The real reason Horford is shooting so many 3's

[JackB1]

Horford is trying to showcase himself as a 4 that can shoot from the perimeter.

He does not want to play the 5 anymore and it's painfully obvious.  He doesn't bang

down low anymore to box out for rebounds.  Al has stated since he came to Atlanta,

than he really wants to play the 4 and that is why he has been developing his long range shooting

and neglecting the usual big man duties.  It's not by coincidence.  It doesn't make sense that Bud

would encourage Al to shoot more 3's when the Hawks have loads of 3 point shooters already and

have an obvious need for rebounding and low post play.

Edited February 1, 2016 by JackB1

[hylndr11]

So who will play center then we dont have anyone that is a starter - so fine, Bud is cool with it, when do we get a starting center ?

[BrazilianHawk]

Well, if Bud isn't encouraging it, shouldn't he call Horford out and glue his soft a$$ to the paint or to the bench? I think Bud is happy with that, honestly. I doesn't make sense whatsoever.

[hylndr11]

Bud is clearly ok with it its not Al being stubborn.  They designed this whole thing - its just not working , maybe some adjustments will be made shortly, if this level of play keeps up, off season will see some big changes. 

[Duff_Man]

Here we go on the semantics of NBA positions again. 

[RedDawg#8]

I'm so sick of that excuse. Power forwards still have to rebound. It's called being a big man. Millsap is 6-7 and shoots threes too, some how he manages to rebound the ball on defense. It's a BS excuse. The entire focus this off season was about REBOUNDING  yet Al seems to have missed the memo.  Coach Bud has lost his way. I think those smack downs by the Spurs have finally gotten to him. He looks lost trying to figure out our problems which are all carryovers from last year

[AHF]

Shooting the 3's has nothing to do with defensive rebounding.  Al's offensive rebounding numbers are fine.  It is on the defensive boards that he is struggling.

The 3's are a red herring.

[JackB1]

38 minutes ago, AHF said:

Shooting the 3's has nothing to do with defensive rebounding.  Al's offensive rebounding numbers are fine.  It is on the defensive boards that he is struggling.

The 3's are a red herring.

I think its the overall mindset he now has...to play less in the paint.  I would be fine with Al taking a few 3s every game if he continued to 

pull down at least 10 boards a game.  Last season 10 boards was a average night for him...this year it's the exception,

[Lurker]

Horford didn't average 10 boards last season either.

[benhillboy]

As @JackB1 stated, it's a soft mindset that it creates.  I stopped keeping track of his FT attempts.  I grew tired of the surprise followed by sadness.  

You best believe, Anthony Davis lazily jacking up threes has had an ill effect on his young team.  He was supposed to be up next, you ain't heard nothing about that boy.  

I wanna tear my hair out when I see Towns taking them, but you quickly realize his stroke is beautiful and the very next play he'll And 1 Gorilla Dunk on 3 guys so it's okay.  If we played Minny tonight he'd eat and fully digest Al, bones and hair.

I used to dislike Bosh's style change but his stoke is arguably still improving and he still does his share of dirty work well above Al.  There has to be balance and there simply is none, he's 85-90% perimeter and finesse.  We have the only starting Stretch 5 in the league.  Our record shows how bad of an idea it is.

[NBASupes]

If Al was boxing out, I would be fine with this but these guys are right, Al is not trying to bang knowing he's close to his last big contract 

[Lurker]

Although I will say this: Defensive rebounding is close to the worst for Al Horford's CAREER right now this season. The only lower season than 4.9 for him was 4.6 in a season where he played 6 games. But the interesting thing is the second lowest season is surprise...last season. Although I think it was better after the first two months...double check...

Actually not really much of a difference, just 5.7, double check from February on...

Nope...not getting anything. Just looks like Horford isn't the defensive rebounding monster he used to be before 11/12. Looks like it's gone for him and he isn't even trying to bang down low.

11 games in 11/12, my mistake...

[AHF]

Last season Al averaged 6.4 defensive rebounds per 36.  This season it is 5.6.  That is a significant drop. 

It continues a trend of the last 4 seasons of Al getting softer and softer on the boards:

2012-13  7.3 drb/36

2013-14 6.7 drb/36

2014-15 6.4 drb/36

2015-16 5.6 drb/36

Not only is the trend continuing, if Al continues this pathetic pace it will be the largest fall both on a % and an absolute basis between any two of these seasons.

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, AHF said:

Last season Al averaged 6.4 defensive rebounds per 36.  This season it is 5.6.  That is a significant drop. 

It continues a trend of the last 4 seasons of Al getting softer and softer on the boards:

2012-13  7.3 drb/36

2013-14 6.7 drb/36

2014-15 6.4 drb/36

2015-16 5.6 drb/36

Not only is the trend continuing, if Al continues this pathetic pace it will be the largest fall both on a % and an absolute basis between any two of these seasons.

He's not even around the basket like that on defense.  That stood out to me. We use him on defense like we use to use Josh.

[AHF]

14 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He's not even around the basket like that on defense.  That stood out to me. We use him on defense like we use to use Josh.

I could maybe buy that if there weren't SFs outrebounding him who actually are manned up on wings for a lot of the game.

[NBASupes]

14 minutes ago, AHF said:

I could maybe buy that if there weren't SFs outrebounding him who actually are manned up on wings for a lot of the game.

It's no excuse, Josh still rebounded much better than this. Al just simply not battling on the boards.  There is no excuses but it'sclear he's saving his body and it is hurting the team.  He is not even banging as much as last year. He's gone soft. I agree with the other posters on this.

[Vol4ever]

And this why the Hawks are listening to offers to move him.

[BigDog90]

On 2/1/2016 at 0:30 PM, JackB1 said:

Horford is trying to showcase himself as a 4 that can shoot from the perimeter.

He does not want to play the 5 anymore and it's painfully obvious.  He doesn't bang

down low anymore to box out for rebounds.  Al has stated since he came to Atlanta,

than he really wants to play the 4 and that is why he has been developing his long range shooting

and neglecting the usual big man duties.  It's not by coincidence.  It doesn't make sense that Bud

would encourage Al to shoot more 3's when the Hawks have loads of 3 point shooters already and

have an obvious need for rebounding and low post play.

I think Bud is okay with it. With Al shooting 3s, it draws the center out of the paint, clearing the paint for Dennis/Teague to drive in. I think this is a result of a compromise Al and Bud reached for Al to continue to play center yet help extend his career. 

[pimp]

6 hours ago, AHF said:

Last season Al averaged 6.4 defensive rebounds per 36.  This season it is 5.6.  That is a significant drop. 

It continues a trend of the last 4 seasons of Al getting softer and softer on the boards:

2012-13  7.3 drb/36

2013-14 6.7 drb/36

2014-15 6.4 drb/36

2015-16 5.6 drb/36

Not only is the trend continuing, if Al continues this pathetic pace it will be the largest fall both on a % and an absolute basis between any two of these seasons.

Per 36 he gets less defensive rebounds than Bazemore or Thabo.
that's just sad...