Do you guys seriously favor Love over Jefferson?

[MagicFanMM]

I have been reading quite a few posts and I see many of you are choosing Love over Jefferson? How is that possible. Jefferson is much more talented..

[john2jer]

Love is younger, cheaper, a better rebounder, a better passer, and can stretch the floor.

I think ideally neither is moved, unless a big time wing is coming back, but if one has to be moved, most would rather move Jefferson because of the reasons I mentioned above, and Jefferson would likely bring back a better return.

[MagicFanMM]

They'r eonly 3 years apart... Besides Love wil have a Christian Laettner career the dude is just not athletic. Put him on any contending team he will not produce the same numbers.

[C.lupus]

So you are saying rebounding, passing, and shooting jumpers won't translate to a contending team? OK.

[moss_is_1]

They'r eonly 3 years apart... Besides Love wil have a Christian Laettner career the dude is just not athletic. Put him on any contending team he will not produce the same numbers.

Keep the namecalling out of it.

-Klomp

[mandurugo]

I think they are both good but flawed players. However, Al Jefferson is significantly better than Love.

Scoring: Al >>> Love
Passing: Love > Al - but Love is not a great high post passer. He is good at throwing an outlet passing, beyond that this is not a special skill of his.
Rebounding: Love > Al - but not by much, Al is an excellent rebounder as well.
Defense: Al ? Love - they both struggle against faster, bigger, more athletic players. Neither seems to know how to rotate on defense (though without knowing defensive schemes employed it's hard to call out players on this), or has an ability to control the lane. They are not defensive anchors in any sense of the word.

When you factor in contracts some people might prefer Love, but just looking at their performance on the court I prefer Jefferson.

[Devilzsidewalk]

they both have **** tons of work to do, starting w/ cardio. If you're gonna be slow, then you have to at least have a bigger gas tank than the competition. Tortoise vs the Hare kinda thing.

Al can score 1 on 1 way better than Love and has a higher defensive ceiling, but Love gobbles up boards, has more range on his J, and makes accurate passes and in general makes decisions a little quicker. I think both can be great or out of place depending on the surrounding cast. If I had Dwight Howard, I'd want Love next to him. If I had Lamarcus Aldridge I'd want Jefferson next to him.

[fotownbuckeye]

Al is a black hole
He goes 1 on 3 at times - that always just makes me fume.

PASS the ball Al----please

[Diggler]

Their numbers this season are:

K Love
ppg 14.8 rpg 11.9 apg 2.6
Big Al
ppg 17.9 rpg 9.7 apg 2.0

So the production is pretty close on the surface. If you consider that Al plays about 10% more mpg than K Love, their production in equal mpg would be about:

K Love
ppg 16.3 rpg 13.1 apg 2.9
Big Al
ppg 17.9 rpg 9.7 apg 2.0

Clearly they are both young elite big men, but I think you have to say Love is more valuable when you consider everything.

Age:
Big Al 25
K Love 21
Cost for this season and next:
Big Al 27 mil
K Love 8.5ish mil

Love's youth gives him a ton of risk-free upside. He's currently the fourth best rebounder in the league despite playing less time than the rest, and he also plays alongside Big Al who is no slouch on the boards. Love has the range to knock down shots from anywhere on the court, and he also has the ability to convert at the line at a high rate which is rare for a big man. Love is a great passer and his outlet passing is the perfect complement to his elite rebounding. Although it's hard to put a price on Al's low post moves and ability to command double teams, what's not to love about Kevin Love?

[Vega06]

Al is a black hole
He goes 1 on 3 at times - that always just makes me fume.

PASS the ball Al----please

To who exactly? He's the only one that can consistently score on this team. Calling him a black hole is just dumb.

Edit- To answer the OP, there are some of us who favor Al over Love (me included)

[john2jer]

They'r eonly 3 years apart... Besides Love wil have a Christian Laettner career the dude is just not athletic. Put him on any contending team he will not produce the same numbers.

