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Garnett's too old for this to become a longterm rivalry, but a short term one it can be.

"It took me like five or six days to get over that game," said Jefferson, who is averaging 28.8 points and 15.6 rebounds over the past five games. "Most definitely we proved something. They know they weren't supposed to win that game. That's why they were celebrating and showing off. They thought they was going to blow us out."

Garnett and Jefferson got technical fouls for their trash talk, an amusing exchange that included Garnett shouting "11 years! 11 years!" in reference to his All-Star streak and Jefferson countering with this: "I told him we both have one thing in common -- no championships. He didn't like that too much."

It's not just Jefferson who's eager to impress his former Celtics teammates and coaches, of course.

"You want to go out there and beat them. That's the natural instinct you have as a competitor," said point guard Sebastian Telfair, another one of the players who came in the trade.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3235948

There can be no rivalry until Al really proves himself. Right now he is nothing compared to KG...

I still love Big Al, and hope he'll get to the promised land some day (when he's back with the C's!)

Along side Pierce, I would say Al was the most significant draftee in the last 20 years. No Al, no KG.

The way I see it: Garnett is with Boston and Jefferson is with Minnesota. Therefore, it's likely that the two will square off against one another at least part of the time. Because I doubt Minnesota wants to have Love guarding a quicker Garnett. I'm guessing that if Love starts with Jefferson, with Jefferson being the center, Love will guard Perkins on defense and Perkins will guard Jefferson of defense.

Boston on offense...

Garnett > Jefferson
Perkins > Love

Boston on defense...

Jefferson > Perkins
Love < Garnett

Man, looking at that, Minnesota doesn't have a good defensive front court. I would've drafted one of the Lopez brothers or kept Mayo then.

bonsaiflipflops wrote:Boston on defense...

Jefferson > Perkins
Love < Garnett

Perkins >>>>>>> Jefferson; defensively.

Scalamental wrote:

bonsaiflipflops wrote:Boston on defense...

Jefferson > Perkins
Love < Garnett

Perkins >>>>>>> Jefferson; defensively.

If you think Perkins can shutdown Jefferson then I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Jefferson possesses some of the best post moves of any young power forward in the league. I remember Heinsohn believed that Jefferson while he was a Celtic has post moves that reminded him of McHale. I don't recall his exact words verbatim but he thought enough of Jefferson to mention him in the same breathe as McHale. So, he was impressed by Jefferson's maturation.

bonsaiflipflops wrote:

Scalamental wrote:

bonsaiflipflops wrote:Boston on defense...

Jefferson > Perkins
Love < Garnett

Perkins >>>>>>> Jefferson; defensively.

If you think Perkins can shutdown Jefferson then I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Jefferson possesses some of the best post moves of any young power forward in the league. I remember Heinsohn believed that Jefferson while he was a Celtic has post moves that reminded him of McHale. I don't recall his exact words verbatim but he thought enough of Jefferson to mention him in the same breathe as McHale. So, he was impressed by Jefferson's maturation.

Yeah Al is a great low post offensive player. No one in this league really has a good idea how to completely shut him down. But when it comes to defensive smarts, and skill, Perk is much better.

Perk outplayed Al 2/3 games of the season, and I'm talking rebounds and points. If your defensive center is outscoring the other teams offensive threat, then somebody's playing good defense.

Watch the games again. With Perkins on Jefferson he makes AL look like a good second option rather then a stellar first option. Haywood has a similar effect.

And as for the no rings. That was orignally something Perkins said to Garnett when they had a tiff on court. AL is just repeated Perk's words because he knew it was good retort. When Perk said it Garnett even pointed to him after scoring while Perk was on the bench.

Well, I would still prefer to take my chances on offense with Jefferson rather than risk fouls If I'm Minnesota trying to guard Garnett.

I just don't understand what their team is doing. How can they expect to compete in their division with little to no big men. They'll be in the NBA cellar again next season. About the only thing they did was acquire Jason Collins who gets to play against his brother more often now.

Right now, Jefferson can comfortably be called a "good" player to this point. What will make him great, and a perennial all-star will come from what he does defensively, how consistently he produces on a nightly basis, and what the organization can build around him. Even if he does improve his defense and the other aspects of his game, it won't mean anything if the Wolves surround him with mediocre talent. Just like any other stellar performer, they need a team around them to win consistently.

BadMuthaCeltic wrote:Even if he does improve his defense and the other aspects of his game, it won't mean anything if the Wolves surround him with mediocre talent. Just like any other stellar performer, they need a team around them to win consistently.

Again, McHale shouldn't have traded the draft rights of Mayo. He traded Garnett in favor of acquiring a player, Jefferson, that he really liked. Now he's doing it again by traded seemingly a better talented player in Mayo for a player he really liked in Love. If McHale gets burned twice by this latest move. The Minnesota fans presumingly won''t let him hear the end of it. Watch... I think he's making a mistake... Because if Love proves to be an average to good player while Mayo becomes R.O.Y. which is feasibly considering he'll likely start as an off guard opposite Conley, Jr. and take as many shots as he likes. Then McHale didn't get the better end of the trade for a player who was selected two spots ahead of the player he'd acquired. When you're drafting that high, you draft for best player available and not to fill a need position. Oftentimes, you get burn when you give in to need. Funny, Love still doesn't fill their need for help at center.

Not to mention, Minnesota drafted Roy only to trade his draft rights to Portland in exchange for Foye who Portland previously acquired from Boston.

bonsaiflipflops wrote:Again, McHale shouldn't have traded the draft rights of Mayo. He traded Garnett in favor of acquiring a player, Jefferson, that he really liked. Now he's doing it again by traded seemingly a better talented player in Mayo for a player he really liked in Love. If McHale gets burned twice by this latest move. The Minnesota fans presumingly won''t let him hear the end of it. Watch... I think he's making a mistake... Because if Love proves to be an average to good player while Mayo becomes R.O.Y. which is feasibly considering he'll likely start as an off guard opposite Conley, Jr. and take as many shots as he likes. Then McHale didn't get the better end of the trade for a player who was selected two spots ahead of the player he'd acquired. When you're drafting that high, you draft for best player available and not to fill a need position. Oftentimes, you get burn when you give in to need. Funny, Love still doesn't fill their need for help at center.

I actually think McHale has done a decent job the past season or so. He's managed to collect some decent young talent, locked up Big Al long-term at a good price, and most importantly somehow managed to get them out of the depths of cap h*ll very, very quickly. I'm not saying he should be considered a great GM by any means (since he was largely correcting his own mistakes), but he is moving them in the right direction. As for the two trades you mentioned:

The KG Deal: This was decent for them, the rare trade that worked out well for both teams. They weren't going anywhere with KG and got Big Al, who was probably the best prospect available at the time (and we, of course, got GREEN 17!!!!!!!!). You could argue that they should have tried to do what the Celtics did instead of scrapping the team, but for them that wasn't really an option given their cap situation. They didn't have an expiring Theo or an overpaid, but good enough to be moveable, Wally. They contracts like Jaric and Blount who no rebuilding team would ever take on in exchange for a star. So unlike us they HAD to rebuild, and Al Jefferson was a great way to start.

The Love Deal: You make a good point about Mayo being a better prospect than Love, but keep in mind they also got a high quality swing-man in Miller out of the deal, and unloaded a terrible contract in Jaric. So basically they traded an A- prospect for a B+ prospect, a quality player, and cap relief. To me that's a good move, especially if you think the B+ prospect is underrated, which the Wolves reportedly did.