Celtics should try to bring Big Al Jefferson, now is the moment Danny.

[Fafnir]

You say he hasn't been accused of being lazy, well I accuse him right now.

He's a lazy defender, a lazy rebounder, and a lazy team rebounder. For a C with good defensive rebounding numbers I've never seen a player have such a negative impact on his team's boards.

I'd be intrigued by bringing him in, but I don't think:

1. We have the assets to trade for him without crippling this year's run.

2. He's worth screwing up our rebuilding situation after this year.

[Fafnir]

Al Jefferson is on $14 million so the C's would need a little over $11 million to make the salaries match.

That would have to Jeff Green + Jermaine O'Neal's expiring contract.

The problem with that is Jeff Green's restricted status makes it so either Utah would have to want to sign him to an offer sheet or Green would have to agree to the trade.

But if that's all it took I think the C's would be tempted, giving up additional picks that we're going to need past this year would be extremely painful.

[KCattheStripe]

You say he hasn't been accused of being lazy, well I accuse him right now.

He's a lazy defender, a lazy rebounder, and a lazy team rebounder. For a C with good defensive rebounding numbers I've never seen a player have such a negative impact on his team's boards.

I'd be intrigued by bringing him in, but I don't think:

1. We have the assets to trade for him without crippling this year's run.

2. He's worth screwing up our rebuilding situation after this year.

[jc3celticsphan]

We have nothing to give utah in return would love to see him back though.
I think we gotta give al jeff a break on his defense he hasnt really played on any veteran ball clubs that can show him the ropes and help him out. He would fit in fine with the celtics team defense. But the only way we can trade for him is rondo im sure utah is trying to stay young we would probly get devin harris in return but we lose our best player and future building piece.

[ManUp]

Al Jefferson's defense is a huge exploitable weakness and I don't think you can expect the team to cover it up. A weak link compromises our entire defense and that's what Jefferson would be. His help defense sucks because he's slow, his pick and roll defense sucks because he has no lateral quickness to cut off lanes, and his man defense stinks because he has no instinct for it. He gives up on defense what he gets on offense and I'd rather not be paying 10+ mil for a non-difference maker. To put it simply Al Jefferson is not a game changer.

[BballTim]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

[PosImpos]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

[BballTim]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

  I somewhat agree, especially based on his time with the Celts. He had a tough time anchoring the defense when we'd play Gomes or maybe Raef at pf and Al at center, but I always thought he looked fairly comfortable when Perk was in with him.

[PosImpos]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

  I somewhat agree, especially based on his time with the Celts. He had a tough time anchoring the defense when we'd play Gomes or maybe Raef at pf and Al at center, but I always thought he looked fairly comfortable when Perk was in with him.

right.  and it's not like perk is the best roaming defensive presence, either; like big al, he's always been better at checking the traditional, post-up big men.  players like big al / perk / shaq look much better defensively next to a guy like KG who can give directions for rotations, keep up the intensity, and cover the more agile, away from the basket types.

[kozlodoev]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

What? Absolutely not.

I can't begin to describe how frustrating it was to watch Garnett bust his ass for 20 seconds and then to have the opposition score because the other big failed to rotate to stop an open layup.

[PosImpos]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

What? Absolutely not.

I can't begin to describe how frustrating it was to watch Garnett bust his ass for 20 seconds and then to have the opposition score because the other big failed to rotate to stop an open layup.

not saying it's an ideal setup defensively, but that players of that sort can fit in next to KG and be part of a very solid defense.  even if shaq was frustrating at times last year, his deficiencies were not much more extreme than those of glen davis, or even of perk.  while he's been a very good post defender for a long time, perk is by no means a perfect defensive player.  he was definitely a liability against certain matchups and certain types of offenses.

regardless, even with some very frustrating running mates, our team defense has always been very good as long as KG is playing.  i wouldn't expect that to change much with Big Al.

the point is, we can afford for our team defense to suffer a little bit.  the reason our team has fallen short the last couple of years is primarily, in my opinion, because our offense -- despite being generally quite efficient -- is below average, especially in the fourth quarter.  we totally lack players who can create their own shot, most of all when opposing defenses clamp down the hardest at the end of the game.  

if we have to sacrifice our league-leading defense a bit to make our offense solidly above average, then so be it.  just as a top offense isn't worth much if your defense is atrocious, a top defense is great, but only leads to limited success if your offense is inconsistent, unreliable, and overall pretty mediocre.

[BballTim]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

What? Absolutely not.

I can't begin to describe how frustrating it was to watch Garnett bust his ass for 20 seconds and then to have the opposition score because the other big failed to rotate to stop an open layup.

  Say what you will, but we were clicking when Shaq was playing last year.

[PosImpos]

  Oddly enough, when you look at his 1v1 defense on synergy sports, the numbers stack up pretty well compared to players like Bogut, Horford, Bosh, Nene, even KG. That doesn't mean that his team defense is great (or even good), but it was somewhat surprising. His post up defense seems to be pretty good. Also, his  assist/game and AST% are fairly comparable to players like Bogut, Nene, Kaman and Lopez.

isn't that precisely the sort of defender who fits in well next to KG?  a guy who struggles on team defense / with rotations but is at least solid man-to-man, particularly as a defender in the post against traditional big men?

sounds a lot like shaq last year to me.

What? Absolutely not.

I can't begin to describe how frustrating it was to watch Garnett bust his ass for 20 seconds and then to have the opposition score because the other big failed to rotate to stop an open layup.

  Say what you will, but we were clicking when Shaq was playing last year.

it's refreshing when we can agree on something, BBT.

[Yogi]

We lead the league in FG% and for most of the year it wasn't even close.  We were over 50% until the last month or so.  Just because our pace is slow doesn't mean we had poor offense.  Our only problem was consistent scoring and defense from the bench.  Our starting 5 were consistently the best 5 man unit in the league.  Big 4 + Shaq, Baby, Green or JO

[PosImpos]

We lead the league in FG% and for most of the year it wasn't even close.  We were over 50% until the last month or so.  Just because our pace is slow doesn't mean we had poor offense.  Our only problem was consistent scoring and defense from the bench.  Our starting 5 were consistently the best 5 man unit in the league.  Big 4 + Shaq, Baby, Green or JO

it's not the slow pace that makes our offense weak.


it's the inconsistency, the over-reliance on jumpshots, the long stretches without a point scored, the 4th quarter leads given up, the inability of any of our players to create their own shot in crunch time.

unless the jumpshots are falling, our team's normally efficient offense falls apart against good defensive teams.