dead. Y'all do realize we have the most efficient defense in the NBA over the last month in Jan 1st

[Duff_Man]

Just now, NBASupes said:

Using Blake Griffin on defense as if he's Green.  Lol dead. Y'all do realize we have the most efficient defense in the NBA over the last month in Jan 1st

Did you even read the article or skim it?

[JTB]

5 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Using Blake Griffin on defense as if he's Green.  Lol dead. Y'all do realize we have the most efficient defense in the NBA over the last month in Jan 1st

That's the bad part about trying to play a warriors like small ball offense with Blake.

Hands down we know he would actually probably be even more dominating offensively in a system like that (it's really damn near a gurantee) but defense would be horrendous! 

For all the points Blake would bring and believe me a small ball lineup with Sap would be great offensively...but man defense is going to drop way down. We would be the East PHX possibly!

 

Unless Blake can improve his defensive game by a wide margin.

Edited February 3, 2016 by JTB

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, JTB said:

That's the bad part about trying to play a warriors like small ball offense with Blake.

Hands down we know he would actually probably be even more dominating offensively in a system like that (it's really damn near a gurantee) but defense would be horrendous! 

For all the points Blake would bring and believe me a small ball lineup with Sap would be great offensively...but man defense is going to drop way down. We would the East Phx!

 

Unless Blake can improve his defensive game by a wide margin.

Blake would have to develop more length,  lateral quickness and defensive instinct which is next to impossible 

[JTB]

5 minutes ago, Duff_Man said:

Did you even read the article or skim it?

Well that is basically how the Hawks would use Blake. Atleast this season anyways if they were to trade for him.

we would run a small ball lineup of Sap at Pf and Blake at C.

The offense would improve but like nbasupe is saying the defense is going to suffer due to Blake not being on the level of Draymond Green defensively 

[JTB]

3 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Blake would have to develop more length,  lateral quickness and defensive instinct which is next to impossible 

I can't argue with you here! That's why this trade is a win-lose trade! But we need a big time scorer and this is one of the ways we could get one, I just wish Blake was atleast average on defense around the goal.

But I doubt the clippers move Blake anyways.

[Guest]

Al to LAC helps them a ton.  

Griffin is good for tons of dunks and higlights and more seats in Philips.  Fringe fans can come back to the Highlight Factory to see the Hawks STAR!!!

I just don't see the wins we'll get with Griffin.

[AHF]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Al to LAC helps them a ton.  

Griffin is good for tons of dunks and higlights and more seats in Philips.  Fringe fans can come back to the Highlight Factory to see the Hawks STAR!!!

I just don't see the wins we'll get with Griffin.

Agreed.  If you do this, it is because you think Griffin is young enough to be a foundational piece moving forward - not because you plan on winning more now.

[hylndr11]

Al just said this is his team - to AJC addressing trade rumors - the team has not approached him regarding a trade or anything liek that. 

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, Duff_Man said:

That topic title is extremely misleading.  The click-bait nature of the internet is just spreading like crazy, and it's sad.

Yeah, the topic title got me somewhat excited for a minute.

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Using Blake Griffin on defense as if he's Green.  Lol dead. Y'all do realize we have the most efficient defense in the NBA over the last month in Jan 1st

And they still can't win low scoring games that are close. It's not like the Hawks are scoring and holding other teams down scoring wise. The Hawks have been involved in a lot of down right shitty games as of late. Honestly, I think the Hawks have played so terrible that other teams have played down to their level as of late. I surely wouldn't call the Hawks defense great. Or even really good.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Hotlanta1981

[Plainview1981]

1 hour ago, JTB said:

That's the bad part about trying to play a warriors like small ball offense with Blake.

Hands down we know he would actually probably be even more dominating offensively in a system like that (it's really damn near a gurantee) but defense would be horrendous! 

For all the points Blake would bring and believe me a small ball lineup with Sap would be great offensively...but man defense is going to drop way down. We would be the East PHX possibly!

 

Unless Blake can improve his defensive game by a wide margin.

The Hawks give up about 100 PPG. I don't know where people get this idea that Horford is a good defensive player. Most decent scoring bigs can score on him almost at will.

[JTB]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Al to LAC helps them a ton.  

Griffin is good for tons of dunks and higlights and more seats in Philips.  Fringe fans can come back to the Highlight Factory to see the Hawks STAR!!!

I just don't see the wins we'll get with Griffin.

I've never understood that on the squawk. 

We seem to down play elite scorers whenever they are mentioned. We did it with Amare Stoudamire with rumors surrounding around Josh Smith.

I think hawk fans want the all out two way player and it's only a hand full of those guys and they are never available. So we overlook the IMPACT players.

Horford is a better overall player than Griffin since horford is good on both sides of the court but Griffins offensive ability far outweighs Horfords and he's been depended on to close out games and win games for his team. I believe that though Griffin isn't necessarily a complete player like many hawk fans view horford , Griffins IMPACTS the game more than horford can.

 

Take CP3 in his prime vs Curry today who's in his prime. CP3 is the better overall PG but Curry is a lot more impactful 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, JTB said:

I've never understood that on the squawk. 

We seem to down play elite scorers whenever they are mentioned. We did it with Amare Stoudamire with rumors surrounding around Josh Smith.

I think hawk fans want the all out two way player and it's only a hand full of those guys and they are never available. So we overlook the IMPACT players.

Horford is a better overall player than Griffin since horford is good on both sides of the court but Griffins offensive ability far outweighs Horfords and he's been depended on to close out games and win games for his team. I believe that though Griffin isn't necessarily a complete player like many hawk fans view horford , Griffins IMPACTS the game more than horford can.

 

Take CP3 in his prime vs Curry today who's in his prime. CP3 is the better overall PG but Curry is a lot more impactful 

I'm not downplaying his skill I just don't see wins and a championship having him play Center.

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'm not downplaying his skill I just don't see wins and a championship having him play Center.

and they play the same position.  So why do the Clippers think it'll make them better?  

Still having a big time offensive weapon like Griffin is enticing and maybe it gets another star interested.