What happened to Al Jefferson?

[†William Moore†]

Al Jefferson has always been one of my favorite players. In years past, he has shown himself to be a master in the paint and unstoppable when he's on fire.

 

I love basketball, even moreso than football, and I read this board all the time just to talk with non-Hawk fans. From what I've been reading here he's been flat-out awful this year.

 

Now, he's never really been a defender or rim protector but what exactly has been the problem with his offense? His numbers seem alright but everyone here hates on him and wants him traded. You guys watch every game, so I can certainly trust your analysis over a stat sheet. 

 

I just want to know what the problem is, as a fan of his. Is it the injuries? Bad chemistry with Lance? Defense just getting too bad to handle? What's up? 

[JJman Returns]

He is lazy as fug on defense. He takes poor percentage shots in the post and tries to take on double and triple teams single handedly without passing to open players.

Calling him flat out awful is a bit of an overstatement, but he's having one of his worst seasons in a long time.

[PiratePanther189]

It's mainly defensive laziness and injuries. He's still had a very effective season when healthy and played the exact same he always has. Anyone who says otherwise is overreacting. We got exactly what we paid for.

[bLACKpANTHER]

Big Al turned our franchise around.. plain and simple.. im grateful for who he is..

[Dexterity]

Big Al wasn't even that good last year. He's always been a terrible defender, average rebounder, and volume shooter. Yeah, he has an old school post game and has an incredible offensive skill set, but he's never been an effecient scorer.

There's a reason he's played over a decade and bounced around various teams without making an all-star team.

He's a solid player, but nothing more.

[JJman Returns]

Big Al wasn't even that good last year. He's always been a terrible defender, average rebounder, and volume shooter. Yeah, he has an old school post game and has an incredible offensive skill set, but he's never been an effecient scorer.

There's a reason he's played over a decade and bounced around various teams without making an all-star team.

He's a solid player, but nothing more.

Last year he was the best offensive center in basketball and took us to the playoffs. fug off.

[PiratePanther189]

He's a 20-10 big man. That's what you get with him. He's not going to be a rim protector, and there's never been any hiding his defensive weaknesses. He's going to score 20 points and get 10 rebounds a game. And by and large he's done that for this team

[cbarrier90]

Al Jefferson has always been one of my favorite players. In years past, he has shown himself to be a master in the paint and unstoppable when he's on fire.

 

I love basketball, even moreso than football, and I read this board all the time just to talk with non-Hawk fans. From what I've been reading here he's been flat-out awful this year.

 

Now, he's never really been a defender or rim protector but what exactly has been the problem with his offense? His numbers seem alright but everyone here hates on him and wants him traded. You guys watch every game, so I can certainly trust your analysis over a stat sheet. 

 

I just want to know what the problem is, as a fan of his. Is it the injuries? Bad chemistry with Lance? Defense just getting too bad to handle? What's up? 

 

How much of a post would you like to read? Haha.

 

I'll take this step by step...

 

Re: your Al Jefferson appreciaton: Not an uncommon thing among non-Hornets fans who only get to see that he will generally get 20-10 on a good night and watch him perform post moves and a style that is really unique to the modern day NBA landscape. The caveat here is that it is a unique style because that style of basketball is about 20 or 30 years behind modern day NBA defenses. Metrics (not readily available 20-30 years ago) show that Al's style is an incredibly inefficient way to score, and in order to get the touches he needs to get those numbers, Al completely stops ball movement and flow on offense.

 

Re: our Al Jefferson frustration: The problem is that this slow, archaic style of basketball is not conducive to the rest of the roster. It's no secret that when you look at this roster, Al Jefferson sticks out like a sore thumb. The future of this team depends on the performances of Kemba, MKG, Zeller, and Vonleh, the young core drafted by the current administration. Supplementing this young core is Lance Stephenson, Gerald Henderson, and Bismack Biyombo. All of those players (with the exception of Vonleh) rely on athleticism first and foremost to be successful, and by slowing the pace and funnelling the ball to Al on every offensive possession, conventional wisdom says you're negating the strengths of the rest of the roster. The team performing just as well if not better while Jefferson was injured was no accident.

 

Re: The problem: You can see where this is going. The roster in general is just a terrible mix of players, pretty much the antithesis of the Hawks. Al Jefferson, because of his inefficient style of play and lack of defense, requires a certain roster around him to be successful, specifically a power forward with the rare ability to stretch the floor AND protect the rim. Josh McRoberts could do that, and so Al was able to thrive. Now, McBob isn't here, so the combination of his absence, Al's own injuries and age, and a regression after the team literally got all it could out of the sum of its parts last season, and you wind up with the Jefferson and Hornets team in general we have now.

 

So, the franchise and fanbase is at a crossroads. With Al potentially expiring this season, do they lock him up as a "thank you" for putting the franchise back on the map for however brief a time or do they decide to put players around the young core which (outside of Kemba) still has yet to gain the offensive skill level necessary for the team to take the next step (hence signing Al in the first place after 2012.) Given what we have seen this season, I'd much rather roll with door #2 and supplement the young roster with pieces that can complement them better, but there are still Al loyalists on Hornets boards.

