Horford chasing gold

Post #1 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:12 pm

Hawks center Al Horford has joined forces with fellow NBA stars Charlie Villanueva and Francisco Garcia on the Dominican Republic’s national team this summer.

They are being hailed, along with former NBA player Luis Flores, as the “Dominican Dream Team,” in their homeland.

The FIBA Americas Championship will be played from Aug. 26 to Sept. 6, played in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Link

TAI8 · Post #2 » by **TAI8** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:45 pm

What are Hwaks fans' opinion on this guy? Do you see him as a bust or disappointment? Or do you believe he met expectations...

evildallas · Post #3 » by **evildallas** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:47 pm

Since we didn't send a team, I'm going to cheering on Al and the rest of the D.R.

Harry10 · Post #4 » by **Harry10** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:48 am

TAI8 wrote:What are Hwaks fans' opinion on this guy? Do you see him as a bust or disappointment? Or do you believe he met expectations...

he is a 10/10 center who plays above average defense, and his PER is just as good if not better than Brandon Wright, Conley, Yi, Hawes. Horford has a low ceiling, but their is no player that was drafted below Al that is that much better now.

evildallas · Post #5 » by **evildallas** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:36 pm

Al gets a lot of love from Atlanta fans because he works hard, has a good attitude, and showed leadership and fire in the playoffs his rookie year. His stats are a bit weak on offense, but that is understandable given the offensive style run by the Hawks and the fact that he is the 5th option normally. A lot of people point out that he is optimally a PF, but there is a dearth of quality true centers anymore so that only hurts him in certain matchups. He does have problems creating his own shot against longer players, but he's smart enough that he'll learn what he can and can't do to overcome that limitation.

evildallas · Post #6 » by **evildallas** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:34 am

Al's having some problems adjusting to the International game fouling out in both outings so far. They've split their first two with big games against Venezuela and Argentina this weekend. This is just the preliminary round. The real action starts Sept. 1st.

evildallas · Post #7 » by **evildallas** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:39 am

With a win over Venezuela, Al's team clinches a trip to the 2nd round. Not sure if Sunday's game against Argentina has any real meaning. Good to see that Al didn't foul out this time.

evildallas · Post #8 » by **evildallas** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:13 am

Al had his best game so far although the DR lost in OT to Argentina by 2. Al played 43 minutes scored 24 and pulled down 11 boards. That 43 minutes is real surprising considering that he ultimately fouled out.

evildallas · Post #9 » by **evildallas** » Wed Sep 2, 2009 5:18 pm

Al was big (17 pts, 12 rbs) in a win over Uruguay. Tonight brings a match up with the undefeated Puerto Rico squad. Big game for the Dominican as they are tied for 4th right now in the standings.

evildallas · Post #10 » by **evildallas** » Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:21 am

9/2 saw a strong outing from Al but another DR loss. Puerto Rico won 85-76 while Al but up 18 pts and 10 boards. Al shot 8 of 12, but strangely one of his misses was a 3 point attempt. I'm guessing that must have been an end of quarter hurl rather than a planned attempt.

I've not watched a lot of the tourney, but I suspect the Dominican team is suffering from the same drawback that haunted Team USA earlier this decade. They've got some talented players like Al, Charlie V, Francisco Garcia, and Luis Flores. However, they just came together at the start of the tourney. Other countries in the tourney like Puerto Rico have rosters more attuned to playing together. The other issue could be a lack of quality depth.

evildallas · Post #11 » by **evildallas** » Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:16 pm

The Daily Al update has him scoring 10 and grabbing 9 boards in light minutes. DR rested their starters quite a bit in an easy win over Mexico. They face Canada in showdown for the last spot in the next round. Mano-a-Mano elimination on Friday.

evildallas · Post #12 » by **evildallas** » Sat Sep 5, 2009 3:20 am

Horford's summer ends with a disappointing loss to Canada by 4. Al put up 14 pts and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes. I'm sad that he didn't make it to the championship round as I wanted to see what he could do in that situation, but the D.R. team while talented wasn't team or experienced playing together. I wonder what the reaction will be to their not meeting the lofty expectations that grew from having multiple NBA players on the squad. Francisco Garcia broke his finger and didn't play in the game. Maybe we should be happy that Al concludes the tourney without an injury.