Why did Utah let Al Jefferson go?

[russwest0]

I was gonna say this as well. I don't watch a lot of the Bobcats and didn't watch the Jazz much last year...but isn't Big Al total ass on defense?

He was but now he's an average or even above average defender. Has been getting a lot of praise from the coaching staff in Charlotte about his defense.

It's just hard to shake the stigma once you get labeled as a bad defender.

[Myth]

This guy is playing like a prime Tim Duncan.

[absalom]

Yes, he is negative on defense, does not offer any resistance whenever players drive to the basket. But Big Al tries hard you could see the effort. And props to Steve Clifford aka the balding man from the lakers bench last year for installing a system to hide his weakness.

[Xiao Yao You]

Utah just wasn't making him the featured guy.

Note that I'm not calling him a superstar or saying he would have taken Utah on a deep playoff run or whatever. Part of why he's doing what he's doing for Charlotte is that there aren't many options. But he does have All-Star talent.

He was the featured guy in Utah unfortunately. Al ball sucked big time! He's in the east. That has more to do with it than anything.

If Kanter were comparable to Big Al, Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams wouldn't be starting over him.

RJ is a big? I would have loved Big Al coming off the bench behind Favors too but that wasn't going to happen because he made 15 million a year. Marvin Willims and Favors have complemented each other better just as Favors and Millsap did.

[R.I.P.]

like a wise jazz fan said:

they were walking on a treadmill with big al

So they decided to walk in quicksand instead?

Clear case of buying the "golden" rule of Title or Tank.

They could have re-signed Millsap/Jefferson. EASILY traded two future 1sts, Kanter and Favours for Rondo and Bostons 1st round pick. Then picked Olynyk, Giannis and Plumlee.

Come back with

Rondo/Burks
Hayward/Giannis
Williams/Jefferson
Millsap/Olynyk
Jefferson/Plumlee/Gobert

Looks like a 50 win team to me for the next 4-5 years, unless Rondo bails. If Utah doesn

[Derka]

Prime TD is a stretch since Al doesn't exactly light it up on D, but Al wasn't the featured guy in Utah so he didn't put in nearly as much of a workload there as he's being asked to in Charlotte. Utah had a big-guy rotation thing going on there before he left.

Even when he was a Celtic, Al displayed some pretty sterling, vintage-style post moves...the kind of stuff that forced us to listen to Tommy gush night after night about. Good dude to have around the block on offense.

[BlazerRed]

Yeah, Al is playing like PRIME ****ING TIM DUNCAN

[MichaelCorleone]

Is he good? Can Kobe play with him?

[Xiao Yao You]

So they decided to walk in quicksand instead?

Clear case of buying the "golden" rule of Title or Tank.

They could have re-signed Millsap/Jefferson.

Jefferson had to go! Millsap, Demarre and possibly Mo should have been back.

EASILY traded two future 1sts, Kanter and Favours for Rondo and Bostons 1st round pick. Then picked Olynyk, Giannis and Plumlee.

Easily? Would Ainge do this? Rondo is a headcase. Not the kind of guy the Jazz have historically wanted to deal with.

Come back with

Rondo/Burks
Hayward/Giannis
Williams/Jefferson
Millsap/Olynyk
Jefferson/Plumlee/Gobert

The problem is you still have 4 guys standing around while Jefferson does heis thing and 4 guys trying to make up for his horrible d at the other.

[quote]Looks like a 50 win team to me for the next 4-5 years, unless Rondo bails. If Utah doesn

[Purch]

Now that Sloan and Jefferson are gone, xiao's struggling to find a scapegoat for our problems this season.

Now he using this weird mix between optimism and delusion. It's quite fascinating.

Also, on a side note, I find it curious that you havent taken a shot at Al ,leading the bobcats to a sub .500 record in the east. Could it be that you're hesitant too, because your boy Millsap, is leading his team to an even worse record, in the same conference, and having a worse season? Is it messing up your image of Millsap as the messiah?

[Xiao Yao You]

Now that Sloan and Jefferson are gone, xiao's struggling to find a scapegoat for our problems this season.

What problems? Winning too much?

Now he using this weird mix between optimism and delusion. It's quite fascinating.

Also, on a side note, I find it curious that you havent taken a shot at Al ,leading the bobcats to a sub .500 record in the east. Could it be that you're hesitant too, because your boy Millsap, is leading his team to an even worse record, in the same conference, and having a worse season? Is it messing up your image of Millsap as the messiah?

What delusion am I having? I could care less what Al is doing just glad he's doing it elsewhere. Who said Millsap was a messiah? He's the type of guy every team in the league would love to have. Al not so much.

[Real Men Wear Green]

He was the featured guy in Utah unfortunately. Al ball sucked big time! He's in the east. That has more to do with it than anything.

Current Jazz ball sucks a lot worse than "Al ball." And did you not note the 2.8 shot per game difference between what Jefferson is doing this season and last season?

Edit: I should clarify that while Jefferson was Utah's top scorer there were four guys getting double-digit shots. The Jazz offense was not as big on Jefferson as the Bobcats are. Which is the only thing I was trying to say, not even saying the Bobcats are a better offense than Utah was.

[MP.Trey]

Now that Sloan and Jefferson are gone, xiao's struggling to find a scapegoat for our problems this season.

Now he using this weird mix between optimism and delusion. It's quite fascinating.

Also, on a side note, I find it curious that you havent taken a shot at Al ,leading the bobcats to a suolb .500 record in the east. Could it be that you're hesitant too, because your boy Millsap, is leading his team to an even worse record, in the same conference, and having a worse season? Is it messing up your image of Millsap as the messiah?

Thank you for showing me there's still sensible Jazz fans around. This Xiao guy is ridiculous with the passive-aggressive Al Jeff hate.

[Xiao Yao You]

Current Jazz ball sucks a lot worse than "Al ball." And did you not note the 2.8 shot per game difference between what Jefferson is doing this season and last season?

Their offense revolved around Al rather the Bobcats offense is even more Al'ed. The Jazz may have a worse record this year but they're a lot more interesting to watch with actually ball movement again and some pick and roll defense.

They are worse because they have no starting caliber pg and two 3rd pgs. Despite that take away their horrible start and they are similar to the past couple years just not as deep and when healthy this year they've been very competitive.

Marvin and Jefferson are bench players at best. The Jazz were one of the deepest teams in the league the past couple years. Put Millsap in the line-up instead of Marvin. Demarre who they always played better with and a veteran pg or combo guard like Mo and the Jazz are a totally different team than the one doing their best to tank.

[Xiao Yao You]

Thank you for showing me there's still sensible Jazz fans around. This Xiao guy is ridiculous with the passive-aggressive Al Jeff hate.

The sensible Jazz fan is president of Al's fan club. He's been touting his greatness since they got him.

Why is it I'm supposed to love Al? This is the guy that called the Spurs the next World Champions after game 3 of their evental sweep of the Jazz.