Horford won't sign a Contract Extension before next summer

[dms269]

Not sure if this was posted yet, but here is his "letter" to Atlanta fans.



http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/horford-thanks-hawks-fans-with-full-page-ad/nrs9T/

From the comments we have gotten apparently from his father and Al wanting to play in front of more fans, this just seems to be him twisting the knife a little more in the backs of all of the fans who did support him.

[Jamaaliver]

From the comments we have gotten apparently from his father and Al wanting to play in front of more fans, this just seems to be him twisting the knife a little more in the backs of all of the fans who did support him.

This is really interesting to hear from a fellow long-timer.

My fandom dates back to the days of Laettner, Mookie, Steve Smith and Mutombo. And I still remember the heartache I felt on the day we moved Smith to Portland for JR Rider.

Hell, every one of those guys was eventually shown the door by management.

One thing I've learned over the following 15+ years is that every Hawks tenure comes to an end. And until recently...every top Hawks tenure ended with management shipping them away as a 'business decision'. Even though Josh officially left in Free Agency, it was ultimately the Front Office deciding to move on from him.

I am also disappointed AL left. But I consider this 'business decision' the same as the others.

Every single Hawk will leave. I can't fault them for doing it on their own terms (AL) as opposed to being shipped away against their will (JJ, Teague, Mutombo, Dominique).

[ATL Boy]

Not sure if this was posted yet, but here is his "letter" to Atlanta fans.



http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/horford-thanks-hawks-fans-with-full-page-ad/nrs9T/

From the comments we have gotten apparently from his father and Al wanting to play in front of more fans, this just seems to be him twisting the knife a little more in the backs of all of the fans who did support him.

"Letter." "Full page ad." It's 8 half lines, probably done for PR purposes.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[dms269]

From the comments we have gotten apparently from his father and Al wanting to play in front of more fans, this just seems to be him twisting the knife a little more in the backs of all of the fans who did support him.

This is really interesting to hear from a fellow long-timer.

My fandom dates back to the days of Laettner, Mookie, Steve Smith and Mutombo. And I still remember the heartache I felt on the day we moved Smith to Portland for JR Rider.

Hell, every one of those guys was eventually shown the door by management.

One thing I've learned over the following 15+ years is that every Hawks tenure comes to an end. And until recently...every top Hawks tenure ended with management shipping them away as a 'business decision'. Even though Josh officially left in Free Agency, it was ultimately the Front Office deciding to move on from him.

I am also disappointed AL left. But I consider this 'business decision' the same as the others.

Every single Hawk will leave. I can't fault them for doing it on their own terms (AL) as opposed to being shipped away against their will (JJ, Teague, Mutombo, Dominique).

I have no problem with him leaving.

My problem is him bashing the fans with the quotes after he left then trying to rebuild his image.

[HMFFL]

I just began twelve days off from work on Wednesday and have been catching up with friends over the last couple of days.
Many of them are very upset about Horford's departure, but I'm excited about the addition of Dwight Howard, and my friends seem to not understand. I realize it can be difficult to some people to deal with change and especially when a guy like Horford played so many years for us.
I believe Horford reached his ceiling with us. I highly doubt we would have improved much by locking him up to the four year deal we offered, but had we done it, I would have supported it. I believe we've upgraded the 5 and I expect Dwight Howard to play similar to the way he did with Orlando. Horford will continue to excel with Boston and their young core of talent.
Like many of you, the comments he made, and his family made will be those that I intend to not forget about. Whilte it's not worth holding a grudge over, I won't be shocked after his contract with Boston, if he attempts to finish his final years in Atlanta.

[D21]

You all are getting it all wrong.........Al didn't want to play with Dwight at anything less that 5yrs/$153 million./End

At anything less than 5yrs/141.25M which is exactly the same average than the 4yrs/113M he had from BOS
That's the explanation for the 6M more than the 135M offer he got from ATL

[dms269]

You all are getting it all wrong.........Al didn't want to play with Dwight at anything less that 5yrs/$153 million./End

At anything less than 5yrs/141.25M which is exactly the same average than the 4yrs/113M he had from BOS
That's the explanation for the 6M more than the 135M offer he got from ATL

I think it is similar to the JJ situation from a couple of years back. It was, "Pay me the full max or I am walking" and Atlanta decided to go out and find them a replacement player who would make less.

