snowman wrote:Horford is the best defensive big man, against other big men, in the NBA today and has been for a while. If all he does is slow down the opposing big men we face, come off the bench and help lead the 2nd unit, he will earn his contract this season, even with taking all the back-to-backs off. It seemed like he missed a ton of 3's last season, but he still shot 44% for the season. His misses just come at a time that the focus was more evident, like in the playoffs. If he can continue to average 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a block per game as a big off the bench, I'll take that all day long. He will score his points against the other team's 2nd unit, and when his contract is over in 2 years, he will either become our big man coach or our version of Udonis Haslem.
Agreed.
The other thing he does that is so valuable is the way he moves the ball on offense. He's very unselfish. Sure, he shoots a lot of 3's but he pretty much only takes good looks from 3 when he's open and it's in the flow of the offense. Other than that, he's very good at making very quick passes. So he'll get the ball and not hold onto it very long at all - really quickly moving it to a teammate, like a hot potato to keep the offense flowing.
And it's not just making a quick pass, but it's the combination of quick passes with making smart passes. You can make a quick pass but if you're passing it to Pritchard in the low post with Embiid defending him, it's a bad pass. Or if you make a quick pass but it's to the top of the key where Jimmy Butler is there to steal it - bad pass. Horford is good at making quick, smart passes. He's a good "connective passer".
The combination of connective passing + shooting + defensive versatility + leadership is a really solid combo. He's got great chemistry with our core players, on and off the court. Keep giving him 20-30 MPG as long as he can handle it.
I want this man to get a ring!
