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Specifically I'm curious about what sort of impact you think he has defensively. I've only seen a handful of Hawks games the last year or two and don't have a real good grasp on Horfords game yet.

How is he man to man? What about team defense? Does he have the potential to anchor a defense or does he need to be paired with another strong defender?

Fill me in, please. The more feedback the better.

I'll start, but I imagine you'll find some differences in opinion among Hawks' fans.

My observation is that Horford is a solid defender against most 4's and 5's. He's an excellent defensive rebounder and an underrated shotblocker (virtually anyone one would be next to Smith). He plays fundamental defense and often uses his rare combination of size, strength, and skill to snatch the rebound, bring the ball up to halfcourt, and then fire a pass to one of the other athletes on the team. IMHO, he is the anchor of the Hawks' defense, and Atlanta has been quite successful in pairing Smith with Horford. His solid positional defense allows Smith a bit more freedom than most players would allow. On second thought, it might be more accurate the describe the Horford/Smith pairing as the anchor, since the defense isn't the same when one or both of them aren't in the game.

That said, I'm not in any way convinced that the Hawks can win a championship with Horford playing most of his time at the 5. He struggles with bigger centers, obviously, and has quite often found himself in foul trouble. Quicker, more agile 4's like Aldridge would cause Horford some difficulty, but it's basically the talented 5's that are a problem.

The good news is that Horford is more than capable of defending the 5's with no offensive game, and that's why the Hawks have finally been able to return to respectability. Many of us would like to see the Hawks add a legit defensive 5 (most likely going to have to be one with no offensive game) to rely upon when Horford is being overmatched. For the time being, I think Horford has played well enough and has enough offensive potential that a backup center (e.g., Jeff Foster, Joel Pryzbilla) would suffice.

In brief:

Man-to-man vs. agile 4's (e.g., Garnett, Aldridge): average at best
Man-to-man vs. traditional 4's (e.g., Boozer, Randolph): good, with potential to be much better
Man-to-man vs. offensively-poor 5's (e.g., Chandler, Perkins): solid
Man-to-man vs. bigger/taller 5's: (e.g., Ming, Ilgauskas): poor

In terms of team defense, I have no complaints.

Awesome break down. Thanks a bunch for taking the time - that was a great read. I can't wait to see what some other Hawks fans have to say.

great point on Horford. The Hawks are one player away from best in the league. Horford can be an all-star at the four and the team needs a 25 minute a night 5 who allows the team to be versatile. For instance Kedrick Perkins. I had hoped that they would go after desagna Diop and continue to start the team now but play him against the big teams. Horford is also a great leader on defense with discipline which helps our team defense. WE Look good this year.

Horford is the reflection of a guy who spent 4 years in college and won 2 national championships. He understands the game. His basketball IQ is very high for a 4/5. His defense is very good I'd say. Of course he's struggled with a 7'6'' Yao ming or Z. Ilgauskas, but I'd guess most guys do anyway. I trully believe the turnaround point for this franchise was the day we got him and also M. Bibby. Horford is actually the reason I forgive BK. He's not D. Williams, but he's certainly a piece we should have around if we want to get to the promise land.

^^^ I can't forgive BK for the Horford pick. We lucked into drafting third that year anyway. If it wasn't for the ping pong balls going our way in the lotto, we'd have no first round pick in that draft altogether and Zaza starting at center.

Horford's D is being vastly overrated in this thread. He is a solid man defender who shows signs of being a great help defender but isn't consistent enough on the weakside. And it's not always just the bigger guys that give him problems, sometimes he just seems off balance when guarding good offensive players and he can give up a big night. But, overall, he's a slightly above average defender.

Horford would not all of a sudden become an all-star if he moved to the 4 as so many here would like to think. Moving him to the 4 would only benefit him on defense, but there's no reason to do that since Smith is a better defender at that position anyway. He doesn't have much of an array of offensive moves, doesn't like to use his quickness to blow past slower players. He has two moves in the post, the hook and the turnaround fadaway, neither of which are consistent at all. He is great rebounder and a very good midrange shooter, though, and he finishes well in traffic. He's a pretty good free throw shooter and is a great leader and really gets the team fired up.

All that said he's only in his second year and basically puts up a double double every night, definitely a great asset to have.

STUD * e.o.r. *

I think he'd be a little better defensively at the 4 most of the time but he has just as much trouble when he plays the really good face-up 4s as he does the really good back down 5s, if not more trouble. Offensively I think he's better at the 5. He's not a dominant post player regardless of who is defending him because he's not very fluid in the post and doesn't have a particularly impressive array of moves. He's better when he can catch and shoot his mid-range J or use the threat of the shot to make a quick move towards the hoop.