Where does Horford play?

[coachx]

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At best, you've cut Childress' minutes considerably, and have nearly eliminated Shelden's.

Just a thought - would you trade Shelden/Claxton -for- Andre Miller/Randolph?

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I did cut Chill's minutes some but when Smith, JJ, & Marvin are healthy, 25 minutes (more then 1/2 the game) is all he gets. Of course if he out plays Marvin he gets some more of Marvin's minutes. It is really up to Chills to earn his minutes when the roster is fully healthy. He averaged more MPG, last year, then what I projected, this year, due to JJ and Marvin being injured. Even Smith missed a game or two. So most those injury minutes went to Chills with a few going to Salim.

Sheldon does look a little redundant at PF with Hoford on the team but you need some insurance incase of injury & I am penciling Hoford down moe as a C then a PF. (Sheldon is no more redundant at PF then Roy would have been at SG with JJ there.)

Granted if Sheldon / Speedy gets us Andre Miller I would pull the trigger. Miller would be a great tutor for Law or Crittendon at #11. I think a vet like Miller at PG gets us to .500 next year.

[oiatlhawksfan]

I think he can play center, but my question is can he defend the center position, he seemed to have his hands full, defending Greg Oden, in that championship game.

[leftwich]

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Still though, IMO, he is a slightly more refined version of Shelden and prob cannot play C.

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I could not disagree more with the comparisons between Horford and Shelden. The only reason these two are compared is because both are/were considered NBA ready prospects.

However, they are completely different players. Shelden can't move like Horford can at all, and you can look at the posted Horford video for proof of this. Shelden was never involved in any fast breaks at Duke, whereas you'll see Horford handling the ball on the break. Horford moves a lot better than Shelden, as Shelden is a stiffer player. Where Shelden relies on a drop step, Horford can drop step as well as jump stop in the post.

There are some big differences between these two players, and Shelden's lackluster rookie campaign shouldn't downgrade Horford's draft status from a Hawks standpoint.

Barring a trade, the only real options at 3 are Conley, Horford, and Noah. These are the only three players that we can't get at 11 that will improve the team next season. I can't believe there are actually people lobbying for Brandon Wright considering a year from now these same people will want BK's head for it ("I can't believe he passed on yet another PG for a long forward with upside").

[pimp]

Id like to see how Zaza would defend Oden

[coachx]

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I think he can play center, but my question is can he defend the center position, he seemed to have his hands full, defending Greg Oden, in that championship game.

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Who wouldn't have their hands full with Oden? I don't think Za Za could have done any better. ODen has a left and right handed hook that is unstoppable by any one.

I believe the NCAA advised the refs to let Oden play and not let him get in early foul trouble like he did in basically every other game. It was in the best intrest of the NCAA, Final 4, making a competitive game, & TV ratings.

[TexasPete]

Your right about the shelden comps...Horford is just better all around. I'm still shocked our GM took SW at 5.

It is the primary reason I'm worried about him taking Wright. I don't think the GM has a damn clue.

Horford is even a pretty good open court ball handler for his size. I think he can be an Elton Brand with a little more height.

Either Conley or Horford.

[pound4pound]

Al Jefferson - 6-10 256 lbs

Emaka Okafur - 6-10 252 lbs

Chris Bosh - 6-10 230 lbs

The brightest Young Bigs in the East are roughly Horford's size. Maybe Sheldon at 4, and Horford at 5 could be our Daniels and Davis when Josh is on the bench. I still like MCJ but that shot seams to be fading under the bright lights of the pre-draft camp.

[BusBoyIsBack]

The key thing is whether Horford is 6'10 or not. If he's not it's not worth it because it's ok to be 2 inches shorter, but when it's down to 3, might as well pass.

If he's 6'10 he could be our poor man's Dwight Howard.

He's certainly got the strength that Howard had coming into the league.

All he needs is to gain about 15-20 pounds like Dwight did and he could be a beast.

[DrReality]

NBA Pre-Draft rankings: Centers

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Jeff Goodman / FOXSports.com

Posted: 4 hours ago

With the June 28 NBA Draft less than one month away, we're running through each position. We've gone through everything else. Now it's time to wrap things up with the top centers — led by, you guessed it, none other than Greg Oden.

1) Greg Oden, 7-0, 250, Fr., Ohio State — It's a foregone conclusion that Oden ends up in Portland. It's also a foregone conclusion that he becomes an NBA All-Star center in the near future because of his dominance on the defensive end and developing offensive game.

