Horford won't sign a Contract Extension before next summer

[MaceCase]

Dwight Howard is 6'11" 260lbs of nothing.

Free agency is a cardinal sin. I marvel at it's existence for, oh, about the past 30 years.

[Jamaaliver]

Dwight Howard is 6'11" 260lbs of nothing.

Free agency is a cardinal sin. I marvel at it's existence for, oh, about the past 30 years.

But D12's acquisition wasn't dependent on AL's departure.

Dwight Howard wasn't signed to replace AL...he was signed to play beside him.

We KNOW this.

[xccelerate]

Dwight Howard is 6'11" 260lbs of nothing.

Free agency is a cardinal sin. I marvel at it's existence for, oh, about the past 30 years.

But D12's acquisition wasn't dependent on AL's departure.

Dwight Howard wasn't signed to replace AL...he was signed to play beside him.

We KNOW this.

We signed him b/c Horford hedged at our initial 5 year offer. I reckon our front office knew Horford was leaning towards leaving and went and found insurance.

[MaceCase]

No, that's the narrative you're running with because it fits your agenda.

Dwight was signed as the full on contingency if Al decided to look elsewhere. What did Al do? Look elsewhere.

WE KNOW that BudCox had both Dwight and Bazemore already locked up on Friday with MOST of the money that they would have needed to resign Al.

They further negotiated with Al on Saturday and explored options to make that a possibility but they didn't budge on their final offer, why? BECAUSE THEY ALREADY HAD HIS REPLACEMENT IN PLACE.

Maybe in your mind things happened backwards. Maybe in your mind the Hawks threw a full 5 year max contract Al on Thursday night at 12:00:01 and he turned it down but

That

Did

Not

Happen

[Jamaaliver]

All that said, understand this: If Horford goes away, say hello to Hawks’ irrelevance again. That’s not to suggest Horford is LeBron James or Steph Curry or Kevin Durant. But the team has no realistic chance of acquiring significant assets to make up for his loss.

Here

[ATL Boy]

All that said, understand this: If Horford goes away, say hello to Hawks’ irrelevance again. That’s not to suggest Horford is LeBron James or Steph Curry or Kevin Durant. But the team has no realistic chance of acquiring significant assets to make up for his loss.

Here

I mean, in fairness, weren't we already irrelevant already. Getting swept in round 2 is pretty irrelevant.


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[Jamaaliver]

All that said, understand this: If Horford goes away, say hello to Hawks’ irrelevance again. That’s not to suggest Horford is LeBron James or Steph Curry or Kevin Durant. But the team has no realistic chance of acquiring significant assets to make up for his loss.

Here

I mean, in fairness, weren't we already irrelevant already. Getting swept in round 2 is pretty irrelevant.


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Amen, brother.

When your top playoff appearances in the entire century are:

1) getting swept in the Conf Finals
2) losing in Game Seven of the first round after making the 8th seed with a losing record or
3) losing again in Game Seven of the first round after making the 8th seed with a losing record...


your franchise isn't a big deal.

[D21]

I tried to understand his decision but there's a point I can't understand.
First, he brought lots of positive things to ATL since his first day, and that can't be changed, let's be honest. We could imagine him playing more under the basket last season, but it's nothing compared to all the good things.

Now, what I don't get is how it happened because it's like Horford and management had suddenly a problem of communication.
Since the end of the season, he said he loved the team, the city... and wanted to stay here.
He also said he would stay but wanted the team to improve.
What was the main problem ? spot C with out-rebounding problem.
What Bud does ? He gets Howard to sign here. Problem mainly fix if everybody else is staying.

Then ? Maybe we should not have signed Bazemore ? Maybe trade Millsap first ?... or he was thinking that Splitter was enough if healthy to fix the problem ?
What I don't get is that they did what he was asking, except 136M offer instead of 141M, and he walks away.
If improving the team was not fixing the rebounding problem and adding a star, then what Al had in mind, and why didn't he tell it to Bud ?

[Jamaaliver]

I tried to understand his decision but there's a point I can't understand.

If improving the team was not fixing the rebounding problem and adding a star, then what Al had in mind, and why didn't he tell it to Bud ?

Yeah, I can't really figure it myself.

I do think the Teague trade and Bazemore signing were bigger red flags than he has let on. Combine that with him being bumped from the marquee first by Millsap and then by D12...

Did ego come into play at least a bit? Probably.

But I also think he saw legitimate title aspirations from Danny Ainge, while Bud seems to be simply plugging holes to delay a sinking ship.

That $6 million difference indicates it wasn't just the money. It was a philosophical difference in the direction of franchise. He's had three coaches and 4 General Managers in nine seasons. It's resulted in once making the Conf Finals.

Easy to see how he might have reservations about the future.

[D21]

Easy to see how he might have reservations about the future.

Then just don't tell you really want to stay and you want the team to be improved, because they did it.
If Al did not say anything, it would have been easier to understand.

[orlandomanic]

I just came in here to say what a great job you did with the Horford situation by getting Dwight. alot of team are not able to replace a star with a better player. I remember the Suns loosing Amare for nothing and didn't get a replacement, Blazers didn't get a replacement for LMA, LA and Houston didn't get a replacement for Dwight.

This is one of the few times a star leaving actually made things better. I'm also surprised about the discount Dwight took to go back to Atlanta.

