needs a big man, a legitimate center that can defend, rebound, and hold his own
offensively. With center-size, preferably.
Forgetting, of course, that there aren’t many of those guys
in the NBA. Yao Ming and Greg Oden are hurt. Pau Gasol gets killed for his
center-sized defense all the time. Dwight Howard, though this isn’t correct,
takes criticism in for his offense consistently. Andrew Bogut may be this
league’s best defender at his position, I mean that, but he’s been terrible
offensively this year. Andrew Bynum can’t even stay on the court. Joakim Noah
couldn’t post up Joaquin Andujar. Nobody counts Amar’e Stoudmire as a center.
And those are the guys we’re actually counting, here.
But that doesn’t stop fans, media, and in this case family
members alike for begging their favorite team to go out and grab that mythical
7-footer that can defend and score.
What sets this case apart is that the fan in question, here,
is actually the father of the starting center of the Atlanta Hawks. And he, as
a former NBA center, would love to see the Hawks grab a starting-quality center
in order to move his son down to the power forward slot.
Tito Horford, on Tuesday, talked
to the Atlanta Journal-Consitution’s Jeff Schwartz:
"I’ve been begging [general manager] Rick Sund and the Hawks
for the last three years – please get a center so my son can pay his normal
position," the elder Horford said Tuesday from his home in the Dominican
Republic. "He can’t push guys out of the box like I could. If he moved to
forward, he would have a longer career."
Tito’s frustrations have been long echoed by both Hawks
fans, and observers of the team. His son Al has put together perhaps the most
underrated season of any player in the NBA this year, but as a 6-10 center, you
can’t help but get the feeling that he’d do much, much better with a bigger
center looking over his shoulder, matching giants like Dwight Howard and Andrew
Bogut and … well, that’s about it, out East.
The issue here is availability. There aren’t any centers
that can be had in a trade that wouldn’t cripple the Hawks. It’s not even worth
discussing, because those guys just aren’t out there to trade for. And though a
move to power forward would no doubt extend Horford’s career, it should be
pointed out that he’s sort of kicking a little butt at the center position this
year.
Al is averaging a 24 Player Efficiency Rating in the pivot while playing nearly half
of Atlanta’s minutes at center, and that’s just a step below MVP numbers
when it comes to PER. He’s not far off at a 22 PER as a big forward, though we
should point out that he gives up just a 12 PER (a sterling mark, because
typical power forward stats tend to translate better to PER than any other
position) while guarding fours. He gives up a 17 PER at center, so it is clear
that — though he plays better offensively at the five — his worth to the
Hawks overall is more pronounced at big forward.
Even without the help of 82games.com, Atlanta
knows this. But what can they do about it? Chase down Nene? Hope that Jim Buss
finally tires of Andrew Bynum, while gutting their roster to grab him? Catch
Avery Johnson on a bad day, regarding Brook Lopez, when Billy King’s cell phone
battery has run out? There’s just not a lot out there. There’s also a reason the
"try to package a deal for a serviceable center" suggestion has been floating
around since this league started up.
It’s understandable, Tito, as you watch your son bang with
the best of them. But understand that Al Horford is amongst the best of them.
This guy doles out more punishment than he takes in, and while that’s cold
comfort as you watch him take the slings and arrows at a position he’s not best
suited for, the warming element has to be Al Horford’s fantastic 2010-11 run as
all-world center.
Schwartz got to the point of it, later in his column:
How good would he be as a power forward?
"He’d be a beast," [Atlanta] coach Larry Drew said.
He would be. But he also is a beast, now, full stop.
Recognize and appreciate it now, and then do what you can should something pop
up.
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