What to do with Jefferson?

[HolyToledo]

Choices are
1) Trade him for whatever you can get?
2) Let him play out the season then decide in the summer or early next year?
3) Keep him as hes even passing the ball now and played half decent defense?

As most of you guys know, I basically hate the way he plays basketball and I dont think its only a coincedence that he never played in the playoffs. I would normally choose #1 and say get rid of him now, but now after the last couple of games where Big Al has fianlly started passing the ball and playing team basketball, I say let it play out and make a decision in the off season. He would have more value as an expiring contract and the Jazz can determine if this recent trend of passing the ball is realty or not.

[Jazzy13]

We cant trade him for crap and thats probably what everyone is offering.

I think KOC knows of our logjam.

[Thats_my_chippy]

If KOC can land us a top point guard or an elite scorer by packaging Al and other pieces, then id be happy. But if he can't get that, I'll be fine holding onto him and keep our rebuild going. Hopefully Ty will know when to throw in the towel and give all the minutes the the young guys.

[carrottop12]

The weirdest thing about the Al Jefferson situation is that it appears he's getting better. Puts the Jazz in a strange situation.

But there isn't a whole lot of pressure on the Jazz to move Jefferson, especially if Millsap is on his way out.

I'd be surprised if he leaves Utah before his contract is up.

[Brown Notes]

Utah doesn't need to do anything with Jefferson.

He's clearly playing better and cleaning up some of the things fans get down on him for. His contract, which is big, is expiring next year as is Millsap and Harris's. By the deadline next season it should be clear if Favors can cut the mustard.

If Derrick is ready then the team makes a decision on one of our current starting bigs. If Favors is not ready by this time next year it's time to consider the possibility that he won't acheive his potential with the Jazz. If that is the case Jefferson might well become a franchise player.

I know nobody wants to think about that possibility and Favors has looked good but nothing is written in stone.

That's one good reason why KOC will keep his cards until they reach their maximum value.

[red4hf]

Trade Millsap......

Jefferson is the better player, but Millsap will actually bring back a higher return.......

[Ming Kong!]

Trade Millsap......

Jefferson is the better player, but Millsap will actually bring back a higher return.......

The beauty of Millsap is that we can make a package with Miles and still not get a lot of salary in return. Al Jefferson's big contract means we might have to receive a package in return including fillers or a bad contract.

[d-will8]

Utah doesn't need to do anything with Jefferson.

He's clearly playing better and cleaning up some of the things fans get down on him for. His contract, which is big, is expiring next year as is Millsap and Harris's. By the deadline next season it should be clear if Favors can cut the mustard.

If Derrick is ready then the team makes a decision on one of our current starting bigs. If Favors is not ready by this time next year it's time to consider the possibility that he won't acheive his potential with the Jazz. If that is the case Jefferson might well become a franchise player.

I know nobody wants to think about that possibility and Favors has looked good but nothing is written in stone.

That's one good reason why KOC will keep his cards until they reach their maximum value.

I agree that we don't necessarily have to trade Al right now. That said, regardless of whether Favors or Kanter look like they "can cut the mustard" next year, I don't see Al as part of our future and I certainly don't see him as a franchise player. Though he's passing a lot more and playing a lot better the last few games, I still can't see him as a top option on a contending team (still too inefficient, bad at defense, etc.) and I can't see him filling any other role.

The fact that neither Al nor any of our other vets projects as a legit franchise player (or anything remotely close to it) is a big reason why I think we'd be better off taking a more long term approach and playing the young guys more. It'd be good for us either way. If they played great and the team did well with them leading the way, that'd obviously bode well for the future. Even if they played horribly and showed no signs of future greatness and the team plummeted (an unlikely and extreme scenario, but, for argument's sake, bear with me), however, I think that'd be better for the franchise than what we're doing now.

We need one (or more) of these guys to be a superstar or to pick up somebody else who's going to be a superstar. I think it'd be better to try and see what we have now rather than two years down the road when the veterans are gone and, especially if our young guys aren't as good as we think they are, I'd like to have another swing at drafting a superstar, as the draft is the only place we're going to get one.

