Posts Tagged ‘Al Horford’

Three for all: Charlotte Bobcats

January 15, 2012  ·  10:59AM

by Micah Hart

As everyone knows by now, the compressed NBA schedule will force every team to play three games in three nights at least one this season (42 times in total). With only 66 games to stake a claim to a playoff spot or seed, how teams perform during these killer slates could have a large impact on how their seasons turn out.

With that in mind, we’re going to keep track of each of the 42 three-plays to see which teams take advantage and which teams fall apart. Up next, the Charlotte Bobcats, who played three straight from Jan 12-14.

Let’s be honest – the Bobcats are among the worst teams in the NBA. We’d probably expect them to lose three straight games at any point on the schedule, whether those games were six days apart or back-to-back-to-back. Still, they went through all the trouble of showing up at the arenas at the scheduled times, so we may as well take a look at how they did.

Game 1: Hawks 111, Bobcats 81 - One might think the Bobcats would have a chance in the Hawks’ first game after losing Al Horford for the season, but one would be incorrect. Oh one — always making mistaken assumptions. -2 points

Game 2: Pistons 98, Bobcats 81 - Hey at least the Hawks game was on the road. How to explain letting the Pistons — 2-9 coming into the game — win by 17 on Charlotte’s home court? I have an explanation, but the Bobcats aren’t going to like it. -1 point

Game 3: Bobcats 112, Warriors 100 - Just when you think we’re headed for the first shutout, the Bobcats summon their strength and top the Warriors by a dozen to salvage a win. Rookie Kemba Walker justified his first professional start with a career-high 23 points, so expect to see him in the first five more often going forward. 6 points (5 for win, 1 for 10+ margin)

The Bobcats are lucky (lucky I say!) my arbitrary scoring system doesn’t penalize for double-digit losses, or any losses to the Pistons for that matter. Teams are now 8-3 in the third games of the three-for-all, and the Bobcats are in the clubhouse with 3 total points.

Up next: The L.A. Clippers and Orlando Magic both play three straight Jan 16-18.

Three for all Scoreboard:
– Chicago Bulls (13 points)
– OKC Thunder (12 points)
– Atlanta Hawks (8 points)
– Houston Rockets (7 points)
– Philadelphia 76ers (6 points)
– Denver Nuggets (6 points)
– L.A. Lakers (3 points)
– Charlotte Bobcats (3 points)
– Sacramento Kings (2 points)
– Minnesota Timberwolves (2 points)
– Toronto Raptors (1 point)

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Bragging Rights Bracket: No. 2 Florida vs. No. 3 Georgia Tech

March 24, 2011  ·  2:00PM



by Micah Hart

For the complete Bragging Rights rules and to vote for other matchups, click here. In the last matchup of the Sweet 16, its the SEC vs. the ACC as the Florida Gators take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

VS

Florida Gators

Starters (all stats per 48 minutes):

David Lee, Warriors: 27.1 points, 14.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.5 blocks, 1.0 steals
Matt Bonner, Spurs: 27.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.2 blocks, 0.7 steals
Al Horford, Hawks: 20.8 points, 11.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 blocks, 1.6 steals
Mike Miller, Heat: 20.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.7 blocks, 1.3 steals
Joakim Noah, Bulls: 21.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 blocks, 1.2 steals

Missed the cut: Corey Brewer, Mavericks; Jason Williams, Grizzlies; Udonis Haslem, Heat (injured); Marreese Speights, Sixers

Team synopsis: Seems like a lot of these teams are heavy on the big men and short on guards, and it’s not really any different with the Gators. However, despite their size, there’s actually some perimeter firepower here with Bonner, Miller, and even Horford, who has one of the most consistent mid-range jumpers in the NBA (and has started hoisting a three-pointer here and there). Between Lee, Horford, and Noah, it’s hard to imagine many rebounds getting away.

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Introducing the Bragging Rights Bracket

March 17, 2011  ·  10:14AM

by Micah Hart

Here’s a popular conversation around this time of year:

Sports Fan A: Oh man, imagine how good School A would be if Player X had just stayed one more year. They might have won the NCAA Tournament!

Sports Fan B: Tell me about it. And look how good School B could have been this year. Player Y and Player Z would both be seniors!

If you watched the two amazing basketball documentaries last weekend — ESPN’s “Fab Five” and HBO’s “Runnin’ Rebels” — you know what I’m talking about.

Nowadays, Chris Webber would never have called his infamous timeout in the NCAA title game because he’d almost certainly have left after his freshman year — as would have Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard. Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon — all of whom were first-round picks in 1991 — returned to UNLV after winning the 1990 national championship. The only guys who have done that recently were Florida’s ’04s of Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Taurean Green — and even then, everyone knew they were the exception.