In Orlando, i always wanted to get a Rasheed Wallace, or Draymond, or Millsap type of PF to pair up with Dwight. I was always disappointed with Rashard Lewis, even though he had range, his defense didn't complement Dwight. I'm interested to see what Dwight's rebounding can do with Millsap and his post and midrange game.

[ofm05]

I wanted AL back just so we could see what Howard, AL, Sap lineup would look like. If they traded Sap I thought it would be a bad move. Sap over AL any day.

Al midrange game has fallen off it seems like he puts to much into his shot now, because of him trying to improve his 3pt range.

Milsap just dose more things on offense and plays better defense then AL.

[HMFFL]

I've disliked some of the comments by Horford and his family that have been recorded by the press.
However, I also believe that once everything calms down, Al will possibly regret leaving Atlanta, so I won't be surprised to hear this to be true years from now when he retires (or attempts a return).
He didn't want to play with Dwight Howard is supposedly the main factor. Now, if Dwight Howard sticks to what he says, and revamps his mindset & game, it's only going to be a success for us.

The what if factor comes to mind. Al could have played even more years with us and the what would the outcome had been had he teamed up with Dwight Howard. As of right now I feel great about our team going into the season.

[D21]

He didn't want to play with Dwight Howard is supposedly the main factor...

If it was so clear in his mind, and with rumors starting before July 1st, he could tell it to Bud and Cox, and I get the feeling that he kept it and decide to walk once Al AND Bazemore was signed, while he clearly said he wanted the team to be improved, and that's what Bud and Cox were doing. If Al wanted a different improvement, he could have say it.
I also think that even if this improvement was not his dream, he was kind of agreeing with it since he was just asking for 6M more to re-sign (and get the same average money than the BOS offer).

Like I said early, what didn't work seems to be a communication problem only. All the facts to do or to not do should have been clearly said since the end of the season against CLE.

As of right now I feel great about our team going into the season.

Strangely, I also get this feeling. I'm pretty sure we will be better than what most people think.
And like when Gasol and Deng signed with other teams, I hope we will finish the season better than BOS

[atlantabbq99]

I've disliked some of the comments by Horford and his family that have been recorded by the press.
However, I also believe that once everything calms down, Al will possibly regret leaving Atlanta, so I won't be surprised to hear this to be true years from now when he retires (or attempts a return).
Horford didn't want to play with Dwight Howard is supposedly the main factor. Now, if Dwight Howard sticks to what he says, and revamps his mindset & game, it's only going to be a success for us.

The what if factor comes to mind. Al could have played even more years with us and the what would the outcome had been had he teamed up with Dwight Howard. As of right now I feel great about our team going into the season.

If that is true that Horford didn't want to play with Dwight, then that just makes him a douche bag and un professional. Horford has been complaining for years about playing center and wanting to play PF, Hawks finally get a true center so that Horford can move to PF. if the Dwight excuse for Horford is true, then this just makes Al stupid, or Al is just lying.

[PandaKidd]

Dwight Howard is 6'11" 260lbs of nothing.

Free agency is a cardinal sin. I marvel at it's existence for, oh, about the past 30 years.

But D12's acquisition wasn't dependent on AL's departure.

Dwight Howard wasn't signed to replace AL...he was signed to play beside him.

We KNOW this.

Yeah Im going to completely disagree with this. If they WANTED AL they knew what they had to do. D12 was brought in quickly (IMO) to gain leverage over Al. It was a hey, if you leave us we will be alright, if you want to stay we can see what we can do to make it work. You said you wanted to play PF? Well heres your shot.

I dont believe for a second they thought they were truly getting Al to play with D12, i think all that rumbling about contracts being traded to get al back was to save face, it was a PR thing.

[atlantabbq99]

If the rumors are true that Horford told the Hawks that he DID NOT want to play with Dwight, then essentnially the Hawks had to pick either/or Horford or Dwight.

Dwight is younger and on a better contract then Horford and generally regarded as slightly better than Horford in terms of impact.

Thus we will know we won in the offseason by comparing Horford's production and wins to Dwight's production and wins in mid-season.

[Jamaaliver]

Yeah Im going to completely disagree with this. If they WANTED AL they knew what they had to do.

I dont believe for a second they thought they were truly getting Al to play with D12, i think all that rumbling about contracts being traded to get al back was to save face, it was a PR thing.

Then we should have traded AL. We could have gotten a first rounder or two in exchange for him.

Expiring LOVE got Andrew Wiggins.

Expiring Teague got a lottery pick.

Expiring Ibaka got Oladipo + a lottery pick.

Considering half the league was interested in AL during Free Agency, it's not unthinkable we could have gotten something for him earlier in trade AND STILL SIGNED D12.

[Jamaaliver]

Zach Lowe chimes in on what ATL's mindset was as things unfolded.

The Hawks were juggling a lot of balls in those frantic moments before Horford bolted to Boston. They had already agreed to a...deal with Dwight Howard. They were working to re-sign Horford anyway, and arranging a trade that would jettison Paul Millsap -- their best player last season.

The Horford-Howard front line would keep Atlanta competitive, and dealing Millsap would net rebuilding assets -- young players and picks to plop atop the No. 12 pick they received from Utah in the Jeff Teague deal. They could rebuild without dropping from the postseason.

It was an interesting plan until it fell apart. Horford is gone, Millsap remains, and the trade assets he'd have fetched stay in Denver, Phoenix or someplace else.

They talked about Millsap trades with Phoenix, Denver, Toronto and Houston; the Nuggets were ready to flip a players-and-picks package headlined by Kenneth Faried, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Here

[jayu70]

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