2) Spencer Hawes, 7-0, 245, Fr., Washington — Hawes has been compared to a young Kevin McHale. While he's not quite as effective in the low-post, Hawes is tremendously skilled and is able to step out and make shots. He'll need to improve his body and athleticism.

3) Sean Williams, 6-10, 230, Jr., Boston College — He has some baggage, but is a big-time athlete and would do extremely well in an up-tempo system. His offensive game isn't nearly as bad as some think.

4) Ante Tomic, 7-1, 230, Croatia — Tomic is a skilled big man who can score in the paint and also make shots facing the basket. Quality passer and handles the ball well. However, he'll need to add strength and become a better defensive player to impact the NBA game.

5) DeVon Hardin, 6-11, 235, Jr., California — If not for a foot injury that limited Hardin to a dozen games, he'd be a potential lottery pick. He's a terrific athlete who has nice size and runs the court extremely well. If he remains in the draft, he could end up going higher than people think.

6) Aaron Gray, 7-1, 270, Sr., Pittsburgh — Has made dramatic improvement since arriving at Pittsburgh. Not overly athletic and will need to go to the right fit to be successful in the NBA.

7) Marc Gasol, 7-0, 260, Spain — Brother of Grizzlies standout Pau Gasol. Nice size and strength, but not very athletic and doesn't move well.

[BusBoyIsBack]

Going by the logic of people on these boards, Aaron Gray is a better pick than Horford or Wright because he's listed as a C.

[Yeti]

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Going by the logic of people on these boards, Aaron Gray is a better pick than Horford or Wright because he's listed as a C.

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Gray sucks. So does baby Gasol. - All that counts is how much the team is improved by adding each of these players. For me Horford just duplicates what Smoove and Shelden can do. I think Hawes or Yi might add something new - I don't know the other guys (but how would the Croatian work with ZaZa? would there be war?).

[SmooveTheFuture]

The same people that are saying Horford can play Center are the same ones last year saying Shelden could play Center. How did that end up working out by the way to me Horford = Shelden Williams. Horford has never played Center in his career so now because he is 6'9 he can play it all of sudden? We need a true Center not an unsized one we tryed that project last year with Shell Head and didnt work out at all. I still say we need to fill a huge need at 3 with either a true PG or a True Legit center. Not someone who is unsized and never played the position in his life thats just crazy. Your telling a guy your taking him 3rd overall to play a position he has never played are you kidding me?

[AtLaS]

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The same people that are saying Horford can play Center are the same ones last year saying Shelden could play Center. How did that end up working out by the way to me Horford = Shelden Williams. Horford has never played Center in his career so now because he is 6'9 he can play it all of sudden?

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Actually Horford and Noah swapped in and out of the C/PF positions. And Horford is 1.5 inches taller than Shelden, and has 3 more inches over Shelden in standing reach. He's definitely not Shelden part 2. When undersized centers like Al Jefferson, Bosh, Dwight, Amare, Okafor, Kurt Thomas, Ben Wallace and such can be successful, Horford can as well, especially given his weight and strength. Not only that, Horfords vertical is about 5 inches higher than Shelden's.

I'd probably also rather take Conley at 3, but Horford is definitely not Shelden part 2, and I wouldn't be disappointed. Especially considering we could still get Critt at 11.

[exodus]

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I think the biggest question of the day is - where does Horford play?

His size and strength make him an asset at PF, but how confident do you feel that he's can play full-time at center? How would you adjust the lineup to get Horford his minutes on the Hawks?

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The first and most obvious reason is that we would be undersized at the 4 and 5 which just isn't going to work. And Horford isn't much bigger than Smith anyway.

Horfords standing reach of 8'11" is only .5" higher than Smith, and his vertical is 4" lower. he weighs only 4 pounds more. He is probably stronger, but i doubt there is a big difference. He benched 185 20 times, but Smith did it

12 times straight out of HS and is obviously much stronger now.

Basically i think we have only 2 options with the 3rd pick; Conley or trade.

[GST]

DraftExpress points out that Horford had trouble defending against larger centers like Oden and Randolph Morris. If we take him, it should be as a PF, not as a center.

[oiatlhawksfan]

So now you guys go from getting on the Horford bandwagon, wo getting off and getting back on the Conly bandwagon, seriously guys get off his ****. Horford won't be playing full time center, he'll be playing it with Pachulia, he's the strongest player in the draft, has a nice reach, is very athletic, yes he'll be a good center. HE's gonna be a best in the east, if Al Jefferson can put up 15pts 10rebs, than Horford could probably do something similar. Remember all the good big men are in the west, there aren't many player in the east, that create match-up problems.