Al Horford made a superior decision to leave Atlanta

[NBASupes]

One of the best players in Atlanta Hawks history and by far our best winner, he has been one of the most underrated superstars in the last 10 years. He leaves Atlanta who has always had mediocre talent and when they had good talent, have had terrible fits with underskilled coaching, Al has always been the star Atlanta didn't deserve nor respect. 

Since he's been with the Celtics especially when healthy, Al has carried the Celtics to an ECF, two #1 seeds and when GH is healthy, an NBA Finals run. He is playing with a lot of talent who fit and not anything stupid like Smoove, Marvin, and Bibby. But actually fits with the potential to be All-Stars. Al just seems to show everything I've said about him was 100% correct. EVERYTHING! 

My biggest gripe was Atlanta never bringing a #1 option to play with Al. I will never forgive this one-star organization for doing so and they are paying the price for not moving up to get Giannis. I can't blame them for Brooklyn making the playoffs and costing us Devin Booker but they had years to get us one damn star #1 option and couldn't. Shameful! Freaking Shameful! 

The end. 

Edited November 17, 2017 by NBASupes

[Kimsey]

Anna Horford hush. Kyrie is what makes that team go. 

[NBASupes]

Just now, Kimsey said:

Kyrie is what makes that team go. 

 

Kyrie is important but Al is critical. You need Kyrie as a #1 option but you need Al. We seen Kyrie without LeBron in Cleveland. Terrible. When seen Horford with meh talent in Atlanta. Winning!

[AHF]

Horf is a solid #2 and very nice #3.  He's having his best year in a while.

[NBASupes]

3 minutes ago, AHF said:

Horf is a solid #2 and very nice #3.  He's having his best year in a while.

I don't know what he is offensive wise as #2 or #3 option as Al scoring is defined by his matchup more times than not. But I know he's an elite player. Point. Blank. Period. He's been so the majority of his career in Atlanta. 

 

Outside of LeBron and since Duncan retired. I don't know a player who has had as much responsibility as Horford. 

Edited November 17, 2017 by NBASupes

[TheFuzz]

Lol. Done lost your marbles again Supes. Not even disagreeing with you necessarily you just love you some Horford.

[DBac]

Can't lie I doubted you but watching Horford from afar did make me appreciate how valuable his game is. Think you're going overboard with putting him in the convo with Duncan and Lebron though.

 

[High5]

You can appreciate Horford's skills without the hyperbole. It's criminal to mention him with LeBron or Duncan. He's 1-15 in the playoffs against LeBron (1-12 against TT) and he was 1-11 in regular season against Duncan. He's a very good player, but not elite. He comes up small too often for that. 

[deester11]

Yeah...love Supes but Horford is not close to a LeBron or Duncan level.  

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, DBac said:

Can't lie I doubted you but watching Horford from afar did make me appreciate how valuable his game is. Think you're going overboard with putting him in the convo with Duncan and Lebron though.

 

Duncan and LeBron, no. Those are ATG without question. Al isn't. 

Al responsibility is with ATG's, that's unquestionable. Any coach will tell you that. He doesn't have ATG talent. That pretty much eliminates that. The results clearly say he's not ATG. But the results say he's special considering who he's playing with. 

[NBASupes]

42 minutes ago, High5 said:

You can appreciate Horford's skills without the hyperbole. It's criminal to mention him with LeBron or Duncan. He's 1-15 in the playoffs against LeBron (1-12 against TT) and he was 1-11 in regular season against Duncan. He's a very good player, but not elite. He comes up small too often for that. 

Duncan is an all-time great. James is an all-time great. Horford clearly isn't an ATG. We all know that. The results say that. That said, considering what Al has accomplished, he's special and to me, he's passed the class of guys like Carmelo Anthony. To be frank, he's higher on my list than Nique. Not saying he's anywhere near as important to this franchise because Al isn't close but in terms of impact on this franchise as Nique. Nique is all time face of a franchise. You think of the Hawks, Nique is the first over Pettit, Al, Joe, Hudson, Deke that you think of. I can't name any Hawk other than Pettit who's been more impactful with this organization. 

 

I been saying this for years in Atlanta. I know this man's game. In and out. I know the type of impact he has on a game. I know he's special. I've seen consistently. 
 

I wish you guys would stop bringing up TT. TT didn't do much v. Al last year in Boston and it was LeBron wrecking up our perimeter defense that put Al out of position in the 1st place. LeBron is our problem which is obvious. He's a candidate for GOAT. He should destroy us. No offense to Al or anyone on that team, but that's what guys like Duncan, Jordan, Wilt, Bill, Kareem, Magic, Bird and Durant do. 

