RealGM

First, before 90% of the Wolves fans jump on me, I am not in favor of trading Al Jefferson. You may have noticed that even though I'm the guy with 1000 trade proposals, Al has been conspicuously absent from every one. However in the last couple weeks, a couple brave people have questioned what we could get for Al in trade, including Kevin Durant.

Every so often on the trade board, we have a poll from fans around the world to determine which players have the most trade value. Its messy, its unscientific, but there isn't a lot of other sources we can go to that can factor in stats, age, potential, salary, attitude, and a million other factors into one quantity and make a explicit list. Here were the results from the last poll in Novenber, and commentary:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=857578&start=0

1. Lebron James - Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Chris Paul - New Orleans Hornets
3. Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
4. Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers
5. Dwyane Wade - Miami Heat
6. Deron Williams - Utah Jazz
7. Amare Stoudemire - Phoenix Suns
8. Chris Bosh - Toronto Raptors
9. Derrick Rose - Chicago Bulls
10. Greg Oden - Portland TrailBlazers
11. Tim Duncan - San Antonio Spurs
12. Brandon Roy - Portland TrailBlazers
13. Al Jefferson - Minnesota Timberwolves
14. Yao Ming - Houston Rockets
15. Kevin Garnett - Boston Celtics
16. Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Mavericks
17. Carmelo Anthony - Denver Nuggets
18. Andrew Bynum - Los Angeles Lakers
19. Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City Thunder
20. Tony Parker - San Antonio Spurs
21. Paul Pierce - Boston Celtics
22. Joe Johnson - Atlanta Hawks
23. Danny Granger - Indiana Pacers
24. Devin Harris - New Jersey Nets
25. Josh Smith - Atlanta Hawks

As you can see, Jefferson has plenty of trade value. Elite big men that can score and rebound are a highly sought after commodity in the NBA. Jefferson also has an extremely young age going for him, and he benefits from a beautiful contract that has him locked in as a value for the next five years. Al is more valuable than most team's #1 guy. I will point out though that trade value is always relative -- Jefferson is more valuable to a rebuilding club like us, and Garnett is more valuable to the Celtics.

Anyway, I thought I'd bring this over for discussion, argueing, hair-pulling and bloody noses.

I'm sort of afraid to discuss this topic because I know how much people love Al. First off, I don't think Love and Jefferson work together as front court. I think we eventually have to trade one of them.
Secondly, Al is the Wolves only good player right now so initially it seems stupid to trade him. He also seems to have good attitude and wants to be here. With all that said, I'm worried he might be overrated. The players he reminds me of most are Zach Randolph and Elton Brand, neither have had much team success.
If we could get good value for Al and pieces that are a better fit together, I think we have to consider it.

Personally, the only way I can see us trading Al is if we get the number 1 pick and draft Blake Griffin. Even then, I would only do it for a really good deal.

Example:

SAC GETS: Jefferson + MIA Pick
MIN GETS: Kevin Martin + Sac Pick (Hasheem Thabeet)

I always measure Love/Jefferson against Okur/Boozer. I feel like that's the worst case scenario - they average 1.2 blocks per game combined for their careers - but they're still a dangerous frontcourt because Boozer is a beast and Okur can spread the floor. I envison Love/Jefferson as more superior defensive duo than Okur/Boozer for sure. At worst, I think they can be their equal all things considered. I expect them to be considerably better though.

Hi guys Warriors fan here. Please dont chew my head off fot asking but do you guys think the T-Wolves FO would consider dealing with the Warriors for Al? Before you throw knives in my direction hear me out. We could basically offer a 3-4 player package including players like Jamal Crawford, Corey Maggette, Brandon Wright, Anthony Randolph, Marco Bellineli, Stephen Jackson and Kelenna Azuibukie. I'm sure most of you prolly would puke at some of those names but some experience and youth to pick from there. I think the only players the Warriors stupid FO wouldn't add to any trade for Al at the moment would be Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins.

Sorry haven't spoken to u guys yet but I'd imagine Sota would be searching for some decent guards and wing men right? Anything from the Warriors of interest here?

