Will Al opt out?

[Eoghan]

I hope al wears number 11 next year b/c he's the big pause button of charlotte's rebuild. 3 years wasted so this guy can jiggle his way to a vacuous 20 and 10.

[yosemiteben]

I hope al wears number 11 next year b/c he's the big pause button of charlotte's rebuild. 3 years wasted so this guy can jiggle his way to a vacuous 20 and 10.

I wouldn't say 2013-14 was a waste by any stretch.

[BobsBuddy]

Don't worry...Even if he opts in....Cho will trade him to a western Conference team...LAC would take him for Hawes/Crawford./Farmar.......With Kobes situation,LAL might take Al/Lance for Young/Hill......Who knows GSW might take Al/Marvin for Lee/Barnes...I suspect the trades will start around draft time.

[Eoghan]

I hope al wears number 11 next year b/c he's the big pause button of charlotte's rebuild. 3 years wasted so this guy can jiggle his way to a vacuous 20 and 10.

I wouldn't say 2013-14 was a waste by any stretch.

AL played the best ball of his life and the result was swept in the 1st round. When your ceiling is swept as an eight seed, that's a failure.

[yosemiteben]

I hope al wears number 11 next year b/c he's the big pause button of charlotte's rebuild. 3 years wasted so this guy can jiggle his way to a vacuous 20 and 10.

I wouldn't say 2013-14 was a waste by any stretch.

AL played the best ball of his life and the result was swept in the 1st round. When your ceiling is swept as an eight seed, that's a failure.

And when you frame that as a ceiling for our team with Al, you're being disingenuous.

[BeesWax]

I wouldn't say 2013-14 was a waste by any stretch.

AL played the best ball of his life and the result was swept in the 1st round. When your ceiling is swept as an eight seed, that's a failure.

And when you frame that as a ceiling for our team with Al, you're being disingenuous.

I think with him as our offensive focus it is our best result. Maybe a 4-1 loss instead of swept at best.

[yosemiteben]

AL played the best ball of his life and the result was swept in the 1st round. When your ceiling is swept as an eight seed, that's a failure.

And when you frame that as a ceiling for our team with Al, you're being disingenuous.

I think with him as our offensive focus it is our best result. Maybe a 4-1 loss instead of swept at best.

I think we are going to have far, far better surrounding talent going forward just based on the development of our draft picks, and that year we would have been competitive and had a real chance to move on if we had faced Toronto or Chicago, who we were only one game away from facing.

This seems like an over the top negative view.

[BeesWax]

And when you frame that as a ceiling for our team with Al, you're being disingenuous.

I think with him as our offensive focus it is our best result. Maybe a 4-1 loss instead of swept at best.

I think we are going to have far, far better surrounding talent going forward just based on the development of our draft picks, and that year we would have been competitive and had a real chance to move on if we had faced Toronto or Chicago, who we were only one game away from facing.

This seems like an over the top negative view.

I think it is a very realistic view. You are talking about a terrible offense that even with Al going insane fore half a season was bottom 10 in the league. With this coach and Al here together we are doomed for bad results. That is not me being pessimistic but just realistic. Al is a fat lazy aging player and Clifford lets him be that way and anchor down the rest of our team setting us up for failure. The combination of those two will be able to sink any ship. They already drag down any perimeter player we get to below their normal outputs.

[Eoghan]

Clifford is so easy to game plan against by other coaches that it's impossible to be overly negative about Charlotte's playoff chances, much less one dependent upon Al playing out of his mind.

If you think that at age 30 a professional basketball player is going to change his ways by losing substantial weight then you are a goddamned fool. Even if Al loses weight (these odds being astronomical) Al will likely hurt himself from the exercise needed to offset his soul food diet or he'll just gain it back slowly.

[Liver_Pooty]

Clifford is so easy to game plan against by other coaches that it's impossible to be overly negative about Charlotte's playoff chances, much less one dependent upon Al playing out of his mind.

If you think that at age 30 a professional basketball player is going to change his ways by losing substantial weight then you are a goddamned fool. Even if Al loses weight (these odds being astronomical) Al will likely hurt himself from the exercise needed to offset his soul food diet or he'll just gain it back slowly.

Lol your avatar is pretty awesome.

[BobsBuddy]

Remember this post...... Al will be traded to a Western Conference Team before next season ends.

[Bassman]

While I also have doubts, Jefferson may make one of those mid-career adjustments that some players do, and actually LOSE the weight. It gets done by those who have some self-pride, and I do think Al has that. The way it gets done is a radical shift in eating. That's the hard part. The exercise is not an issue, as he will do the cardio and lifting. Hopefully the Hornets convince him to employ a chef and trainer.

[HornetJail]

While I also have doubts, Jefferson may make one of those mid-career adjustments that some players do, and actually LOSE the weight. It gets done by those who have some self-pride, and I do think Al has that. The way it gets done is a radical shift in eating. That's the hard part. The exercise is not an issue, as he will do the cardio and lifting. Hopefully the Hornets convince him to employ a chef and trainer.

Nazr lost some lbs when he was with us if memory serves me right, and it helped him out. Granted we never leaned on Nazr for 20/10, so it's a much different scenario, but the weight loss is probably necessary at this point in his career. Tim Duncan's weight loss probably prolonged the Spurs' championship window by five years.

[Braggins]

Losing weight will only go so far if he still gives no effort on D and wont pass. He basically is going to have to completely overhaul his game and work ethic. It could happen but Im not holding my breath.

[Braggins]

He hasnt even lost the weight yet and Clifford has already indicated he thinks our team needs to be based around Al. We've got a long off-season ahead of us but so far it isnt looking good.

[catch20two]

Al will lose the weight as it'll be his 2nd straight contract year and his last payday so he gotta have a good year or else oh well he'll only be f*cking himself over.

I don't have no problem with Al being our go to guy but I just hope our offense isn't going to get back to forcefeeding him in the post every play and him shooting off balanced one handed shots thru 3 defenders. We have to be more schematic than what we've dubbed Alfense. Al with get his but we need to make sure everyone else is involved too.

[LofJ]

He hasnt even lost the weight yet and Clifford has already indicated he thinks our team needs to be based around Al. We've got a long off-season ahead of us but so far it isnt looking good.

Clifford doesn't pay the bills. He may get another year, but his ass is no way safe.