Just because the Hawks have lost three straight games, doesn’t take away from their great season. With a 21-11 record, Atlanta is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Aside from Joe Johnson, who is a virtual lock for the All-Star game, there’s a decent chance that the Hawks could send another player, possibly two, to Dallas for the NBA’s midseason classic.

Josh Smith will get some votes because of his dominating defense and his ability to fill up a stat sheet. Al Horford is another guy, whose play warrants All-Star consideration. Making the squad won’t be easy. Horford is grouped with a bunch of similar players putting up similar stats that are all fighting for the second or third center slots. I broke down Al’s chances.

Why He’s In: Horford has really stepped it up this season. His numbers are up (14 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 59.3 fg% in ’09-10 vs. 11.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 52.5 fg% in ’08-09) and the Hawks are a better team this season. He’s also had some monster performances like the 25 points, 19 rebounds and 5 blocks he put on Indiana the other week. On top of averaging a double-double, Horford is fourth in the league in field goal percentage.

There’s talk that Joakim Noah could rival Horford for this spot, but Al scores more, shoots at a higher percentage and his team is a lot better. Yeah, Brook Lopez is putting up some good stats (18.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.0 bpg), but his team is a dismal 3-30. With that record, he doesn’t deserve to be an All-Star even if he averaged 25 and 13. Andrew Bogut is another big that’s having a good season (15.4 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.9 bpg), but the Bucks have been on a slide as of late and have recently dropped out of the playoff picture. Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani has also been solid (16.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg), but both Horford’s stats and his team’s record are better.

Why He’s Not: With more than a million more votes than the next highest voted center, it’s a safe bet that Dwight Howard will start for the Eastern Conference. That means there’s only one guaranteed center slot that will be up for grabs. You have to believe that Shaquille O’Neal is the front runner for that spot. On top of the coaches voting him in out of respect (see Michael Jordan circa 2003), the Cavs are in second place in the East. If the coaches don’t pick Shaq, than Horford will have a decent chance to grab that spot. But then again, the coaches could opt with Lopez because of his stats. Another factor would be whether the coaches want to vote in Josh Smith. If they do, they might be hesitant to vote in a third Hawk to the game.

Final Verdict: Although it’s a close call, I would say that Horford will be left off the initial All-Star roster when the reserves are announced. But if Shaq (assuming he makes it) or another big goes down, I think Al will be the first replacement.