No prob apcoxy, I just think that if you want the Wolve's #1 guy, and a person solidly in the Top 25 in Trade Value, you can't hold back Biedrins and Ellis .. neither of which made this list.

shrink wrote:No prob apcoxy, I just think that if you want the Wolve's #1 guy, and a person solidly in the Top 25 in Trade Value, you can't hold back Biedrins and Ellis .. neither of which made this list.

Yup for sure, thats why The T-Wolves prolly wouldn't take on 2-3-4 players for Al. If Biedrins was added to the trade then I'd imagine talks could move further than just asking about availability. I doubt McHale would want to let Al go for anything anyway as he's the franchise player AND he's the reasoning behind losing KG.

What do the you guys desperately need anyway? Perhaps a dominant guard would help like Brandon Roy or OJ Mayo??????

apcoxy wrote:What do the you guys desperately need anyway? Perhaps a dominant guard would help like Brandon Roy or OJ Mayo??????

Real funny, slick.

DeltronZero wrote:

apcoxy wrote:What do the you guys desperately need anyway? Perhaps a dominant guard would help like Brandon Roy or OJ Mayo??????

Real funny, slick.

Sorry bro, couldn't help myself..........lol All the best Wolves fans!

well the way i see it we will have to do something esp if we got the no 1 pick

i mean you cant have Jefferson,Griffin,Love and Smith all on the same team

Jefferson comparison to a Randolph sounds right to me im not sure if hes that franchise guy

*Sets nuke off in topic*

23 years old. 2nd year of rebuilding. 1 year and 28 games as the lead guy on a team. PATIENCE.

He'd have to be traded for a high draft pick (among other things). No one worth trading him for in this weak draft, especially with all the picks we have already. We can start talking about this again 365 days or thereabouts.

Though a package of Monta+Biedrins from GS gets the talks started.

Off the list at the top, I would do a straight up trade for #1-#6 (LeBron, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Kobe, Wade, Deron Williams), #9 (Rose - new contract), maybe #20 (Durant). I'd have a tough time with the others, though I understand how good they are. In many cases, they are just too old, or have contracts that are expensive or where they'd be gone too fast.

trade jefferson to nets for devin harris and brook lopez, wolves will probably have to swap picks with nets or include Mia's pick to make nets part with harris.
wolves:
harris
foye
miller/brewer
love
lopez
plus whoever they draft

james harden wrote:trade jefferson to nets for devin harris and brook lopez, wolves will probably have to swap picks with nets or include Mia's pick to make nets part with harris.

I would consider this or a GS combo (Ellis/Biedrins) based on talent alone, but I think it's interesting to note that both prospective trades involve point guards and centers. If the Wolves could figure those spots out a lot more of the Wolves' talent would fall into place. Jefferson is not and never will be a center, and I'm beginning to wonder if Foye can be a point guard.

The timing isn't right for a trade of this magnitude, but I'm starting to fall more and more into the camp that thinks a Love/Jefferson frontcourt doesn't make sense in the long run. If Harris was involved (along with a guy who should have an effective career in Lopez) I think the Wolves would have to consider it.

A lopez/Love front court.... ewwwww

I would do the GS deal, but I wonder if we could do something like Jefferson + mia pick for Bynum/Farmar.

We get less front court scoring (other than put backs), but better D and legit size. Bynum/Love front court would be pretty sweet. Farmar is an upgrade as a backup PG and can also play with Foye in the back court.

sillyness. Its certainly easier to build around Al, than trade him away for lesser parts.

Seriously how hard is it. Get athletic wings who can run\defend, toss ball down court in transition, if no basket is available in transition wait for Al to get down there, give him ball, repeat?

bruceallen61 wrote:sillyness. Its certainly easier to build around Al, than trade him away for lesser parts.

Seriously how hard is it. Get athletic wings who can run\defend, toss ball down court in transition, if no basket is available in transition wait for Al to get down there, give him ball, repeat?

You need more than that, you need a big guy who can defend and you need a perimeter guy who can create his own offense.
We already had two athletic wings that could run and defend in Brewer and Carney. That hasn't exactly led to great things.

^I would add that the youth of this team overall limits it's development (if the wings were Bowen and Ginobli, or even Barnes and Richardson, instead of Brewer and Carney, that would matter a lot.)

Jefferson is an ideal guy to build around, but the relative scarcity of his skill set does not make him untradeable. If the Wolves could get better at two key positions by trading Jefferson, I would do it.