[rtbtParticipant]

Let me preface my questions with this, Minnesota is rarely on TV so I never saw Al Jefferson play. Therefore, I’m depending on guys who’ve regularly seen him and know the situation in Minnesota.

1. Why would Utah give up 2 number one draft choices for Al Jefferson? Is he really worth it?

2. If Utah feels Jefferson is so good that they will give up 2 number one selections, why is Minnesota so eager to get rid of their 25 year old player?

3. Does the trade make Minnesota better or worse?

[ChrischiParticipant]

1. Al Jefferson will produce more than those two picks.

2. Because of his salary.

3. Worse

[Counting StarsParticipant]

1. Utah doesn’t do much with their first rounders as a general rule anyway. With Koufos gone, the only players they selected in the first round on their roster are D-Will and Kirilenko.

2. They also have a logjam in the front court. They have Milicic, Pekovic, Love and Beasley.

3. Not like they were going to be good this year…

[DROSE1BG7Participant]

@landshark

dont forget about Gordon Hayward being one of their other first round selections

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

The #1 picks will be fringe players most likely in the #15 to #25 range. In draft pick terms they are like buying pulltabs… few turn out to be winners. You hope to get lucky and find a player(s) that can help a team. The Wolves traded Jefferson for immediate and future cap flexibility. With he trade exception the Wolves can use it to garner players and picks from other teams looking to clear roster or salary space. Last year the Clippers picked up Camby and draft picks from the Nuggets for capspace, and the Bob cats received Stephen Jackson in a similar transaction. The exception can be used up until next years NBA draft.

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

Jefferson is a great player and was a vital part of the Wolves’ team, still might be but once the Wolves brought on Kevin Love, these two did not complement each other very well, and created a lot of instability in the front court. At the beginning Minny started both, Jefferson at Center and K-Love at the 4. But this is where problems began to arise as they did not compliment each other very well. Afterwards Minny started to use Jefferson as more of a 4, which is his natural position, and would use Ryan Hollins at C, while K-Love came off the bench. This also caused problems with the fans and overall with the team. Minny soon realized that in order to get this combo to work, one would have to ultimately be traded away, as it seemed as though they could not co-exist together.
Jefferson is a very gifted athlete, and as I said before was a vital part of the Wolves’ offense. He can compared to Emeka Okafor, but more offensively tooled. His jumpshot is not that great but he has never been around a great PG like Deron Williams, he has always been on bad teams that are poorly coached and not great systems with great PGs. Now that he is he might become more of a jump shooter, and more the pick and roll PF that Utah likes to have.
Minny knew they needed to trade him in order for K-Love to develop fully so they did. But in the end, I think Minnesota will not benefit from this trade because as we all know David Kahn is not a good GM as his draft picks and offseason things he has done are quite confusing to everyone in the league. He drafted 3 pgs in 2009. 1 has not come over to the NBA yet, another is a good player but not a great player and certainly could have been used on a much later pick, and the other one was traded away to Denver. Then in 2010, he drafted 2 SF’s, the last one Lazar Hayward was projected to go late second round-but instead was drafted with the 30th pick??? So as you can see, Kahn is not a great drafter although he does value draft picks highly as he likes to stockpile draft picks, but then pick confusing players that may never fit together at all.
Overall I think Utah is getting just what they need to replace Carlos Boozer while the Wolves get absolutely nothing in return. On the inside, I am laughing at the Twolves for trading away such a valuable asset for garbage. What a great GM Kevin O’Connor is. What a horrible GM David Kahn is.

[rtbtParticipant]

dwilljazz8, that was a great response. Thanks.

One minor correction, David Kahn drafted 4 PGs in the 2009 draft, not 3 as you mentioned.

Ricky Rubio
Jonny Flynn
Ty Lawson
Nick Calathes

[NorthernLights666Participant]

1. Why would Utah give up 2 number one draft choices for Al Jefferson? Is he really worth it? Because they needed to appease Deron Williams.

