ATL has 'toughness' problem in frontcourt..

[HAWKS1986]

1. Shelden Williams

2. ZaZa Pachulia

3. Lorenzen Wright

The Hawks have to do better. All these guys are liabilities either offensively or defensively. And all aren't very athletic. In essence, the Hawks have one of the 'softest' frontcourts in the league. Al Horford's play has been solid and Josh Smith's blocks are 'nice', but the Hawks miss that element of toughness.

I have seen the Pistons twice against the Hawks, and I have been impressed by the effort of JASON MAXIELL. It doesn't matter if he plays ten minutes or thirty minutes, it seems he always plays hard, attacks the basket and plays physical ALL THE TIME.

GRANT LONG AND ANTIONE CARR used to give the Hawks this type of physicality when they were here. They weren't great offensive players, but they hit the majority of their free throws and the opposing team felt their presence.

I used to like Zaza,but its like the 'law of diminishing returns'. It seems he is becoming increasingly injury prone and defensively and athletically he is a liability

Shelden played well for one game before he hurt his elbow against Orlando, but other than that, he has been the invisible man.. He played four years of college, but it seems he is lost of there against guys who are younger and more athletic than he is.

The Hawks can't keep going on like this with these guys. It's not working. Yes, we have point guard problems, but we have a toughness problem as well.

I hated to see what happened to TJ Ford, but Horford gave a hard foul: 'No layups' and had sent a message. The Hawks need to forge an aggressive defensive identity in which we once had with Fratello in the 1980's and Lenny in the 1990's..

Chillz and Marvin who play front court positions are 6'8, but they are soft defensively as well and actually play smaller than bigger.. and this further hurts this team (in my opinion)..

That guy Jason Maxiell who I talked about earlier is a model of how our frontcourt guys should play...

When you are physical, hustle and play hard at all times --even when you're shot isn't falling-- good things happen..

[DrReality]

That's true to some extent, but we sure found out how much we miss Al inside. He is quietly tough and knows how to play the game beyond his years. I'd love to see a big inside with him who could take up some space and be an enforcer.

Al sure showed a lot of class through the whole thing with Ford's injury. He is a classy guy.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The real toughness problems lies with Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. If those two players would play a little more tough on a nightly basis, we might steal a few of these games that we're losing.

Smoove's rebounding is a key concern. 7.8 rebounds is decent for him. But with his athleticism, he probably should be averaging at least 9, if not 10 boards a game. There's no reason why he and Horford can't have double digit rebound games on the same night. Smoove just doesn't like to bang, and doesn't know how to use his body to bang. So he would prefer not to do it.

With Marvin's length, he should also be a better rebounder and a little more tough. But he has a finesse game and would almost always rather play that way.

Yes, it would be nice if Shell, ZaZa, and Lo could be energy guys off the bench that could bang people around and get rebounds, blocks, and easy put-backs. But Smoove and Marvin not being tough, is more of the concern.