The Al Jefferson Appreciation Thread!

[JMillott]

My thoughts on trading Al Jefferson were covered a few pages ago but i'll at least say in Kahn's favor that now with Beasley in place that his idea to trade Jefferson makes a little more sense now. I thought the idea of a Kevin Love and Darko Millic frontline was completely (Please Use More Appropriate Word) as neither guy really benefitted from playing with the other where as both guys benefitted with Al Jefferson who really only benefitted from playing with Darko Millic who was the first center the Wolves have ever played him with that wasn't a completely useless NBA stiff.

Its just disgusting that he was only given three years here with almost no talent around him, roster stability, coaching stability and no real solid veterans around to lead them. All of this while being played almost exclusively out of position at center and when he did get to play his natural PF position most of the time it was next to a complete bum like Ryan Hollins.

On the rare occasion that more then two other players on the Wolves played well over his three years the Wolves seamed to win a large majority of those games which to me showed it was just a matter of Al Jefferson obviously not being LeBron James or Dwyane Wade in that he couldn't go it alone to make the team respectable.

For them to have traded him away this summer just as they were getting pieces in place that seam to compliment Jefferson better then any other player on the roster is just plain (Please Use More Appropriate Word) in my opinion.

To trade him within the division to a team that was very likely to take a step back for the Wolves to catch up with and who could've been in position to lose Deron Williams in a couple years if they did is even more (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

Last time Jefferson was truly healthy and had some support around him he was putting up 25/14 before the knee injury with Bassy freaking Telfair as his PG what do they think is going to happen when he has Deron Williams setting the table?

[moss_is_1]

Sucks to trade Al, he was really good for us in that 08-09 year. I wish him the best of luck in Utah, and it'll be nice to see him win some more games, and maybe even make strides on defense with the winning culture.

[Frozen316]

Now there isn't a specific side to pick seats for? I would want to be on the left side of the court so I could see Big Al do his thing

[hotshotschamp]

Al , watch your drinking in Utah, if you can find any liquor.

[Dewey]

just to have our GM kick you around sullying your reputation for months on end and finally ending the gong show that Kahn created

... what the?

15 WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we have a GM willing to overhaul the roster. No one WANTED to see Al traded, but lets understand one thing ... We could've built a winning team around Al, but it's highly unlikely we could've built a championship contender. Unless you draw the #1 pick like Wall, you just can't rebuild as many want believe. Had we got Wall, I guarentee Al would not have been traded. Anyway, we did pretty good considering ... see the real 2009-10 gong show below...

Added 2010: Beasley / Pekovic / $13 million-TPE
vs.
Discarded 2009: Cardinal / Gomes / Jefferson / Pecherov / Jawai

Added 2010: Johnson / Webster / Hayward
vs.
Discarded 2009: Wilkins / Sasha

Add it up we've clearly upgraded, plus, have cap flexibility:
Beasley-Pekovic-$13 million-TPE-Johnson-Webster-Hayward
vs.
Cardinal-Gomes-Jefferson-Pecherov-Jawai-Wilkins-Sasha

[shangrila]

I appreciate all your hard work Al. I appreciate that you took less then a max deal. I appreciate you didn't pass the ball to the scrubs McHale surrounded you with. I also appreciate your voice, like rolling thunder.

Best of luck Al and I'm glad the team traded you to a playoff/championship contending team. You deserved better from both this team and the league in your time here but hopefully you've been able to see how much fans like us here at realgm appreciate everything you've done for this franchise.

Oh and...screw the Lakers and screw the Mormons. Don't ever become either.

[skorff26]

just to have our GM kick you around sullying your reputation for months on end and finally ending the gong show that Kahn created

... what the?

15 WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we have a GM willing to overhaul the roster. No one WANTED to see Al traded, but lets understand one thing ... We could've built a winning team around Al, but it's highly unlikely we could've built a championship contender. Unless you draw the #1 pick like Wall, you just can't rebuild as many want believe. Had we got Wall, I guarentee Al would not have been traded. Anyway, we did pretty good considering ... see the real 2009-10 gong show below...