While we’ll never know if Syracuse could have repeated as national champs in 2004 had Carmelo Anthony stayed, or what kind of ridiculous stats Kevin Durant might have put up had he stayed four years at Texas, we do know they became stars in the NBA.

Which leads us to a new series we will be running on All Ball over the course of the next few weeks:

Bragging Rights: The Ultimate Battle for School Pride

The premise is simple:

We want to know which school has the best NBA players. Over the next few weeks, we will pit every school with at least five players currently on active NBA rosters against each other in a hypothetical, March Madness-style, single-elimination bracket.

We’ve seeded the teams (see below), and we’ll roll out a few games each week. You vote for the winners.

We’ll start this afternoon with Stanford vs. LSU.

Why spend your time wondering how good your favorite college team could have been when your favorite players are still in action today? Once a Dukie, always a Dukie, right?

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Stephen Jackson, how do you rate on the Horry Scale?

February 13, 2011  ·  12:15PM

by Micah Hart

So far this season, it seems like GWBBs come in fits and starts. There won’t be one for weeks at a time, then there will be two or three in a matter of days. Thursday night it was Arron Afflalo’s turn in the spotlight. Saturday night, it was Stephen Jackson who added his name to the growing list of players who are finding themselves Horry Scale worthy this season.

Once again, the Horry scale examines a shot  in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time), importance (playoff game or garden-variety Clippers-Nets game), and celebration, and give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys.

How did Cap’n Jack do? Let’s take a look:

Difficulty

Man — that was a tough shot. With the Hawks’ Maurice Evans draped all over him and Al Horford closing in as well, Jackson takes one dribble to his right and hits the fadeaway from just inside the three-point line. Jackson had plenty of time to set up what he wanted to do, and chose arguably the most difficult option short of bouncing it off of Evans’ head, but kudos to the man for sticking it.

Game Situation

The Hawks and Bobcats were tied at 86-86 before Jackson’s buzzer-beater, so there was no penalty for a miss.

Importance

Charlotte is in a battle for their playoff lives. The Pacers and Sixers, who currently occupy the 7th and 8th seeds in the East, are both playing arguably their best basketball of the season. If the Bobcats somehow pass one of those teams to make the postseason, they’ll certainly look back on a game where they overcame a 22-point deficit on the road as one of the big victories that paved the way. As an added bonus, the win snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Hawks, and erased the stain of a home loss to the Nets the previous night. All in all, a pretty important win.

Celebration

You’re never going to see a huge celebration on the road (though Atlanta isn’t necessarily known as a hostile environment), but the Bobcats players are certainly pleased with this outcome. However, I’m going to penalize them half-an-Horry for Eduardo Najera jumping up on the scorer’s table. Eddie, you didn’t make the shot. Table jumping is reserved for the hero, not the sidekick.

Grade

3 Horrys. A high-degree of difficulty play, but the tie-game situation and the Najera penalty means this one can’t go above three.

What do you think?

More Horry Scale >>

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Posted in Hey man nice shot, The Horry scale / Comments (17) /

Last night in an … MVP vote

February 9, 2011  ·  8:00AM

by Micah Hart

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose – blah blah blah. For me, the MVP debate is finished after last night, and the man whose name should be on the trophy is Atlanta’s Al Horford.

Horford has now missed four games for Atlanta this season. Yes, the Hawks are 2-2 in those games. But the two wins were over Washington and Charlotte, which doesn’t move the needle much. The two losses, on the other hand, were to New Orleans and rejuvenated Philadelphia, and the Hawks lost those games by — let me make sure I have this right — a bajillion points. At home no less.

I can’t think of a single other NBA team that performs as poorly sans one player as the Hawks without Horford.

/checks standings, sees Cleveland

Oh. Right. Well, maybe a second-place vote for Horford then.

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The Blake Show hits the ATL

February 5, 2011  ·  2:25PM

by Micah Hart



19 and 11 for Blake last night, but the play he’ll remember most was the takedown of Al Horford that gave the Hawks the win in the game’s final seconds.



Can’t win ‘em all.

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Extend, trade, or cut – Unextended 2007 Draft pick edition

November 8, 2010  ·  11:44AM

by Micah Hart

Today is Monday, which means it’s time for another fabulous edition of Extend, Trade or Cut. Speaking of Mondays (excellent segue Micah), last Monday was the final day for teams to offer contract extensions to players from the 2007 Draft class, or risk said players becoming restricted free agents when the season ends. Not many players ended up with that security this year, in part due to labor negotiations and in part due to lack of talent/production. Of the 30 players drafted in the first round, only Kevin Durant (duh), Al Horford, Mike Conley (surprise!), Joakim Noah, and Jared Dudley signed on the line which is dotted to secure their playing futures for the next several years.