[phrizzo]

what's up with millsap's midrange game, by the way? he was the best midrange shooter in the league last season and now he's just throwing up bricks.

[jazzfan1971]

I think we featured Millsap more last year. I think more of his shots this year are 2nd or 3rd options when the shot clock is winding down. I'm as comfortable with his jumper this year as last myself, it's reliable.

[stickiestwicket]

After last night's game:

"Hey, it's taken me eight years to realize that if I pass the ball outside and guys hit open shots, it helps free me up," Jefferson said. "I guess better late than never."

Nice that's he's finally figured that out.

I think Big Al could be a good second option type of player (e.g. as Pau is to Kobe), I just don't see him as a 1A player that will lead a team deep into the playoffs or to championship. He will be a really good player on mediocre/bad teams.

Keep changing my mind on what I think we should do with him, but I expect he will be in a Jazz uni at the end of the year. Just don't see the team moving him this season.

[jazzfan1971]

Big Al has a way of saying the right things. But, he IS showing it on the floor with the passing. I wouldn't have ever guessed he'd change his game, but, there is it.

Perhaps there is hope for him in Utah after all.

But, after watching Irving score layup after layup after layup over him the other night with zero resistance I'm not so sure how much hope there is. If we're going to keep him we really need a defensive stalwart to pair him with.

I used to think that defensive stalwart was going to be Favors, but, he hasn't impressed me much with his help defense this year. -shrug- I know he's impressed some of you. I guess we're just seeing different things.


I wonder if we had a Jefferson/Favors/AK linup if we'd have enough help defense to mitigate Jefferson's weaknesses on that end. We'll probably never know. But, a good help defender at SF might be just what we need to make things work. Not a lot of those out there though. But, if we decide to build around Jefferson I think that's what we're going to need. It's a lot of work to build around a guy that never gets to the free throw line though. But, I think we -could- build a pretty good team around Jefferson if we wanted, it'd just take a lot of effort.

Kevin O'Connor built a pretty good team around Iverson though, so he's a GM that's up to the challenge of finding the right pieces for unusual first options. I have really written off Jefferson as part of our future, but, now that I think about it, I'm not so sure. He might just be the face of the franchise. I hope not, but, it's possible.

[StocktonShorts]

I know lots of you keep saying it, but I don't really buy into the theory that one great defensive big can make up for the shortcomings of another. Are there examples of this?

Dirk + Tyson Chandler?

[phrizzo]

dwight howard covers for his entire team!
i think a lot of it is merely having the threat of a big time defensive player in the middle. also if he has good positioning and rotates well, it will make it harder for offensive players to get to the basket. none of our starting bigs rotate particularly well. favors has looked better lately. you know who was pretty good at that? fesenko.

[StocktonShorts]

dwight howard covers for his entire team!
i think a lot of it is merely having the threat of a big time defensive player in the middle. also if he has good positioning and rotates well, it will make it harder for offensive players to get to the basket. none of our starting bigs rotate particularly well. favors has looked better lately. you know who was pretty good at that? fesenko.

I'm convinced Fesenko could've made $10m/year in the NBA if he had ever been willing to make the necessary commitment. It's the same story we see too often with big guys.

[Matt007b]

Wonder what our record/situation would have been if we sent Jefferson out somehow and had Kanter starting with Fesenko backing him up? I still like Fesenko...

[jazzfan1971]

Well, if you don't get something good back for Jefferson our record would be much worse. Who's going to score for the Jazz without Jefferson?

[phrizzo]

Well, if you don't get something good back for Jefferson our record would be much worse. Who's going to score for the Jazz without Jefferson?

TRUST THE SYSTEM

[jazzfan1971]

I trust the system when I have a good PG to get the ball to players in a position to score. I don't trust the system currently.

[finnegan]

What should we do with Jefferson???

Keep him!