2. If Utah feels Jefferson is so good that they will give up 2 number one selections, why is Minnesota so eager to get rid of their 25 year old player? Because he’s one dimensional in that he can only score when passed the ball and he works the post for ten seconds, he doesn’t play D, he makes far too much $ for what he does, has hit his peak in terms of potential.

3. Does the trade make Minnesota better or worse? Much better, it lets them play the fast pace offense they want to play, it doesn’t hinder Love’s and Beasley’s potential, which is probably greater than Jefferson’s.

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

You only have an outsiders view. You seem belive everything you read. The Wolves can use the same exception they just received for from the Jazz for an entire year with out the pressure Utah has to win. The Wolves could take the exception right now and probably receive Iguodala or Luol Deng. They can wait for Chris Paul to demand a trade and trade the exception for a similar package that the Rockets received from the Knicks. Add that to the fact that Jefferson is a large player trying to come back from a significant knee injury. He was not the same player last year that he was prior to the injury so that is a huge risk for the Jazz. Beasley and Love will more than make up for the loss of Jefferson and at a fraction of the price. The Wolves have as much cap flexibilty as any team in the league at this point and in the near future it will pay off. Kahns methods may be a-typical but as of now the team is loaded with with young talent and draft picks for the future whether they be used in trades or on the court.

[NorthernLights666Participant]

Kahn didn’t Draft 4 PGs, he traded the Lawson and Calathes picks before the actual pick, he just selected who ever Denver and Dallas wanted-probably the biggest misconception about Kahn, go to Canis Hoopus and you’ll get rung up for saying it, they will put you on blast until you cry!

[ajk004Participant]

1) Both picks have are protected so they will most likely end up as mid-first rounders. Jefferson is easily worth a couple mid-round picks if you can stomach the salary. His salary is the bigger issue.

2) MN is in total rebuild mode. Jefferson costs too much for a rebuilding team that also has Beasley and Love on roster and may get Pekovic (Greek league rumors that he may stay as they are throwing crazy money at him). Jefferson is also a half court offense only player. He doesn’t play D and can’t run. Wolves are trying to transform into a run and gun team where he wouldn’t fit.

3) We’ll see. If Love or Beasley play well, or the cap space is used well, this will make the Wolves better. The Wolves likely won’t be very good, but Jefferson’s inefficient scoring (he takes a lot of shots to get his points) and defensive rebounding can be made up by other players. The Jazz likely benefit as well as Jefferson is really good at what he does well and they are a much better all around team to cover his weaknesses.

[tonyl33Participant]

Wolves now have a lineup of: Darko, Love, Beasley,Brewer/Johnson, Flynn. Beasley is able to play both PF and SF which will allow him to shine while playing more mins.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

Wow Dwill Jazz…that post almost made you sound smart. Not really though.

How many times have you watched Al Jefferson play? Because it seems like everything you say about him is completely wrong. He is nothing like Emeka Okafor…the only way they compare are that they are boht 6’10 and bulky. Okafor is known for his defense and rebounding. Jefferson is known for his ability to score on the block. Where on earth do those skill sets compare to each other?

Big Al cannot shoot. He is a fish out of water when he is anywhere other then the right block. He isnt a pick and roll big man. He cant pass out of the post worth nut sack…he is the definition of a black hole. Maybe he’ll improve on that, but thats the guy Utah is getting right now.

Obviously this trade was made to gain financial flexibility and force feed playing time for Love Beasley and Pekovich, the T wolves werent going anywhere with Al Jefferson and he was an asset thats value was just going to keep diminishing so they decided to cut the losses now and get 2 1st round picks out the deal. With the amount of money he was going to make over the next 3 years, he was just going to hold the wolves back from what they are trying to do. Congrats on getting a nice player who can do some good things offensivly, but dont sit there and pretend to know what you are talking about and try convincing people that Al Jefferson is a savior for the Jazz or even what Pau Gasol is to the Lakers, because quite frankly, he isnt.

[Ahkasi ClayParticipant]

he is a offensive minded post player who doesn’t play defense, and has been injured?
sounds like boozer, except he is bigger, and cost half as much.

[Author]

Posts