Horf now averaging a double double on the season

[Jody23]

16.8. PPG10 Rebs/perShooting 55% from the field.Just awesome! Hopefully there's more to come. This also gives hope that if Josh is re-signed, it will be for a similar deal to Horford's. That way he doesn't get overpaid and we'll have ample money to keep the guys we need and add some difference makers.

[AHF]

Horford's deal would be higher if he hadn't been a restricted free agent. Josh won't want to settle for RFA money if he can get UFA money.

[Jody23]

I don't think Horf ever hit restricted free agency. I might be wrong, but I think Horf signed an extension. Either way, there's really no way to justify paying Smoove significantly more than Horford in my mind. Smoove may have more physical gifts, but Al's the better basketball player. I'd like to see Smoove back, but not for anymore than 13 mill per.

[yungsta]

it is about damn time he hit the double digit rebounding mark hopefully he can keep it up. lol He has been averaging around 9.3-9.9 rebounds for the longest.

[cam1218]

Boss has had an incredible month of February! 20.2/10.9/3 and 1.5 steals/blocks a game. All this and shooting at 62%.

[modawgatl18]

Horford is in the zone right he's a beast hope plays like this in the playoffs!!!!!!

[MaceCase]

Horford's deal would be higher if he hadn't been a restricted free agent. Josh won't want to settle for RFA money if he can get UFA money.

Yup, throw in the lockout too as a reason why Horf went with the sure extension over testing an unknown market.

[Sothron]

Horf is everything Chucker McChucker is not. It boggles the mind we have two guys in the front court with such vastly different approaches to the game. You have one guy in Horford that every coach in the world would want and the other guy in McChucker that NO coach would want.

[Admin]

Horf is everything Chucker McChucker is not. It boggles the mind we have two guys in the front court with such vastly different approaches to the game. You have one guy in Horford that every coach in the world would want and the other guy in McChucker that NO coach would want.

I truly hope you are being sarcastic as I guarantee you the overwhelming majority of coaches in the league would want Josh on their team.

[Admin]

Boss has had an incredible month of February! 20.2/10.9/3 and 1.5 steals/blocks a game. All this and shooting at 62%.

Shooting nearly 70% over his last 6 games!! He's been money from mid-range but Josh and Jeff have gotten him a lot of good looks around the basket too.

BobRathbunTV@Al_Horford has been amazing. 6 straight 20+ point games, and in those 6 shooting .691!!!

2 minutes ago · reply ·retweet · favorite

[Sothron]

I truly hope you are being sarcastic as I guarantee you the overwhelming majority of coaches in the league would want Josh on their team.

Considering we couldn't get more than a can of pinto beans for him at the trading deadline and still stuck with him I do in fact think the vast majority of coaches wouldn't want him. I just hope Ferry sees Chucker for what he is and lets him walk as a free agent.

[Admin]

Considering we couldn't get more than a can of pinto beans for him at the trading deadline and still stuck with him I do in fact think the vast majority of coaches wouldn't want him. I just hope Ferry sees Chucker for what he is and lets him walk as a free agent.

You're relating what we were able to get for a pending FA who people think wants the max to whether or not a coach would want him on his team. You're entitled to your opinion as much as I am, but I'm completely confident that the vast majority of the coaches in the NBA would want Josh on their team. Now they may not want him if they have to give up a young All-Star C or 1st round picks for a half season of play and they may not want him at 17-18 million per for 4-5 years, but putting those things aside, they'd love to have him if you're just talking about the basketball player.

[DrReality]

Allstar by his stats!!!!

[Guest]

Chucker McChucker has me chuckling.

[Admin]

http://hawkshoop.com/horford-on-fire-february-explosion/

Horford on Fire: February Explosion

Actually, just saying that Al Horford has been on fire lately may be an understatement.

The Hawks’ center has absolutely dominated the month of February, averaging 20 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists in the ten games during the month. He’s shot over 60% from the field, and even decided to kick it up a notch by racking up a 20-20 game against the Pistons.

Al has credited his recent play to finally getting over nagging injuries with his hamstring, and possibly getting his shoulder back to full strength after his injury last year. The extra rest of the All-Star break (in which Al shouldn’t have been resting) has only helped with Horford’s game, as he’s averaging 24 points and 12 boards in the four games since the break. His current streak of six games with 20 or more points is the longest of his career, with his previous high being three games.

In what ways has Horford been getting it done? Let’s take a look at the shot charts:

November – January

The top chart represents Al’s shooting percentages from each spot over that time period; the bottom one purely shows the distribution of shots.

The first thing you may notice is the yellow area in the mid-range game out near the perimeter where we are used to seeing Al light it up. The yellow indicator means Al is shooting +/- 5% from the league average for that spot. However, instead of being above the average like Al usually is, Al was actually shooting below the league average from all but one of these spots. (the league average is around 40-41% for all of those spots)

Of course, from the distribution, you can tell that Al was still doing most of his work around the rim, where he is the most effective from. Has that changed in this recent tear?

Well, let’s look at what Al has been doing recently:

February

I’m not sure what jumps out more: all of the green, or the lone red spot from the missed three-pointer against Milwaukee. (the shot clock was at three in that case, so I’ll let it slide)

However, besides the straight on shot, Al is actually taking less long-twos that he was at the start of the season by percentage. He’s just making them at a higher clip.

Of course, there’s one more thing: Al is actually taking more shots now than ever. He’s taking almost 15 shots per game this month, compared to just a shade over 13 that he was taking through January. His usage rate for this month (22.9%) is a career-high for any month in Horford’s career.

However, Horford’s increase in usage hasn’t negatively effected other Hawks. In fact, you could argue that it’s been responsible for the opposite; Josh Smith’s usage for this month has been 24.46% (down from 27% in the first three months), and he’s had his most efficient month of the season by shooting over 50% and averaging 19 points, 10 boards, and five assists.

One also has to consider the emergence of Jeff Teague as a factor. Like Horford, Jeff has a career-high for usage rate in a month with 23.76%. The biggest part of this for Jeff is his work inside the paint, as he’s getting to the line almost five times a game, which is about twice as often as the first three months of the season.

Naturally, Jeff getting into the paint more often is going to open up Horford’s mid-range game. While Jeff has been proficient at getting Al open jumpers all season, the increase in prevalence, combined with Horford’s current state of health and confidence, has resulted in this explosion.

Can Horford keep up this kind of dominance? Probably not; the rate he’s playing at right now would make him a top five player in the league in terms of PER. (25.05 for the month of February) However, it does show that Al is a lot closer to being the best center in the league than we previously thought.

[TheTruth]

Great stuff Dolf. Translation: Horf is beasting it up, and the offense should run more through him and Teague instead of Smith--it has paid dividends for our offensive production.