[PantherBrew]

How much of a post would you like to read? Haha.

 

I'll take this step by step...

 

Re: your Al Jefferson appreciaton: Not an uncommon thing among non-Hornets fans who only get to see that he will generally get 20-10 on a good night and watch him perform post moves and a style that is really unique to the modern day NBA landscape. The caveat here is that it is a unique style because that style of basketball is about 20 or 30 years behind modern day NBA defenses. Metrics (not readily available 20-30 years ago) show that Al's style is an incredibly inefficient way to score, and in order to get the touches he needs to get those numbers, Al completely stops ball movement and flow on offense.

 

Re: our Al Jefferson frustration: The problem is that this slow, archaic style of basketball is not conducive to the rest of the roster. It's no secret that when you look at this roster, Al Jefferson sticks out like a sore thumb. The future of this team depends on the performances of Kemba, MKG, Zeller, and Vonleh, the young core drafted by the current administration. Supplementing this young core is Lance Stephenson, Gerald Henderson, and Bismack Biyombo. All of those players (with the exception of Vonleh) rely on athleticism first and foremost to be successful, and by slowing the pace and funnelling the ball to Al on every offensive possession, conventional wisdom says you're negating the strengths of the rest of the roster. The team performing just as well if not better while Jefferson was injured was no accident.

 

Re: The problem: You can see where this is going. The roster in general is just a terrible mix of players, pretty much the antithesis of the Hawks. Al Jefferson, because of his inefficient style of play and lack of defense, requires a certain roster around him to be successful, specifically a power forward with the rare ability to stretch the floor AND protect the rim. Josh McRoberts could do that, and so Al was able to thrive. Now, McBob isn't here, so the combination of his absence, Al's own injuries and age, and a regression after the team literally got all it could out of the sum of its parts last season, and you wind up with the Jefferson and Hornets team in general we have now.

 

So, the franchise and fanbase is at a crossroads. With Al potentially expiring this season, do they lock him up as a "thank you" for putting the franchise back on the map for however brief a time or do they decide to put players around the young core which (outside of Kemba) still has yet to gain the offensive skill level necessary for the team to take the next step (hence signing Al in the first place after 2012.) Given what we have seen this season, I'd much rather roll with door #2 and supplement the young roster with pieces that can complement them better, but there are still Al loyalists on Hornets boards.

 

 

I feel like this is a well reason post.  

 

If the plan is to big al to help us be competitive right now in order to build a roster for the future then I am okay with that.  

 

I believe Cliff could coach to whatever personnel that the has. For now, he is thinking that he has to preach intense consistant defense for the entire games because our team construction is so awkward.  And then our key defensive guy is out, we really see how close we are to being terrible without awesome defense.  

 

I am not sure what to do with Big Al.  I love his personality, his post moves, and everything.  I do believe this offense would work much better with more shoot (as would any offense).  We need a 3 and D guy playing the 2. If big Al had someone who he could kick to that would consistently knock down threes, then I believe he would do it more.  I really have appreciated what Gerald has done the last month, but dammit it is clogged up the paint and slows ball movement. 

 

 

[lightsout]

Al is a double edged sword, really. He gives us a big man down low that is hard to stop. But, as pointed out, he just doesn't fit with the other 4 guys on the court at any given time. Sure, if we had a sure-fire 3-point shooter to kick to on the wing whenever they collapse on Al, it'd work better. We wouldn't have to go from fast paced, efficient passing to a snail's pace with Al working his man over in the post for 10 seconds. But, we don't have that right now. I think we just have to keep an eye on his minutes. Pepper him in and give Vonleh and Biyombo more minutes, because they're the future here. Jefferson is a stop-gap to develop those two more without throwing them to the wolves and when he was picked up, he was sorely needed.


Long term, Jefferson isn't a problem. He'll be gone and I think our offense will be more solid for it, both in his helping guys like Vonleh with their post work, and with just giving the young guys a chance to develop while doing good work on the boards to give us a chance to win now instead of just saying "we'll win whenever we get our young guys developed". And in that, as said a million times, our tempo on offense will pick up. Because honestly, our offense is fuging boring a lot of the time. Nice to see Al get like, 3 straight buckets down low every quarter, but still, I want us playing to our strengths. Efficient passes, get good mid-range looks, take the occasional 3, drive the lane with guys like Hendo. That's our identity and we need to stick to that.

[Dexterity]

Last year he was the best offensive center in basketball and took us to the playoffs. fug off.

No he wasn't.

[Cary Kollins]

No he wasn't.

 

 

he was third team ALL-NBA, so he was a top three center

 

 

your point is still quite retarded

[Cary Kollins]

and you say he "bounced around playing for various teams"...

 

He has basically played for three teams including the Hornets.

 

He was traded from Boston after his rookie season as the centerpiece of the deal that sent Kevin Garnett to the Celtics.

 

 

[Dexterity]

he was third team ALL-NBA, so he was a top three center

your point is still quite retarded

He was about the 4th or 5th best offensive C, and about the worst defensive C in the entire league.

He's a good offensive player. That's it. He's not great, he's not an All-Star, and he's sure as hell not gonna get a team anywhere.