Big Al's Paint: The Al Jefferson Thread

[Seven11]

As good as Al is, there is a reason he's not valued particularly highly around the league.

He's better than most think but not as good as we think, if that makes sense.

But there's a lot of centers that get respect that don't play good defense that don't have half the offensive game as Big Al. Big Al's dark shadow is that he hasn't played for a team that has been good enough to go deep into the playoffs.

[mrknowitall215]

As good as Al is, there is a reason he's not valued particularly highly around the league.

He's better than most think but not as good as we think, if that makes sense.

Color me as one of the people that think Al Jefferson is every bit as good as some of us think, and severely underrated by the rest of the league. Jefferson has consistently been an above average player since his rookie year in the league, and arguably a top-5 C over the last half a decade. We're talking about a guy that plays a position that is scarce in talent, yet still he has posted a PER of over 20.0 in 6 of his 10 seasons as a pro, and never had a PER under 16.0

[Elden Payton]

As good as Al is, there is a reason he's not valued particularly highly around the league.

He's better than most think but not as good as we think, if that makes sense.

But there's a lot of centers that get respect that don't play good defense that don't have half the offensive game as Big Al. Big Al's dark shadow is that he hasn't played for a team that has been good enough to go deep into the playoffs.

I think Al's dark shadow is that he has never made a team good enough for a deep playoff run.

He's a fine player and has unfortunately not had the luck of the drawer in terms of his transaction history going to teams in rebuilding mode.

That said, since he's come off his rookie deal he's been on near max money, without the near max production (minus a couple of Wolves seasons of 23/11)

If Al had spent most of his career earning around 10m per then I doubt anyone would say much, but, he's spent most of his career earning 13m+ and taking teams to the lottery.

[mrknowitall215]

I think Al's dark shadow is that he has never made a team good enough for a deep playoff run.

Just wondering, what do you think of Kevin Love?

[Elden Payton]

I think Al's dark shadow is that he has never made a team good enough for a deep playoff run.

Just wondering, what do you think of Kevin Love?

I like Jefferson and I like Love.

Love is clearly better than Jefferson but I think pretty much the same thing.

$ lead to a lot of things and one of them is expectancy.

[mrknowitall215]

I think Al's dark shadow is that he has never made a team good enough for a deep playoff run.

Just wondering, what do you think of Kevin Love?

I like Jefferson and I like Love.

Love is clearly better than Jefferson but I think pretty much the same thing.

$ lead to a lot of things and one of them is expectancy.

OK. I just wanted to ask. Personally, I think Jefferson is fairly paid at $13.5 million, just unfortunately he's been miscast on mediocre teams without making much racket about the inferior situations he's been in. I seriously doubt that you could name me many if any center(s) that make less than Jefferson that could take the surrounding cast that he had with the Jazz and/or Timberwolves into playoff contention. Al Horford might be the only exception, but he's lead the Hawks to just near .500 records in the Eastern Conference as the 1st-2nd option offensively (w/o Joe Johnson)

[HornetJail]

^ Horford, Duncan, Noah... but what you're saying is correct. Al Jefferson's contract isn't as bad as a lot of people are saying it is, because big men make crazy money across the board.

[mrknowitall215]

^ Horford, Duncan, Noah... but what you're saying is correct. Al Jefferson's contract isn't as bad as a lot of people are saying it is, because big men make crazy money across the board.

Horford, I discussed in my previous post. He's about adjacent to Jefferson in terms of success & win shares throughout their careers

Tim Duncan can't be used as an example as he's currently taking a pay cut to provide tax relief for the Spurs in order to win. During Duncan's prime, he made in excess of $17-22 million

Joakim Noah also doesn't belong in this mix. As good of a player as he is, he is only a complimentary piece to what the rich success the Chicago Bulls had in the recent past

Thank you for agreeing with me though

[HornetJail]

Joakim Noah also doesn't belong in this mix. As good of a player as he is, he is only a complimentary piece to what the rich success the Chicago Bulls had in the recent past

I agree that his game is inflated from being with the Bulls, he was the Bulls' unquestioned best player last year, and I think he could have similar success anywhere, but especially here of all places. As much as I hate the dude as of now, he'd be amazing here and if Chicago does decide to blow up their roster, we should be all over a Noah trade. I'd trade Zeller, Henderson, and Portland's pick to them in a heartbeat. Noah is skilled enough to play the 4 and him next to Jefferson would be the scariest front line in the NBA.

[LamarMatic7]

Maybe, but I wonder when will people realize that having a superstar (Kevin Love) on your team doesn't necessarily mean 'win now'.