Keep the namecalling out of it.

-Klomp

[Klomp]

I think part of it too is that Jefferson would net a bigger return in trade value if shipped away.

[slinky]

Above all, I prefer to keep them both, but I wouldnt be opposed to trading either if we received a 'stud'.

Now if someone could tell me what kind of offense or identity we wanted to have then I could tell you who I prefer over the other. They just have such different offensive games that I would like to know if we are a hlaf court offense, uptempo with motion offense, or triangle offense. I just think we need to figure those things out if we have to choose one player over the other.

Jefferson is improving his passing, but is at his best with his back to the basket and the ball in his hand. Love is a good passer, who can keep the ball moving, and hit an open jumper if he is open on the weak side. But he isnt necessarily a guy who give the ball to in the low post and say go to work.

On top of all this you add in Pekovic, and this is a team that screams slow front court, so the uptempo offense that Kahn claimed to have wanted just doesnt seem to be realized with our sloth like frontcourt. Although as mentioned Love's outlet passing can be extremely useful.

But I dont really have a preference with which offensive style we like, but I do think it will be interesting based on the moves this summer, which offensive style Rambis and Kahn see best for this teams future. And I dont agree with Kahn saying he just wants basketball players and isnt necessarily worried about fitting a particular offense. There are some guys whose skills arent fully utilized depending on different types of offenses.

[Wolves Rube]

IMO they are both good players, but redundant. If we can sign/trade for or draft a 7' big man with some upside, and get some solid wing players, Love would be a perfect power forward for our running team. Al is more suited to a half-court game. If we could trade Al for a center prospect and a great wing (Gay/Thabeet) we would be better off for it. (IMO)

[john2jer]

They'r eonly 3 years apart... Besides Love wil have a Christian Laettner career the dude is just not athletic. Put him on any contending team he will not produce the same numbers.

Keep the namecalling out of it.

-Klomp

You had to edit my whole post? I don't remember what the rest of it said, but I'm sure it was beautiful. Klomp, you're a fun-hater.

[Klomp]

You can have fun while being respectful.

[casey]

To who exactly? He's the only one that can consistently score on this team. Calling him a black hole is just dumb.

People say this type of thing a lot, but it's really not true. If player is selfish he's selfish. If he's unselfish he'll try to get his teammates involved even if they're not extremely talented. It's about how you play the game. And Al plays the wrong way. When the ball is in his hand his only focus is on putting it in the basket himself. That will not change with different teammates unless he makes a fundamental change in the way he approaches the game.

[fotownbuckeye]

To who exactly? He's the only one that can consistently score on this team. Calling him a black hole is just dumb.

People say this type of thing a lot, but it's really not true. If player is selfish he's selfish. If he's unselfish he'll try to get his teammates involved even if they're not extremely talented. It's about how you play the game. And Al plays the wrong way. When the ball is in his hand his only focus is on putting it in the basket himself. That will not change with different teammates unless he makes a fundamental change in the way he approaches the game.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Big men who pass the ball out of the post get other players wide open looks. If your in the NBA you can make a good percentage of open looks.

I would rather play with a player that passes to open men then a player that ties to score no matter how many guys he has on him.

[Esohny]

Except that there have been many, many times this season where Jefferson has passed to a teammate who has proceeded to brick a shot.

[Krapinsky]

It's a mixed bag. On one hand, I think Jefferson's ceiling is higher than Love's and trading Love makes some sense because Love's value is at an all time high and Jefferson's an all time low. Jefferson is harder to pair down low though because he's not willing to guard 4's on the perimeter and he's undersized to guard most 5's. Love also can't guard 4's on the perimeter either, but at least he's willing to go out an challenge a shot every now and then.

On the other hand, Pekovic being strictly a back to the basket player makes me more inclined to move Jefferson eventually, just not right now. I want to wait until Jefferson gets his legs back, and I'm not sure that's going to happen this season. Ideally, if we had to trade him maybe a month into next season would be the best time.