By that time it was already too late for Al to go back on his original demands.

[atlantabbq99]

Can we investigate whey Al doesn't want to play with Dwight. First of all, this is not a good excuse. This just makes Horford sound lame. Is it because Al doesn't want to play PF? or because Al is a prima dona and has an attitude problem and entitlement complex ?

[HMFFL]

^
I'd like to know more details as well.
Al has been quoted in the past to wanting to play power forward, correct?
I thought it was always the plan to move him to the 4 if we found a 5 that was good enough to start.

[D21]

Al has been quoted in the past to wanting to play power forward, correct?
I thought it was always the plan to move him to the 4 if we found a 5 that was good enough to start.

And he asked the Hawks to improve the team...
- Biggest need : rebounding
-> Hawks put 23M/yr to get the fourth rebounding leaders
-> He walks away

This point needs explanations. I'd like to know if he wanted to play with a better passing C like Gasol (still 11rbd/game) or Noah, and if that was the case, if he told it clearly to Bud before the Free Agency.
Maybe he told it, and saw that guys like that don't want to come here. If that's the case, I'd also be curious to know why guys like Gasol preferred 7-8M with CHI instead of 11M with ATL for CHI two years ago. Hawks already tried to get him in 2012 for Josh Smith.

Regarding the C-PF debate, he would have shared his playing time between C and PF anyway because they would have mainly played Dwight-Al-Paul as rotation on the two spots.

[jayu70]

Al has been quoted in the past to wanting to play power forward, correct?
I thought it was always the plan to move him to the 4 if we found a 5 that was good enough to start.

And he asked the Hawks to improve the team...
- Biggest need : rebounding
-> Hawks put 23M/yr to get the fourth rebounding leaders
-> He walks away

This point needs explanations. I'd like to know if he wanted to play with a better passing C like Gasol (still 11rbd/game) or Noah, and if that was the case, if he told it clearly to Bud before the Free Agency.
Maybe he told it, and saw that guys like that don't want to come here. If that's the case, I'd also be curious to know why guys like Gasol preferred 7-8M with CHI instead of 11M with ATL for CHI two years ago. Hawks already tried to get him in 2012 for Josh Smith.

Regarding the C-PF debate, he would have shared his playing time between C and PF anyway because they would have mainly played Dwight-Al-Paul as rotation on the two spots.

Maybe Al could have helped his cause and done some recruiting as well?

[D21]

Maybe Al could have helped his cause and done some recruiting as well?

Hard to know if he did or not, but that's right we hear sometimes that guys have been recruiting for other teams and we didn't hear anything for ATL

[td00]

Here is what the AJC got out of Al in this latest interview:

"Were you still with the Hawks right up to the end? Al Horford: At the beginning my plan was to stay (in Atlanta). I started to see that when the team stepped up and did what they had to do, I didn’t think we were on the same page. That’s when I was forced to start looking at other options.
Q. Are you talking about the Hawks signing Dwight Howard?
Al Horford: No, it was more from a financial standpoint.

It wasn't about where his heart was. Al left because he didn't get the Joe Johnson max deal where we go as far as Joe takes us.

We're talking about a few million dollars that Al squabbled over and got his feelings hurt over.....Perhaps he was happy with his last contract, but he definitely wanted all he could get. But come that year 5, Al will not be today's Al, and that would hamper our salary cap.

I am so okay the more I look at this. I think we moved a marginal all-star for a solid all-star. I think Dwight has that in him and now he gets a coaching staff that will complement his talent. Bickerstaff as his coach was nowhere near what Dwight needed.

There is reason to be very optimistic about this upcoming season. Our team is becoming very deep and very talented. Baze and DS simply have to prove their worth now while we have Sap/Dwight together.

[Jamaaliver]

^Yeah, sounds as if, at the end of the day...it was simply a business decision.

One of the facets of being recruited and undergoing contract negotiations:

A) You have a slew of teams telling you how wonderful you are and throwing as much money as they possibly can at your feet.

B) You have your current employer attempting to limit enthusiasm in an effort to minimize the next contract.


It's not surprising that, after he negotiated a sweetheart deal on the previous contract, a taste of Unrestricted Free Agency was enough to get him to pursue other opportunities.