Horford talks Hawks’ playoff potential, trades

Al Horford said the Hawks feel confident in their ability to go far into the postseason this year. (Ray Amati/NBAE via Getty Images)

I touched on Atlanta’s upcoming schedule and long-term cap situation Monday morning. In a happy coincidence, Al Horford and I are two of the few NBA-related out-of-towners still in Los Angeles. We met for a one-on-one at the NBA’s Jam Session on Monday, and Horford answered a bunch of questions about the state of the Hawks, the Eastern Conference and his jump shot. Here’s what he had to say:

The Point Forward: You guys are having another nice season at 34-21, but you’ve got by far the toughest remaining schedule among Eastern Conference teams. Is that something you talk about as a team? Do you worry about that in terms of playoff seeding?

Horford: [laughing] I actually wasn’t aware of that, man — that we have the toughest schedule. I didn’t know that. So it’s one of those things where we’re going to have to take it game by game. You can’t look ahead at all. A lot of those games are at home, so at least that’s a good thing. (Note: 15 of Atlanta’s 27 remaining games are indeed at home.) 

PF: As things stand now, you would face Orlando in the 4-5 series in the first round. We all know what happened last season in the playoffs, but you guys have beaten them twice this season with Jason Collins starting at center against Dwight Howard. Are you guys more confident you can beat Orlando in a seven-game series if it comes to that? 

Horford: Oh, yeah. We’re a lot more confident against them this season as opposed to last season. If we have to do it, we do feel like we have a really good chance. 

PF: The Eastern Conference is better this season and going forward than it was a year ago, with Chicago on the rise and Miami set for the next half-decade. Do you look at your record — you’re on pace for about the same number of wins this year as last — and your cap situation and worry about the team’s place in the conference in the next few years?

Horford: No question. You have to look at that. Everyone else is getting better, and that opens up questions as to what your team is doing and whether we need to make changes. What happens in this postseason is going to be really important in that sense. 

PF: The worst-case scenario is that you lose in the first round, which would be a step back from where you finished the last two seasons. Would that change your long-term view of the franchise? 

Horford: I definitely agree that would be a huge step back or us. We feel like we do have the capability to go deep into the playoffs. 

PF: Let me be more specific — you guys are pretty much capped out until 2013, at least as things stand now. That raises the possibility of either going forward with this group of guys or making a move to free up cap space before then. Is that something you guys talk about internally — the possibility that someone like Marvin Williams or Josh Smith could get moved, even in the next three days before the trade deadline? Would you support something like that?

Horford: I don’t worry about it, and it’s not something we talk about as players. We don’t talk about the salary cap. But I do want to be in a position where I can win and be successful, and whatever it takes for us to do that, I’ll be supportive of that. 

PF: There have been reports that the team has put Marvin Williams on the block. Do you ignore those, or do you start thinking in your head about what the team would be like without him? 

Horford: Oh, yeah, you think about it. Marvin is one of our core guys. He’s a starter. You wonder about it, for sure. But the general manager [Rick Sund] makes those decisions, not us. He’ll do whatever he feels is best. Same thing with Josh. It can really be any of us.

PF: Let’s talk about on-court stuff. There was a lot of hype earlier in the season about Larry Drew moving away from so many isolations and implementing a new motion-style offense. But how different are things, really, from your perspective? Sometimes I watch you guys, and the offense — the sets and stuff — do look a lot more motion-oriented. But in other games, like against the Knicks before the All-Star break, you tend to isolate more — and in that game, you had good matchups to do it. 

Horford: We’re a little bit more of a half-court team this season. Last year we were running more. And I think we need to get out and run more and freelance more. Coach Drew is doing a good job, it’s just that sometimes we tend to get away from running more and the things we do best.

PF: When I hear players say that — that the team is not always doing what it should be doing on offense — I always wonder why that is. Is it because of the coach’s philosophy and play-calling, or are players breaking plays on the court and improvising? Some of both? 

Horford: It’s both. A lot of times, we as players get caught up in saying, “Oh, we’ve got a mismatch!” But teams in this league are very good at positional defense. They’ll double-team you and front you and really disrupt that mismatch. 

PF: You guys are playing a lot more zone defense this season. Do you feel it’s working? Do you like it?

Horford: It’s really different for us. We weren’t used to it at first. But it’s always good to mix it up on teams. Overall, it’s OK. I’d rather play man-to-man, though. 

PF: You’ve got a pretty unique-looking jump shot, in terms of form. It obviously works, but it’s not textbook form. Your feet come apart and you almost tend to slide instead of jump, it looks like. Have coaches tried to change that form? 

Horford: I’ve worked a lot with Mark Price, and he told me that it’s really all about footwork. But he did say that he wasn’t going to change my form. He wants me to use my legs a little bit more, and that seems to work for me. 

As for my feet, the further the shot is from the hoop, the more I tend to be square. As I get closer to the rim, my right legs goes in front of my left leg a bit for some reason. 

PF: You mentioned going further from the hoop. Any plans to add the three-point shot to your game? 

Horford: Yeah, eventually. I have to put in the work, but it’ll be a part of my game I some point. I made a couple last season. [Note: Horford is 2-of-11 career from deep, with both makes coming last season — one in the regular season, one in the playoffs.)