Added 2010: Beasley / Pekovic / $13 million-TPE
vs.
Discarded 2009: Cardinal / Gomes / Jefferson / Pecherov / Jawai

Added 2010: Johnson / Webster / Hayward
vs.
Discarded 2009: Wilkins / Sasha

Add it up we've clearly upgraded, plus, have cap flexibility:
Beasley-Pekovic-$13 million-TPE-Johnson-Webster-Hayward
vs.
Cardinal-Gomes-Jefferson-Pecherov-Jawai-Wilkins-Sasha

Lets see, Pekovic was drafted by McHale, we got Hayward and Bjelica from the Utah pick which was acquired by McHale, Webster came from Charlotte's pick which we got from Miami's 1st last year which was initially acquired by McHale... doesn't sound like Kahn did much there.

Johnson we got from being at the bottom of the league, a GM doesn't have to be a good GM to get a pick like that (and I personally believe we'll regret this pick later, should have went with Cousins)

That leaves Beasley (props to Kahn on that one, but I think he may end up being more problematic then he's worth and that's why we got him for so cheap)

Well I guess there's Ridnour for 4 million/yr as well.... no comment on that one

-And as for my initial comment about Kahn throwing Jefferson under the bus, for the past month we all have known that Kahn was moving Al and IMO we're lucky Jefferson held his tongue in check otherwise this could have gotten ugly. And with all Kahn's talking to the media about the offseason and what he is planning, my impression is that Kahn is placing a lot of the blame on Jefferson for the past season.

-Also you bring up the fact that Al isn't a #1 guy, and I agree completely. He is a #2 like he will be used in Utah. But as of now, we don't have a #1 or a #2 guy. We are all hoping Beasley can develop into one (but a lot of it is hope), Johnson might become a #2 but I think it's more likely he'll be a #3, and Love is likely a #3 or #4 guy... so now we are not only missing a #1 but we're missing a #2 as well.

[JMillott]

just to have our GM kick you around sullying your reputation for months on end and finally ending the gong show that Kahn created

... what the?

15 WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we have a GM willing to overhaul the roster. No one WANTED to see Al traded, but lets understand one thing ... We could've built a winning team around Al, but it's highly unlikely we could've built a championship contender. See the 2009-10 gong show below...

Added 2010: Beasley / Pekovic / $13 million-TPE
vs.
Discarded 2009: Cardinal / Gomes / Jefferson / Pecherov / Jawai

Added 2010: Johnson / Webster / Hayward
vs.
Discarded 2009: Wilkins / Sasha

Add it up we've clearly upgraded, plus, have cap flexibility:
Beasley-Pekovic-$13 million-TPE-Johnson-Webster-Hayward
vs.
Cardinal-Gomes-Jefferson-Pecherov-Jawai-Wilkins-Sasha

I've defended much of what Kahn has done as the gm in his 13 or so months on the job but that is actually a negative against making this deal.

Jefferson never got a fair shot here either under McHale or Kahn as the team has been blatantly flawed his entire time here be it by having to play out of position at center next to the wrong types of power forwards you'd actually want next to him if you were to play him at center in the first place be it Craig Smith, Kevin Love or even Ryan Gomes.

Then factor in two years of Telfair with Telfair as the only real PG on the roster and when the finally did address the PG position last summer it came at the expense of not only the best SG and SF on the roster but also the only real respected floor spacing wings on the roster which not only hamstrung Al Jefferson's space to work in the post but also the new young slashing PG's driving lanes basically didn't exist either without playing Ellington, Gomes and Love which left them basically without a single athlete or solid defender on the floor.

Just when the Wolves had finally addressed all of the issues keeping Al Jefferson from showing his full ability they trade him away for a trade exception and what should be late first round picks now that the Jazz have Al Jefferson.

Between Darko, Pekovic and Hollins the Wolves were finally in position at last to only have to play Al Jefferson at center when they wanted to create a match up problem for other teams.

Between Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, Corey Brewer, Wayne Ellington and Lazar Haywood they finally had multiple wing combonations that could provide shooting range, defense, length, athletic ability, etc dependant on what they wanted to do.

With all that in place it also meant the young PG's they picked up last summer where both in a position to be much more successful.

Sessions had already shown he could be very effective when playing with wings who can shoot the three and give him room to drive and either score or dish between his limited time with Ellington and Gomes last year and his time with the Bucks with Redd and R.Jefferson.

Flynn's two biggest limiting factors last year as a rookie were his turnovers (Brewer and Wilkens) which had more than a bit to do with the Wolves poor ability to space the floor and how large his negative impact was on the team defense. Now a large part of that has to do with his actual poor defense but the over looked and not so small part of that was that in fact that those turnovers lead to a lot of easy fast break baskets at the other end.

