Here's what's missing in Hawks future discussions.

[Diesel]

The growth of Al Horford.

I think our team really hinges on how quickly Al Horford progresses. I think he was the biggest difference maker this season and if he is able to find comfort on the offensive side and even raise his scoring to 15 ppg.. We will be a hard team to beat.

[Cwell]

I think He can.I can see him scoring atleast 15 a game next year.

[exodus]

Smith and Horford both frustrated me at times, for different reasons.

With Smith when i would see him getting ready to launch a long jumper or do his pg imitation i am like nonononono. When Horford got the ball in the 15-18 foot range i would keep saying "shoot it" or "take his ass to the basket" instead of just standing there holding the ball waiting for someone to pass to.

Watching Horford on offense you can see the wheels turning in his head when he gets the ball. He doesn't really react instinctively very often. It seems like he is most comfortable trying to back guys down but that is exactly the wrong thing for him to be doing.

He is quick and he can handle the ball so he should be beating guys off the dribble. he has had some success with this, especially on the baseline. When he gets the ball on the baseline and drives baseline he knows that any help will be late coming so he is more aggressive. Even if he doesn't beat his man cleanly he is forcing the guy to move laterally, allowing Horford to use his momentum and muscle to create space for his shot.

It will probably take at least 2 or 3 more years to see what kind of scorer Horford will be because he doesn't really seem to have a scorers mentality. The good side of that is that he won't be forcing up bad shots. But we need him to be more aggressive.

[EazyRoc]

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Smith and Horford both frustrated me at times, for different reasons.

With Smith when i would see him getting ready to launch a long jumper or do his pg imitation i am like nonononono. When Horford got the ball in the 15-18 foot range i would keep saying "shoot it" or "take his ass to the basket" instead of just standing there holding the ball waiting for someone to pass to.

Watching Horford on offense you can see the wheels turning in his head when he gets the ball. He doesn't really react instinctively very often.

It seems like he is most comfortable trying to back guys down but that is exactly the wrong thing for him to be doing.

He is quick and he can handle the ball so he should be beating guys off the dribble. he has had some success with this, especially on the baseline. When he gets the ball on the baseline and drives baseline he knows that any help will be late coming so he is more aggressive. Even if he doesn't beat his man cleanly he is forcing the guy to move laterally, allowing Horford to use his momentum and muscle to create space for his shot.

It will probably take at least 2 or 3 more years to see what kind of scorer Horford will be because he doesn't really seem to have a scorers mentality. The good side of that is that he won't be forcing up bad shots. But we need him to be more aggressive.

He used to abuse people like that in NCAA. He's really going to have a "re-train" himself, before he becomes a truly effective scoring option. So, like you said, it'll take him a few years before he really has a polished game like Boozer or any other big who consistently puts the ball on the floor.

[Diesel]

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Smith and Horford both frustrated me at times, for different reasons.

With Smith when i would see him getting ready to launch a long jumper or do his pg imitation i am like nonononono. When Horford got the ball in the 15-18 foot range i would keep saying "shoot it" or "take his ass to the basket" instead of just standing there holding the ball waiting for someone to pass to.

Watching Horford on offense you can see the wheels turning in his head when he gets the ball. He doesn't really react instinctively very often. It seems like he is most comfortable trying to back guys down but that is exactly the wrong thing for him to be doing.

He is quick and he can handle the ball so he should be beating guys off the dribble. he has had some success with this, especially on the baseline. When he gets the ball on the baseline and drives baseline he knows that any help will be late coming so he is more aggressive. Even if he doesn't beat his man cleanly he is forcing the guy to move laterally, allowing Horford to use his momentum and muscle to create space for his shot.

It will probably take at least 2 or 3 more years to see what kind of scorer Horford will be because he doesn't really seem to have a scorers mentality. The good side of that is that he won't be forcing up bad shots. But we need him to be more aggressive.

You're still holding a grudge on Horf? Get rid of your Horf hate man.

As long as Horf offers low post scoring, I think that's what will make all the difference in the world. What Horf cannot become is another forgotten High Post PF. We need somebody who goes to the low post and scores there. The high percentage shots. I would love for Horf's scoring to jump to 20... but for this year, if he gets to 15 and we keep a similar cast to what we have now, I think we could win 44-47 games.

[exodus]

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You're still holding a grudge on Horf? Get rid of your Horf hate man.

LOL @ Mr Pot. Not a day goes by that your Marvin hate doesn't come out in your posts.

How am i hating in him if i want him to shoot more often?

[NJHAWK]

A 5 ppg climb is pretty steep even for Al. I think he has too many games where he picks up quick fouls and is almost a non factor, too many games like that will prevent him from scoring 15 ppg next season. Unless we get a big who can take some of the defensive pressure off Al.

[Chris18]

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You're still holding a grudge on Horf? Get rid of your Horf hate man.

Pot meet kettle.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Diesel, it's about players playing to their strengths. I agree that we need a back to the basket prescence and that Horford needs to continue to try to do that. But if he's going to be our starting center, he's better off taking that 15 foot jumper or taking his man off the dribble.

Now when he's at the 4, I definitely want him to try to score on people down on the low block. Horford shot almost 40% on this jumper last year, whic is pretty dang good for a guy his size.

We still need a potential go-to guy offensively, whenever JJ gets a rest. So if Horford can get 6 - 8 points during the time when JJ is out, that will enable him to score close to 15 ppg. If Smith or Marvin can do it at this time, you'll see one of them approach 20 ppg.

[Cwell]

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A 5 ppg climb is pretty steep even for Al.

