7 IMPRESSIVE Stats From Al Horford's Season

[JTB]

7 IMPRESSIVE Stats From Al Horford's Season

 

1)82 games

Horford played in all 82 regular-season games and was the only Hawk to do so. In total, just 18 NBA players played 82 games in 2015-16, and Horford was one of only six players to start all 82.

2) Rim protectio 

Like Paul Millsap, Horford embraced the nuances of the verticality rule and took protecting the rim to new heights. But even though verticality typically emphasizes a blockade of the restricted area over putting a hand on the ball, Horford still got plenty of blocks. 

For the first time in his career, the 29-year-old broke the 100-block plateau in a season. In fact, he blasted past it with a total of 122 blocks.

3) Accuracy near the rim 

Horford converted on 55.7 percent of his two-point attempts on the season. As good as he was on midrange shots, he was even better at the rim.

Of the players who took three or more shots per game within 5 feet of the rim, Horford was the second-most accurate shooter in the NBA after DeAndre Jordan. Horford made an incredible 72.3 percent of his attempts from that distance.

4) Precision passing

Among NBA centers, Horford ranked fifth in assists (3.2 per game). 

Even more impressively, he was racking up those helpers without making a lot of miscues. Among centers, he had the best assist-to-turnover ratio by a substantial margin. 

5) Adding a new weapon

From the outset of the preseason, it was clear that Horford had a new weapon at his disposal: the above-the-break three-point shot. Many of the pick-and-pop midrange shots that Horford took in prior seasons morphed into pick-and-pop threes this season.

Prior to this season, Horford had never made more than 11 threes in a season. For 2015-16, he made 88 threes and converted them at a tidy 34.4 percent clip.

6) A rock for the starters, a rock for the bench

Head Coach Mike Budenholzer routinely made Horford the first of the team's starters to leave the game. As a result, he could be substituted back in earlier so that his talents were shared with both the starting unit and the reserves. Horford did fantastic work with both.

The Hawks' lineup with the greatest total point differential in 2015-16 was Horford plus the other four usual starters: Kent Bazemore, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, and Millsap. They outscored opponents by 106 points over the course of the season.

The lineup with the second-greatest total point differential was Horford with four bench players: Tim Hardaway Jr., Mike Scott, Dennis Schröder and Thabo Sefolosha. They outscored opponents by a total of 59 points.

7) All-Star all over again

For the second consecutive season and fourth overall, Horford was named to the NBA's All-Star team.

via nba.com (I saw it posted on Facebook however and thought I should share)

 

 

Pretty much sums up why he's getting the max contract no doubt. Hopefully he helps us out a bit and don't take the full max he can get. This doesn't mean I don't want to see the Hawks go after Howard still but I do see why bud loves Big Al...he just need to limit the 3s next season and crash the boards harder. 2 things he's fully capable of...it's not like he's a dumb player.

[NBASupes]

The biggest is he's a favorite to get all NBA 2nd team as a center.

[macdaddy]

Good stuff!   I know one stat doesn't tell the whole story but for the second best lineup in point differential we sure didn't see it very often:

Quote

The lineup with the second-greatest total point differential was Horford with four bench players: Tim Hardaway Jr., Mike Scott, Dennis Schröder and Thabo Sefolosha. They outscored opponents by a total of 59 points.

 

[turnermx]

I would like to see what can happen if Splitter comes back 100% now that we know when he played he was injured and probably led to how he missed part of the season

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TomSelleck]

On 5/23/2016 at 0:53 PM, JTB said:

I do see why bud loves Big Al...he just need to limit the 3s next season and crash the boards harder. 2 things he's fully capable of...it's not like he's a dumb player.

Unfortunately, that seems to be a thing of the past. He just posted the third worst rebounding numbers of his career the year after posting the second worst. There is a definite trend going down. 

[AHF]

5 minutes ago, TomSelleck said:

Unfortunately, that seems to be a thing of the past. He just posted the third worst rebounding numbers of his career the year after posting the second worst. There is a definite trend going down. 