I fully believe that with better team defense (Darko, Big Al, Wes and Brewer) that his negative impact on the defense would no longer be so large and that with at least one dangerous three point shooter (Wes, Martell, Wayne, Love) if not two or three at times will result in a drastic reduction in turnovers and a large improvement in assists, scoring efficiency and free throws not to mention he shot the 3pt very well and very consistently after December.

On top of all the improvement expected by eliminating the negative impact of Wilkens, Hollins, Pavlovic, etc and even Gomes who was more of a bad fit then a bad player but these guys are so young we'd have had every reason to expect improvement regardless of fixing the blatant holes (shooting, spacing, size, length, athletic ability) in the lineup and they already had an offensive anchor in place to play off of.

Instead of just needing to find out which of Wesley Johnson or Johnny Flynn was going to be the 2nd or 3rd scoring option to play off of Al Jefferson as the 1st option they now in my opinion need to pray that Beasley can handle being a 1st option because nobody else on the roster has the potential to step in as a 20+ per game scorer.

I personally felt that when Beasley fell in their laps for nothing that it clearly made Kevin Love the most expendable piece they had in terms of being able to trade for a SG. I thought that being able to send Jefferson, Beasley, Sessions, Ellington and Webster out there against other teams benches would've allowed them to dominate offensively.

[Saltine]

just to have our GM kick you around sullying your reputation for months on end and finally ending the gong show that Kahn created

... what the?

15 WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we have a GM willing to overhaul the roster. No one WANTED to see Al traded, but lets understand one thing ... We could've built a winning team around Al, but it's highly unlikely we could've built a championship contender. Unless you draw the #1 pick like Wall, you just can't rebuild as many want believe. Had we got Wall, I guarentee Al would not have been traded. Anyway, we did pretty good considering ... see the real 2009-10 gong show below...

Added 2010: Beasley / Pekovic / $13 million-TPE
vs.
Discarded 2009: Cardinal / Gomes / Jefferson / Pecherov / Jawai

Added 2010: Johnson / Webster / Hayward
vs.
Discarded 2009: Wilkins / Sasha

Add it up we've clearly upgraded, plus, have cap flexibility:
Beasley-Pekovic-$13 million-TPE-Johnson-Webster-Hayward
vs.
Cardinal-Gomes-Jefferson-Pecherov-Jawai-Wilkins-Sasha

Lets see, Pekovic was drafted by McHale, we got Hayward and Bjelica from the Utah pick which was acquired by McHale, Webster came from Charlotte's pick which we got from Miami's 1st last year which was initially acquired by McHale... doesn't sound like Kahn did much there.

Johnson we got from being at the bottom of the league, a GM doesn't have to be a good GM to get a pick like that (and I personally believe we'll regret this pick later, should have went with Cousins)

That leaves Beasley (props to Kahn on that one, but I think he may end up being more problematic then he's worth and that's why we got him for so cheap)

Well I guess there's Ridnour for 4 million/yr as well.... no comment on that one

-And as for my initial comment about Kahn throwing Jefferson under the bus, for the past month we all have known that Kahn was moving Al and IMO we're lucky Jefferson held his tongue in check otherwise this could have gotten ugly. And with all Kahn's talking to the media about the offseason and what he is planning, my impression is that Kahn is placing a lot of the blame on Jefferson for the past season.

-Also you bring up the fact that Al isn't a #1 guy, and I agree completely. He is a #2 like he will be used in Utah. But as of now, we don't have a #1 or a #2 guy. We are all hoping Beasley can develop into one (but a lot of it is hope), Johnson might become a #2 but I think it's more likely he'll be a #3, and Love is likely a #3 or #4 guy... so now we are not only missing a #1 but we're missing a #2 as well.

I like how you left out Rubio.

[skorff26]

just to have our GM kick you around sullying your reputation for months on end and finally ending the gong show that Kahn created

... what the?

15 WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we have a GM willing to overhaul the roster. No one WANTED to see Al traded, but lets understand one thing ... We could've built a winning team around Al, but it's highly unlikely we could've built a championship contender. Unless you draw the #1 pick like Wall, you just can't rebuild as many want believe. Had we got Wall, I guarentee Al would not have been traded. Anyway, we did pretty good considering ... see the real 2009-10 gong show below...