I think he has too many games where he picks up quick fouls and is almost a non factor

, too many games like that will prevent him from scoring 15 ppg next season. Unless we get a big who can take some of the defensive pressure off Al.

Him not being a rookie anymore will help that.Experience is underrated on here to me.

[Swatguy]

I believe any serious discussion about Al is Al as the PF.

It is why Zaza is very valuable as his improvement.

It is why Marvin has to be moved to allow Smith to improve as the 3.

It is why the long term PG has to be addressed (aquire Javaris Crittenton).

Zaza can be the effective 5, Al has to be the 4.

[frosgrim]

This is more or less what Woodson alluded to during his Zone interview. Horford needs to develop that post game so that teams drop down on the double team. Horford seems to have good, if not great, basketball IQ, so he should be able to pass out of doubles to cutters, ala Shaq.

I also think that most posters assume Horford is one of the central building blocks to the team going forward. Other than JJ, the rest of the players are movable depending upon what we are going after.

But, if your point is that Horford is a major piece to the Hawks success next year, then yes, you are correct, Sir (best Ed McMahon voice here).

As to how much Horford can improve this season? 5 pts is the upper limit, but I would expect about half of that, i.e. 12.5 a game. However, being the double-double machine he is, those extra 2.5 a game points actually might mean a lot over the season (what was the Hawks point differential this past season?).

Adding in another shooter to help with scoring and this team should win ~44-46 games.

[Cwell]

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I believe any serious discussion about Al is Al as the PF.

It is why Zaza is very valuable as his improvement.

It is why Marvin has to be moved to allow Smith to improve as the 3.

It is why the long term PG has to be addressed (aquire Javaris Crittenton).

Zaza can be the effective 5, Al has to be the 4.

I don't think Smith playing SF is smart.and the long term PG has been adressed with the 11th pick last year.Javaris Crittenton is no ones long term solution at PG.Maybe backup SG or combo guard.

[Traceman]

Woody said on the radio that we needed for Al to continue to develop his low post game as a part of him (and the team) taking it to the next level. It sounded to me like Woody planned to give Al more opportunities in the low post if Al proves that he is ready for it. I think Al will work hard on it this summer and come back much improved in that aspect of his game.

That said, it will be interesting to see how Horford's emergence on offense affects everyone else's scoring. I won't be surprised to see Smoove's Marvin's, Bibby's and even JJ's ppg go down a little as we become a more balanced team. I can see all 5 starters averaging double figures ala Detroit with Chillz and Acie right there as well.

On the other hand, it won't shock me at all to see either Smoove or Marvin take a leap offensively and average around 20 ppg this year. With a summer of hard work, I think that is very possible.

[exodus]

One way that Horford can easily score points is to get to the line more often. He got there only 2.6 times per game. His foul shooting improved remarkably during the season.

But in order for him to get to the line he needs to make the defenders move laterally and get them off balance.

[Cwell]

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One way that Horford can easily score points is to get to the line more often. He got there only 2.6 times per game. His foul shooting improved remarkably during the season.

But in order for him to get to the line he needs to make the defenders move laterally and get them off balance.

yeah.I think he'll fix that before summer league.

[frosgrim]

I just looked up the point differential for last year.

The Hawks averaged 98.3 a game

The Hawks gave up 100.0 a game

Difference of 1.7

In essence if the defense remains the same, the offense only needs to pick up by about 2-2.5 a game, which is what we are expecting Horford to do.

Of course aggregate stats don't really tell us the whole story. I didn't see on 82games the point differential in the losses, as that would be a better indicator of what the Hawks need to do to improve the w/l record.

Nonetheless, a modest improvement of 2.5 a game by Horford and a similar improvement by the bench and the Hawks should improve by ~7-9 games this season.

FWIW, this looks like it could be accomplished.

[khaos7]

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Woody said on the radio that we needed for Al to continue to develop his low post game as a part of him (and the team) taking it to the next level. It sounded to me like Woody planned to give Al more opportunities in the low post if Al proves that he is ready for it. I think Al will work hard on it this summer and come back much improved in that aspect of his game.

That said, it will be interesting to see how Horford's emergence on offense affects everyone else's scoring. I won't be surprised to see Smoove's Marvin's, Bibby's and even JJ's ppg go down a little as we become a more balanced team. I can see all 5 starters averaging double figures ala Detroit with Chillz and Acie right there as well.

On the other hand, it won't shock me at all to see either Smoove or Marvin take a leap offensively and average around 20 ppg this year. With a summer of hard work, I think that is very possible.

A lot will depend on Woody utilizing him and Al becoming aggresive. We cannot underestimate Woody's hand in this. He has to draw up plays to feed him in the post. If he plays the 5, more times than not by virtue of his size and speed, he will have a mismatch, by being paired with 5's who are less athletic, quick or strong(in a few cases). We've got to use that to our advantage.

The second piece to that is, if Woody decides to feature Al more, Al has to be aggressive. I actually worry less about Al being aggressive than I do about Woody using him properly.

[Wretch]

Horford has shown the ability to play in the paint and out to 15'. If he works on those things, I have no doubt that he can hit 15ppg. None. It would definitely be in our better interests to explore his offensive ceiling - one of the reasons why I was so critical of Woodson in the offseason. We drafted him, and Woodson flat out said he was only interested in Horf doing the "dirty work." That's all they expected of him, but we should have set his bar a little higher. We'll see what he can do this year.

[BusBoyIsBack]

The Growth of Acie Law and Marvin Williams >>>>> anything.

The Big 3 of this team is set. We need contributions from the other 2 guys.