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Don't know if that is a great compliment, or that the talent at the 5 is getting weaker and weaker.

Here are the top 5:

Dwight Howard
Amare stoudemire
Yao Ming
Chris Kaman
Al Jefferson

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fa ... s/08/6/eff

That is definitely good company to be in, but we will let the haters hate on Al "I put up good stats on bad teams" Jefferson. That statement is true yes, but he is much more than a stat player.

I don't think there are any Jefferson haters here - we all want him to succeed. To measure a player by his strengths and weaknesses is not to hate him - and Al has many weaknesses to work on. Right now he seems to be working mostly on developing his low post offense - I for one hope he develops his passing from the post and especially his defense. One problem I don't think he can address is his footspeed, despite his quickness he isn't fast. This is important when we think about how to complement him (for example, this is why I'm dubious on pairing him with Hibbert - another slow guy). Anyway, my point here is most peoples criticism of Jefferson have meant to be constructive. I don't think there has been any mean spirited criticism? Al supporters in general please get a bit more thick skinned.

I will say this. He is the best center the Wolves have ever had.

Most people rag on his defense, but this small lineup that has been successful so far has held their opponents to under 86 points per game on average, for the past 5 games.

I guess that has to count for something.

mandurugo wrote:I don't think there are any Jefferson haters here - we all want him to succeed. To measure a player by his strengths and weaknesses is not to hate him - and Al has many weaknesses to work on. Right now he seems to be working mostly on developing his low post offense - I for one hope he develops his passing from the post and especially his defense. One problem I don't think he can address is his footspeed, despite his quickness he isn't fast. This is important when we think about how to complement him (for example, this is why I'm dubious on pairing him with Hibbert - another slow guy). Anyway, my point here is most peoples criticism of Jefferson have meant to be constructive. I don't think there has been any mean spirited criticism? Al supporters in general please get a bit more thick skinned.

I was talking about the outsiders looking in; they seem to label him "Zach Randolph clone" or "Someone has to put stats on that team" kind of guy. He is a magician in the post, and his defense is slowly becoming more aggressive and not something that he totally bombs at. His passing out of the double-team needs work, but he never had to do that before now, so this is something new to him in the NBA and i'm sure he will adjust.

I read in highschool he use to get quadruple teamed and still scored about 50+.

funkatron101 wrote:He is the best center the Wolves have ever had.

See my avatar.

His 24.8 eff would be tied for 4th among PFs, too. He's tied with a guy named Duncan.

If you take the last 10 games Al is the number 1 centre in the League

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/playerstats/08/6/eff/6-1

Hes #3 vs .500+ teams!

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fa ... 6/eff/13-1

They're not saying when he plays center that's what he is, they're just categorizing him as a center. He would actually be 3rd among PFs behind only Garnett and Boozer. I'm not sure why we care about the efficiency stat though. It's pretty meaningless.

82games.com splits it up like you're looking for (I assume that's what you're looking for, because you said "when Al plays center"). Looks like Al's production is about the same at both positions. But there seems to be a big drop-off defensively. His opponents PER jumps up by almost 5, which is a lot, and the opposing team scores another 17 points per 100 possessions.

mandurugo wrote:I don't think there are any Jefferson haters here - we all want him to succeed. To measure a player by his strengths and weaknesses is not to hate him - and Al has many weaknesses to work on. Right now he seems to be working mostly on developing his low post offense - I for one hope he develops his passing from the post and especially his defense. One problem I don't think he can address is his footspeed, despite his quickness he isn't fast. This is important when we think about how to complement him (for example, this is why I'm dubious on pairing him with Hibbert - another slow guy). Anyway, my point here is most peoples criticism of Jefferson have meant to be constructive. I don't think there has been any mean spirited criticism? Al supporters in general please get a bit more thick skinned.

why? when he passes the ball, he never gets it back, or mccants just takes a horrendous shot and misses..if anything he needs to be alot more selfish

twolves4 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


why? when he passes the ball, he never gets it back, or mccants just takes a horrendous shot and misses..if anything he needs to be alot more selfish

It's called making your teammates better. Putting them in a good position to score. Al doesn't do that at all right now. If he's going to ever become a great player he's going to have to improve a lot in that area.