72 reasons to be excited about the Atlanta Hawks: #40 Al Horford leading the fast break

by hawksdawgs on Sep 21, 2009 9:09 PM EDT

Some people say Al Horford is not a center, well he plays one in real life. And our center is probably our second best guy leading the fast break. Sure, that fact has a depressing quality to it, but it is also great. (Like the fact that Hawks almost led the league in giving away free tickets last year.) Of all the centers in the league, I can remember seeing two still in the league push the pace off a rebound. Shaquille O'Neal and Horford. With Shaq, it was a bit of a novelty. With Horford, it is relief. Every time Horford grabs a board and starts dribbling, there is this non verbal "enough is enough." This "I weigh 245 pounds and play the five so I am going to force you to take advantage thing" spoken in every dribble. Do you want to see it every time? No. But Horford has the skill and smarts to catch the other team off guard, and while a Shaq might lead the break for the television camera every once in a while, he certainly does not run one down for them. And more often than not that means, with the second or third pass of the break, we get some of reason number 70 to cheer about.

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Horford’s good at leading the break for the same reason that Shaq is good at it-limited dribbling. Shaq just makes the outlet passes from underneath the baskets to initiate the break.

With Horford, you usually get 1, 2 dribbles before he passes the ball, and if you’re going to lead the break as a big man, that’s appropriate.

Less appropriate is Josh Smith leading the break, dribbling all the way to three point line, stopping, and then letting the defense set up before he passes off to JJ.

by Bronn on Sep 22, 2009 2:24 AM EDT reply actions