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Is Al Jefferson ever going to be a winner?

Is he just the good player on a bad team type of player? Or will he develop into a winner at some point?

Is Minny that bad?

If Tim Duncan and Al Jefferson switched teams would Minny be better and San Antonio be worse?

I think so....

Big Al is a good player he just doesn't have the parts around him to win. C's were young and injured and now the T'wolves are young and injured.

If he didn't have an infinitely superior supporting cast, you could probably form the same questions about Amare Stoudamire.

see: zach randolph

Funny, I don't remember KG winning any titles in Minny, and he had a better cast than Al has.

KG hasn't won any titles, he's not a winner. Paul Pierce hasn't won any titles, he's not a winner. Ray Allen hasn't won any titles, he's not a winner. All of these statements are as valid as yours.

Last time I checked, Basketball is a team sport, when Al gets better teamates, he will win.

Give Al a good team, with a few complementary players to compensate for his deficiency's (defense),and complement his game and he'll be a winner. I think he has potential to be not just good Great.


here's a article that suggest that the Timberwolves problems aren't all on Al, and that he's being misused.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=6880

Also, if Duncan was put on any team in the league, that team would be better. That's a dumb question.

who cares? KG is much better. Al Jefferson is a sober Vin Baker.

why get so hostile? I LOVE Big Al. All I'm asking is for your opinion. Do you think Al Jefferson will be a winner?
No reason to bring Ray Allen, KG, etc into the mix. This topic is about Big Al......

ddb wrote:why get so hostile? I LOVE Big Al. All I'm asking is for your opinion. Do you think Al Jefferson will be a winner?
No reason to bring Ray Allen, KG, etc into the mix. This topic is about Big Al......

What's so hostile about what I said? I made a point. Al has a very poor supporting cast. Ray, KG and Paul never won with a bad supporting cast either.

ok. He will win if he's on a good team. Can he be the "Guy" to make a team good? No. Is he a "Nice piece". Yep.

i was talking about al's losing career with my brother recently and we were trying to find a website that had his teams winning percentage in games he's played in (accounting for missed games). between the real bad celtics teams he was on, and now in minnesota, his personal winning percentage has to be one of the lowest in the league for a player with as many games as him. does anyone here know a website that might break that down?

I hope you realize that Al Jefferson is the only starting caliber player on that entire roster right now.

If we would have just done the Allen deal and stoped there I think we would have been a good team and probably made the playoffs.

Theo Ratliff
Al Jefferson
PP
Jesus
Rondo

Perk
Gomes
Green
West
Telfair

Thank god we have KG, Ray, House, Posey, Pollard, etc over the roster you just listed....I don't think I could have taken another season with that crew. The "young" wasn't doing it for me anymore.

Big Al is not on the level of KG or Tim Duncan. I think if Big Al's going to be on a winner, he needs to be a 2nd option. Pierce and Big Al actually won a decent percentage of games last year when they were both playing together. The thing about Minnesota is that I don't see a player who can develop into a first option. Foye, I'd see as a 2nd or 3rd option on a good team, McCants can score in bunches, but I don't think he's going to be able to lead a team.

Minny needs to strike gold in this years draft lottery.

There's no doubt that one or two of the players coming out of school this year will be superstars. Minny just has to make sure they draft the right player.

I also think Big Al would thrive with a top flight point guard...Imagine him playing with Chris Paul? Does this mean Minny needs to hope for a guy like Derek Rose?

Rose, Foye, Gomes, Jefferson, ? .............

McCants 6th man?

Or does Minny go for Beasley?

Foye, McCants, Gomes, Beasley, Jefferson?

Come on now. How many 23-year or younger players are able to carry a team to successful seasons? Not many. Lebron, D-Howard, Chris Paul... That's probably it. The problem is this. People here saw Al's scoring and rebounding numbers and just assumed that he's the next great NBA God.

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you all! He's not one of them. However, that doesn't mean he sux. Just like most players in the league, he needs a good team around him to win. He can't do it alone. He's already a pretty good player and will continue to be, as long as he keeps working hard. One day, he may even lead his team to some playoff success, but he's just not there yet.

It's not his fault nor that he'll never be anything. It just shows how unrealistically blind people were.

Uh If we swapped KG for AL right now, Minnesota would still be an awful team. Better sure, but still awful.

I have read that Minny is statistically 20 points better this season with Al playing PF rather than C. Which would explain why, according to pure +/-, Chris Richard, Mark Madsen, and Theo Ratliff are their three best players this season, with Doleac even being one of their better players.

Al's just overmatched at the Center position, as he was last year alongside Gomes.

Its no coincidence that the best team they've beaten - Phoenix - doesn;t play a true center.