When people fret over how expensive an athlete’s contract might be, they tend to look at all of the bad stuff. So in the interest of minimizing Al Horford’s value to the Hawks, let’s consider his perceived weaknesses.
He’s seldom the first option on offense. He’s often not even the second option. He’s not as consistently aggressive in the post as he should be. He’s not as consistently physical as he needs to be. In a season when the Hawks took a step back and needed more from Horford in the playoffs, he took a step back.
All that said, understand this: If Horford goes away, say hello to Hawks’ irrelevance again.