Elite doesn't mean ATG type. Westbrook is elite. He's not an ATG although he could become one. Iverson was elite, he's not an ATG. Melo at one time was elite, he's not a ATG. 

 

ATG to me are guys who are championship guys. Bird, Magic, Curry, James, Wilt, Russell, Hakeem, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan, etc.

Edited November 17, 2017 by NBASupes

[nathan2331]

 

 

Duncan is an all-time great. James is an all-time great. Horford clearly isn't an ATG. We all know that. The results say that. That said, considering what Al has accomplished, he's special and to me, he's passed the class of guys like Carmelo Anthony. To be frank, he's higher on my list than Nique. Not saying he's anywhere near as important to this franchise because Al isn't close but in terms of impact on this franchise as Nique. Nique is all time face of a franchise. You think of the Hawks, Nique is the first over Pettit, Al, Joe, Hudson, Deke that you think of. I can't name any Hawk other than Pettit who's been more impactful with this organization. 

 

I been saying this for years in Atlanta. I know this man's game. In and out. I know the type of impact he has on a game. I know he's special. I've seen consistently. 

 

I wish you guys would stop bringing up TT. TT didn't do much v. Al last year in Boston and it was LeBron wrecking up our perimeter defense that put Al out of position in the 1st place. LeBron is our problem which is obvious. He's a candidate for GOAT. He should destroy us. No offense to Al or anyone on that team, but that's what guys like Duncan, Jordan, Wilt, Bill, Kareem, Magic, Bird and Durant do. 

Elite doesn't mean ATG type. Westbrook is elite. He's not an ATG although he could become one. Iverson was elite, he's not an ATG. Melo at one time was elite, he's not a ATG. 

 

ATG to me are guys who are championship guys. Bird, Magic, Curry, James, Wilt, Russell, Hakeem, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan, etc.

 

Your explanation makes sense, but you're still overrating him. Al can't carry team by himself. He'll make all the right plays for a team when things are going right, but he can't raise his game another level to cover for the rest of his team's inadequacies. He doesn't rebound that well either, something Cleveland was able to exploit. Perhaps we should shoulder some blame having Millsap next to him, but the point still remains. He does a lot of things better than most in his position, but he's not irreplaceable. I can never call him elite after seeing him against Cleveland, he couldn't change the outcome of any game.

 

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Al is the equivalent of Draymond Green.  A very versatile big man who can't carry a team by himself as a #1 offensive option, but can do a lot of the intangible things that can make a team great.  His all around skill set makes him an ideal person to put on any championship level team.  A guy like Lebron would "LOVE" to have Horford on his squad.

On a championship level team, with a Hall of Fame caliber go to scorer, Horford's peak potential is the big man version of Scottie Pippen.  As long as Horford isn't asked to take on a huge scoring burden, he can definitely be impactful in many ways.

Let's not forget though, he was the 3rd pick in the 2007 draft.  And a top 3 guy is not only supposed to be "special", but also supposed to be an undisputed All-Star talent during his prime.  Horford's career, while consistent, just doesn't cut the mustard when you compare him to other "elite" talents.  If Al could do what Chris Webber did in his prime, I'd be singing a different tune.

 

[Thomas]

"Around The Association" much?

[bleachkit]

He's Tim Duncan light, does everything well. Teams should draft on basketball skill, not just how they can jump or how long their arms are. 

[Sothron]

My only thought on Horford is that we should have flipped him for anything instead of letting him walk for nothing. Same thing with Millsap.

[High5]

7 hours ago, nathan2331 said:

He'll make all the right plays for a team when things are going right, but he can't raise his game another level to cover for the rest of his team's inadequacies

That's pretty much it. The actual "elite" players in the league are able to carry their teams when all else fails. When Horford finds himself in that situation he's rarely good, much less great. Out of curiosity I looked at his stats in his 13 elimination games: 10.5/6.8/2.7 on 44% shooting. His only two big games were both against Milwaukee when we inexplicably found ourselves down 3-2 and he was matched up against 37-year-old Kurt Thomas. Take those out and the numbers drop to 9.5/5.4/2.6 on 41% shooting. It's a small sample size, but it demonstrates the issue I always had with him. We quickly became known as a soft team that couldn't handle the big moments and he was the face of that.

[Wretch]

2 hours ago, Sothron said:

My only thought on Horford is that we should have flipped him for anything instead of letting him walk for nothing. Same thing with Millsap.

https://hawksquawk.net/community/topic/382856-al-horford-building-around-free-agency-and-such/