Added 2010: Beasley / Pekovic / $13 million-TPE
vs.
Discarded 2009: Cardinal / Gomes / Jefferson / Pecherov / Jawai

Added 2010: Johnson / Webster / Hayward
vs.
Discarded 2009: Wilkins / Sasha

Add it up we've clearly upgraded, plus, have cap flexibility:
Beasley-Pekovic-$13 million-TPE-Johnson-Webster-Hayward
vs.
Cardinal-Gomes-Jefferson-Pecherov-Jawai-Wilkins-Sasha

Lets see, Pekovic was drafted by McHale, we got Hayward and Bjelica from the Utah pick which was acquired by McHale, Webster came from Charlotte's pick which we got from Miami's 1st last year which was initially acquired by McHale... doesn't sound like Kahn did much there.

Johnson we got from being at the bottom of the league, a GM doesn't have to be a good GM to get a pick like that (and I personally believe we'll regret this pick later, should have went with Cousins)

That leaves Beasley (props to Kahn on that one, but I think he may end up being more problematic then he's worth and that's why we got him for so cheap)

Well I guess there's Ridnour for 4 million/yr as well.... no comment on that one

-And as for my initial comment about Kahn throwing Jefferson under the bus, for the past month we all have known that Kahn was moving Al and IMO we're lucky Jefferson held his tongue in check otherwise this could have gotten ugly. And with all Kahn's talking to the media about the offseason and what he is planning, my impression is that Kahn is placing a lot of the blame on Jefferson for the past season.

-Also you bring up the fact that Al isn't a #1 guy, and I agree completely. He is a #2 like he will be used in Utah. But as of now, we don't have a #1 or a #2 guy. We are all hoping Beasley can develop into one (but a lot of it is hope), Johnson might become a #2 but I think it's more likely he'll be a #3, and Love is likely a #3 or #4 guy... so now we are not only missing a #1 but we're missing a #2 as well.

I like how you left out Rubio.

We were talking about 2009 roster in relation to 2010 and the new assets we acquired this year (Rubio was a future asset in both years).

I loved the Washington deal and the Rubio trade. I think the Rubio deal might end up being the best move a GM has made in the past 3 or 4 years.

But Kahn's handling of Jefferson has been one of the worst GM moves in the past 3 or 4 years (this is a Jefferson appreciation thread and I don't believe we handled the situation in anywhere close to a professional manner and I pointed it out since IMO Jefferson handled it very well given the situation he was put in).

[Saltine]

I think Jefferson seems pretty happy.

[jballer_13]

I was one of the few who would've rather traded Love than Al so it's hard to watch him go (glad I held off on buying his jersey though). I can't wait to see him beast in Utah and prove all the haters wrong!

[southern wolf]

I'm glad he's finally going to get a chance to be on a winning team, and I'm still going to follow the rest of his career pretty closely. Hopefully his knee holds up and he gets a chance to shine in the playoffs.

[T_Van]

Much respect Big Al.

[Breakdown777]

I hate to geek out with fantasy nba stuff in July,...but I feel like this is another postive for Al:

The only two PFs you'd even consider drafting to your fantasy team before Al are Pau and Amare.
Bosh will probably go ahead but his stats will decline
Boozer, meh.
Lee, double meh. equal production with Love about 4 rounds later.

[younggunsmn]

Thanks for all the low-post beasting and rebounding the last 3 years Al. It is a shame you only got to play with a real Center for 24 of those games. Best of luck in Utah, I hope you lose whenever you play the wolves and drop 30 and 20 whenever you play the Lakers or Heat.

[Ojmayo]

He should drop 56 on us. I would really appreciate it if Al did this.

[Timberpups]

I'm a Jefferson fan, so I pass this along all in good humor, but I read a funny quote/question about Al Jefferson's Utah press conference...

"I wonder if he pump faked the mic 6 times, then refused to pass it over to Jerry Sloan...?"

Wish him the best. Glad he will get a chance to win.

[Purch]

With all the great things you guys had to say about him makes me excited for the season to start as a Jazz fan.

Though we're still trying to figure out why he's always sweating

[Basti]

Though we're still trying to figure out why he's always sweating

he's nowhere close to Nathan Jawai.

anyway, it appears that I completely forgot to let my appreciation for Big Al Jefferson be known. thanks for all those slick post moves and how you made Yao and Amar'e your personal bitch.