Sunday, July 08, 2007, 1:43 PM
Sports
By SP Webmaster
Shooting for success
“I’m physically ready and I’m a winner,” says brand-new Atlanta Hawk Al Horford.
Scott Cunningham/Getty Images BY KEN COLEMAN
Success in the NBA Draft is to the Atlanta Hawks as the Daytime Emmy was to Susan Lucci for many years—a seemingly unattainable goal. Nonetheless, there was a palpable excitement among Hawks fans this year, thanks to the team’s ownership of the third and 11th picks in what was arguably the deepest draft in recent years.
The Hawks’ draft night party at Philips Arena was packed, buzzing with so much anticipation that it felt like a playoff game—not that Hawks fans would remember what that feels like. After Portland and Seattle selected Greg Oden and Kevin Durant with the first and second picks, respectively, all eyes turned to Atlanta. And with 90 seconds left on the Hawks’ draft clock, the arena interrupted ESPN’s live draft coverage to cut to the Hawks’ locker-room doors, where television play-by-play man Bob Rathbun stood with head coach Mike Woodson to divulge Atlanta’s pick to the hometown crowd before anyone else.
When Woodson named Florida Gator Al Horford, there were cheers and boos from the crowd at Philips—with the boos louder and much more passionate. When the ESPN feed resumed and David Stern made the official announcement, there were more boos—but no cheers this time.
Most of those came from fans who wanted the Hawks to select point guard Mike Conley Jr. But the overwhelming consensus among draft experts says that Horford was the best and most NBA-ready player available.
Horford himself echoes those sentiments. “I stayed three years in college and worked on my game, so I feel ready to come in and help a team right away,” he tells The Sunday Paper.
To be sure, Horford seems to have a leg up on No. 2 pick Kevin Durant. Unlike Durant, who proved unable to bench press 185 lbs. even once, the 6’10”, 245-lb. junior benched that amount 20 straight times during the pre-draft camp, proving that the transition from college’s finesse game to the NBA’s power game won’t be a difficult one.
The mild-mannered, intelligent Horford, who speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese, showed consistent year-to-year improvement during his stint with the Florida Gators, averaging 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists per game at the end of his junior season. And his teammates have acknowledged him as the best player on a squad that won back-to-back NCAA championships and boasted six future NBA draft picks.
It’s a little early yet to tell whether Horford will become an NBA All-Star and lead the Hawks back to prominence in the league. But one’s things for sure: He’s setting his sights high. When asked which NBA player he’d most want to emulate, Horford has a ready answer that should encourage those naysaying Hawks fans. “Probably Karl Malone,” he says. Certainly, the Hawks brass would love to have someone with Malone’s prowess and stats in the starting rotation.
But Horford prefers to leave the speculation and second-guessing to others. “I want to come in with my own identity and be a different player,” he says. “I’m physically ready and I’m a winner, and that’s gonna help me in the NBA.” SP