Not in this case though. Minny has to be concerned about their future since Kahn left Love that out to opt out of his contract.

You just can't do that and then continue to low-ball the few other quality guys you have on that sub .500 roster of yours.

[LamarMatic7]

re: wolves signing pekovic

i figure the pekovic signing was view more positively for the wolves because they wolves were in a definitely "win now" year or else they would risk losing kevin love. had they let pekovic get away, they probably wouldnt have been able to replace him with anyone nearly as good and love would have one foot out of minnesota.

however most analysts assumed the cats were still one year away from making a playoff push and figured jefferson was signed a year too early.

i dont really think it had anything to do with player value vs contracts. i think the commentary would have been the same had we signed pekovic for 5/60 and the wolves signed jefferson for 3/41.

This.

Moreover, MrKnowItAll, we ourselves said the same thing those analysts did about the Jefferson signing. Nobody expected the East to be this bad and our defense to be this good.

[mrknowitall215]

Maybe, but I wonder when will people realize that having a superstar (Kevin Love) on your team doesn't necessarily mean 'win now'.

Not in this case though. Minny has to be concerned about their future since Kahn left Love that out to opt out of his contract.

You just can't do that and then continue to low-ball the few other quality guys you have on that sub .500 roster of yours.

My reference in this case was in previous years. I'm not saying that Minnesota shouldn't be trying to 'win now', but my statement was in theory that having a 'superstar' doesn't automatically make a team a championship contender, which in theory was a little shot of a hint towards the pro-tankers

[mrknowitall215]

re: wolves signing pekovic

i figure the pekovic signing was view more positively for the wolves because they wolves were in a definitely "win now" year or else they would risk losing kevin love. had they let pekovic get away, they probably wouldnt have been able to replace him with anyone nearly as good and love would have one foot out of minnesota.

however most analysts assumed the cats were still one year away from making a playoff push and figured jefferson was signed a year too early.

i dont really think it had anything to do with player value vs contracts. i think the commentary would have been the same had we signed pekovic for 5/60 and the wolves signed jefferson for 3/41.

This.

Moreover, MrKnowItAll, we ourselves said the same thing those analysts did about the Jefferson signing. Nobody expected the East to be this bad and our defense to be this good.

As we all know, I think a little differently from analysts, pundits, and most on this board. I prefer to form my own opinion. If you go back to the beginning of this thread you will read that I stated Al Jefferson isn't as bad of a defender as perceived, so the Bobcats defense shouldn't falter (no place to go but up from the worst) with his acquisition, as I believed that under scrutiny he was still one of the Jazz' best defenders despite the knock. I also predicted that Charlotte would be a playoff contender immediately upon signing Jefferson. I want to say I estimated between "35-40 wins". Two things I automatically knew was going to happen with the Bobcats signing Jefferson was that their defense was going to be better than what it was with Byron Mullens, and that they'll be competitive with the middle pack of the league

[Liver_Pooty]

Since Horfords hurt can Al finally make an all star team?

[No-Man]

I don't think he will, Kemba will go before him and the Bobcats won't have two All Star.

I think these guys will make it,

Irving
Wade
George
Anthony
James

Walker
Wall
DeRozan
Deng
Millsap
Drummond
Hibbert

Jennings, Teague, Afflalo, Stephenson, Bosh,... could make it too, the East level is just terrible.

Al going down open up a spot, but probably for Millsap.

[lmcguir5]

Drummond and Bosh are locks for the ASG, Big Al is going to pressed to get selected. If he keeps his current pace though it would be hard to see him get denied

[Eoghan]

Coaches pick reserves, coaches like players that defend, Al Jefferson is a bad defender = slim chance Al is an All-Star.

[mrknowitall215]

Coaches pick reserves, coaches like players that defend, Al Jefferson is a bad defender = slim chance Al is an All-Star.

They might take into consideration that Al Jefferson is anchoring the middle of a top-5 ranked defensive unit though, no?

[MKGsMotor]

Statistically, this is Al's worst season in 7-8 years, and being that he's never made the All-Star team in those years, id say no, there's no chance.

[HornetJail]

Statistically, this is Al's worst season in 7-8 years, and being that he's never made the All-Star team in those years, id say no, there's no chance.

He's been his usual self in December though. 17 points, 11 rebounds. The downside: crap percentages.

Besides, having down seasons never stopped Luol Deng from being an all-star. Check out his career stats, and look at his stats the years he was an All-Stars and compare them to when he wasn't.