JMillott wrote:Jefferson may not be a franchise player that doesn't mean he doesn't have value and it certainly doesn't mean the Wolves made out by freeing up the money from Jefferson to sign Darko, Pekovic and the key to getting Randolph (a guy who has done absolutely nothing and whose rookie deal is almost up) was eating Eddy Curry's contract and having Brewer's to send out.
And why did the Wolves have the space to absorb Curry's contract? Darko and Pekovic were signed before Jefferson was traded. It's tough to get more than cap relief and a couple minor assets for a non franchise player with warts who also makes 8 figures.
The point is that it was obvious that Al Jefferson rushed back from his knee injury and gutted through the season at far less then 100% in his last year with the Wolves. Dealing him before he was healthy was stupid in my opinion and he showed it by playing excellent basketball from almost exactly two years after the injury averaging 24/11 over Feb/Mar this past year. He has improved as a passer, his defense was better once he was 100% and he has further cut his turnovers.
If you can't see how his trade value would clearly be higher now then it was last summer then I don't know what I can do for you. It sure would've been nice to have that asset around during the draft process when they were shopping the #2 pick.
Non superstars or All-Stars who are off their rookie contracts and may or may not be appropriately paid typically go for about what Jefferson went for, particularly if the goal of the team trading them is to rebuild. Look at the Gerald Wallace deal. It also didn't help that there are legitimate questions about whether or not even a healthy Big Al's style of play is something that can fit onto a winning team, and that he's a subpar defender no matter how much you try to spin that.
It's also unlikely that even a mini resurgence would have taken place for Jefferson here. Never in my life have I seen a player more in need of a change of scenery or more miserable on the court than Jefferson his final year in Minnesota, and that includes the time KG spent stalking the court like he was going to strangle somebody. Jefferson would have been playing in an offense that didn't get him the ball in his favorite place and would have asked him not to play to his strengths, with subpar talent surrounding him. He likely would have played better than he did in '09-10, but if you're trying to sell that he would have posted numbers like he did while the Jazz went down the tubes, I'm not buying it.
I think its laughable that people will just try and lay blame on Jefferson and simply ignore how badly his career has been screwed over by bad timing and playing on bad teams. Had he broke out in Boston during any other season, Paul Pierce would've been healthy as he has been every other year and they make the playoffs. He gets send to Sota for a Hall of Famer only the Wolves don't make the Celtics take their trash in the deal and instead accept the Celtics trash (Telfair, Green, Gomes, etc when they should've insisted on Powe, T.Allen, Rondo, Perk and or sent Jaric or some other trash with KG) then the Wolves proceed to draft Brewer, Love, Rubio, Flynn, Lawson, Ellington over his time there.
There's certainly some merit to the notion that Jefferson has been a victim of circumstance throughout his career, but that doesn't mean he's teflon from any culpability when it comes to his lack of team success. Until he helps lead a team at least to a winning record and/or a playoff appearance (as more than a bit player in Boston's 'Toine sequel), questions will remain.
Corey Brewer only made sense as the Wolves pick with KG in town. Love was and is a fine pick but if the point was to win quickly Gordon and Lopez might've been better picks at the time, in 09 Kahn reset the clock by dealing Foye and Miller for the #5 and then proceeded to get zero impact for two years out of three top 18 picks in one of the deepest most talented draft classes in recent years.
Brewer was technically picked when KG was still in town. He was still a bad selection in hindsight no matter how it's sliced. When Love was picked, the point wasn't really to win quickly, even though McHale did like the idea of surrounding Jefferson with shooters. Kahn's abhorrent in the draft, particularly when a guy from Syracuse with a nice smile is on the board (although I remember a certain Boston fan who summers on the Minnesota board pimping Flynn a ton before the draft and singing Kahn's praises after the 2010 draft). Thanks for noticing.
I like Jefferson, I hope things work out for him in Utah. They weren't going to here, as it was clear both that Jefferson had thrown in the towel and the organization wanted to go in a different direction. It was time for both parties to move on.
