Al Horford has had a great career so far. 2 time NCAA Champion with Florida, 3 All-Star appearances and has been with Atlanta since 07. Not bad. But now that the Atlanta Hawks have stopped being average, it’s time for Al Horford to propel his team to greater heights. This means that he has to stay healthy and the team needs to look Playoff ready. Last season most of us knew that they wouldn’t make many waves in the Playoffs no matter how dominant they were in the regular season.
In a Q&A with Sports Illustrated, Horford talked about his offseason workouts, team goals and his incoming contract negotiations.
SI.com: What’s been your personal focus in off-season workouts?
Horford: Just making sure that I get more comfortable playing out at the elbows. A lot of the offense predicates on us bigs making plays there, and also making sure I keep working on my low post game. Those are the two things I’m really focusing on.
SI.com: How big was it for the Hawks to be able to keep Paul Millsap?
Horford: It was very important. I think that was the priority for us, to make sure we brought Paul back. Being able to add Tiago Splitter and Tim Hardaway, really was big. Unfortunately, we lost DeMarre [Carroll, who signed long-term with Toronto]—he’s such a great player, but it was the type of thing he couldn’t turn down, and it’s what’s best for him and his family.
SI.com: Lastly, I know you’ve said you’re waiting after the season to figure out your contract situation. What led you to that decision? [Horford will be a free agent in 2016.]
Horford: For me, I’m very happy in Atlanta. It’s one of those things where I don’t want any contract talks to be a distraction for my team and me. I feel like my focus this year is for us to build and be better. Since we can’t do anything right now, we’ll wait until the season’s over and then we can start talking about all that.
Horford will be a very high asset to pick up next season. Atlanta would be crazy not to simply give him a blank check. He’s been their best player ever since he was drafted and with a skillset like that. He would be a great ‘final piece of the puzzle’ for many teams out there.
