1. Not a power forward.
As much as people want to make hypothetical line ups with Horford and Drummond dominating on both ends of the floor, it just wouldn’t happen. Yes, Horford has great size. Yes, he can also shoot the mid range, and more recently, the three-point shot, but he is far too slow in doing so.
By the time Al is set to launch his shot his defender could go have a cup of coffee, maybe read the newspaper, then get back in time to get a hand in his face. It works a lot better for him when he’s in the center position because he’s more likely to have a slower defender on him. Having Paul Millsap spread the floor doesn’t hurt, either.
If he was to play power forward and have a quicker man defending him, as well as Drummond pitching his tent down in the paint, it could make things a little difficult. You could say that’s when Horford takes his man down low, or uses his mid range game, but Drummond takes up a lot of space and that’s not Van Gundy style.
Van Gundy would rather have the ball flowing and open shooters taking uncontested 3 pointers. Having Horford may take away from that, much like it did with the man I’ll be talking about next.
Next: Similarities to Greg Monroe