So what of the players left in the cold, forced to play for their (future) pay this season? Today we examine three players in that current situation: Houston’s Aaron Brooks, OKC’s Jeff Green, and Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey.

Just to refresh you on the rules, picture yourself as the GM of a mythical NBA franchise, and pretend that you have to choose between three players. One player you can extend with a new contract, one player you have to trade for some mythical asset(s), and one player you must cut from your roster for eternity (it’s a harsh world). You may choose each option only once.

Let’s examine the evidence:

Aaron Brooks – The Rockets’ speedy point guard is perhaps a victim of circumstance rather than undeserving of a long-term deal; Houston made a decision across the board not to extend anyone without a new CBA. In more certain times, I’d say it’s pretty likely Brooks would have a deal. Brooks was the Most Improved Player in the league last year, starting all 82 games for the Rockets and averaging 19.2 ppg. He’s a scoring point more than a distributor though, and at his size he’s not much of a defensive presence.

Jeff Green – People are ALL over the map about this guy. Some see him as a crucial component to the Thunder’s future, a Scottie Pippen jack-of-all-trades to Durant’s Jordan. Others think he’s overhyped, and point to the fact that OKC’s plus/minus is consistently worse with him on the floor than off it.

Rodney Stuckey – Stuckey started fast out of the gate in his career, looking at times like a future star in his first couple seasons with the Pistons. But he too is a bit of a tweener – is he a point? Is he a shooting guard? Lately, he appears to have fallen into Pistons’ coach John Kuester‘s doghouse, getting benched for most of the second half in a game against the Hawks last week. How much of that is just the dysfunction of playing with a seemingly rudderless franchise right now?

All right, the pins are set. Knock ‘em down with your vote below:

UPDATE: Aaron Brooks is apparently out 4-6 weeks with an ankle injury – I can’t tell you what to do, so if you want that to factor into your hypothetical decision feel free, but I’d say you can pretend for the sake of argument that he’s a picture of health.

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Extend, Trade, or Cut – Young Centers Edition

October 18, 2010  ·  12:39PM

by Micah Hart

It’s Monday, which means it’s time to start the week off right with a little hoops arguing. Today’s episode of extend, trade, or cut is brought to you by the Prime Minister (familiar to anyone who reads the Hang Time Blog) who had a good suggestion for today’s discussion — a trio of the NBA’s best young pivotmen in the Hawks’ Al Horford, the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, and Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol.

Just to refresh you on the rules, picture yourself as the GM of a mythical NBA franchise, and pretend that you have to choose between three players. One player you can extend with a new contract, one player you can trade for some mythical asset(s), and one player you must cut from your roster for eternity (it’s a harsh world). You may choose each option only once.

Let’s take a look at the candidates:

Al Horford: I’m not saying which way I will vote on Big Al, but I must admit upfront a healthy bias towards him from my days covering the Hawks. Here is a comment you often hear about the Hawks: “They’d be good if they had a legit center instead of having to play Horford there rather than his natural power forward position.” This statement is a crock o’ something. Here’s a little stat I just made up — Horford is better than 90 percent of the centers in the league. I’d actually have to do some research to decide exactly where he fits in, but just because he struggles to check Dwight Howard and Yao Ming doesn’t mean he’s out of his depth in the post. You know who else has trouble checking Dwight and Yao? Everyone.

Andrew Bynum: The Lakers big man is brimming with talent, and when he’s been healthy he’s established that he is capable of being a perennial All-Star. Alas, that health just hasn’t been a constant. In fact, being injured has been the constant, as he has only played 82 games once in his five-year career. Still, Bynum is only 22 (he turns 23 next week), and if the injuries get under control, he could be the best center in the league.

Marc Gasol: Is he as good as his brother Pau? Maybe not. But for as much grief as the Grizzlies get for trading Gasol the Elder to L.A. (and believe me, I’m with you), I don’t know if they get enough credit for getting Gasol the Younger in return. Marc is pretty much exactly what you want in an NBA center – he rebounds, he protects the rim, and he has the traditional Euro-style abilities to be a good passer and solid face-up shooter. If anything, I still wonder why Memphis (with Gasol in the fold) would draft Hasheem Thabeet instead of homegrown hero Tyreke Evans.

Them’s your choices. Now it’s your turn to weigh in – what’s your poison?

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