I think the numbers are even worse than that.  Last year was his career low in TRB% and, excluding his 11 game injury season, his career low in DRB%, ORB%, TRB/36, DRB/36, and ORB/36.  Excluding that 11 game "season", the 2014-15 was his next worst season in every one of those categories as well.

Terrible trend - particularly on the defensive boards.

[willthepureshooter]

Really??? They should've included something like, "the only center in the NBA getting out-rebounded by guards." Very fitting.

[Thomas]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

I think the numbers are even worse than that.  Last year was his career low in TRB% and, excluding his 11 game injury season, his career low in DRB%, ORB%, TRB/36, DRB/36, and ORB/36.  Excluding that 11 game "season", the 2014-15 was his next worst season in every one of those categories as well.

Terrible trend - particularly on the defensive boards.

A not so positive similarity of Al acting like a SG was when Josh always thought he was the one and only Magic on a fast break. Al might not present  as big a set of  problems as Josh consistently caused but we are not talking about a 15 million a year for three years offer either. Wonder if the owners truly see it  the same as Bud does. Koonin's recent comments make me wonder just a bit. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

A not so positive similarity of Al acting like a SG was when Josh always thought he was the one and only Magic on a fast break. Al might not present  as big a set of  problems as Josh consistently caused but we are not talking about a 15 million a year for three years offer either. Wonder if the owners truly see it  the same as Bud does. Koonin's recent comments make me wonder just a bit. 

I don't like Al's rebounding this year at all but he does a ton of other things right and fits the team structure that Bud wants very well.  I don't see the Josh comparison as being a good one because Josh was self-destructive in showcasing his weaknesses and it hurt the team.

[Thomas]

6 minutes ago, AHF said:

I don't like Al's rebounding this year at all but he does a ton of other things right and fits the team structure that Bud wants very well.  I don't see the Josh comparison as being a good one because Josh was self-destructive in showcasing his weaknesses and it hurt the team.

Yeah an over reaction of some magnitude by me. I certainly don't see Al hitting the downward spiral Josh has seen. Don't think selfish will ever be used in the same sentence as Al. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

Yeah an over reaction of some magnitude by me. I certainly don't see Al hitting the downward spiral Josh has seen. Don't think selfish will ever be used in the same sentence as Al. 

It will be when he gets his knew contract.  Some squawk backlash will be inevitable and you'll hear the notion that he is all about the dolla dolla bill.

[NBASupes]

13 minutes ago, AHF said:

It will be when he gets his knew contract.  Some squawk backlash will be inevitable and you'll hear the notion that he is all about the dolla dolla bill.

Some will blame Al, at the end of the day, the Squawk got tendency to blame everyone for our failures but it's not easy to win in the NBA, hell, it's not easy to lose either.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Horford needs to take more 3s.  

He needs to go the route of Chris Bosh and Kevin Love, and take more 3s.  

Specifically, he should absorb about 50% of the 3 point shots that Paul Millsap takes.  That would put Horford near the 375 three point attempt mark ( close to 4.5 threes per game )

( FYI - Millsap only shot 32% reg season and 24% playoffs from 3 point range )

One of the things that bugged me this season, was the green light everyone had to shoot 3s.  

( 6 Hawks took 200+ threes, while 3 more took 100+ threes )

And while people complained when Horford shot and missed from 3, it was actually guys like Thabo, Dennis, and Millsap who would jack up untimely ( but open ) 3s, and bricked them.

Horford shot 34% reg season and 39% playoffs from 3.  He has a very legit shot to improve to a 38% three point shooter, much like how Mike Scott improved from a 34% shooter last year, to a 39% shooter this year.

If Horford signs a big deal and stays in Atlanta, I want him to take on as much of the offensive load as he can.  Post up more.  Shoot more 3s. Do not look for an aging Kyle to bail the team out from a shooting standpoint.  

HE needs to bail the team out.

 

[Jody23]

Hawks fans won't only be upset when the Hawks give Al the five year max.  They'll be upset when they see his play next season while looking at that contract.