Al Jefferson (Official discusion thread for the 07/08 season)

[gpap]

Edit - I hijacked this thread and made it the official Al Jefferson discussion thread.  wdleehi



I know this has been talked about a trillion times already, but after watching last nights game I have come to the conclusion that we should have kept Big Al in Green. I LOVE KG and all that he brings....leadership, focus, intensity etc. but KG has had TWELVE years in this league already. Yes, we will win more games with him, but anything short of a championship I will be HIGHLY disappointed, and that is only with the fact that we gave up one of the best big men in the league and WILL be for the next 12 years. I was very excited about the trade, but honestly, I would have shipped out Pierce, got back a quality player, kept our pick and picked Yi and built around Al. Done, end of story. We would have made the playoffs where anything goes and even if we had gotten knocked out in the first or second round, that would have been experience to build with.

Last night was the first full Minny game I have watched and afterwards I felt that we gave up something really special in Al Jefferson.

Actually, there is NOTHING special about Al Jefferson.  But, feel free to become a fan of the great, 2-10 team that is the Minnesota Timberwolves.  In the meantime, I'll be rooting for my Celtics as they're blowing teams away by 45.

[gpap]

Because I am soooooo sick of so-called Celtics fans always talking about the underacheiving Al Jefferson (though you wouldn't know it, based on how fans here talk about him) I am starting the anti-Jefferson thread.

Anyone else who is sick of hearing "fans" bring up Al Jeffeson instead of enjoying these historic times of watching the Cetlics blow teams away by 45 with one of the greatest Celtics teams in history, please respond.

Also, for those of you who love Al Jefferson so much, feel free to root him and his 2-10 Timberwolves team on.  You can also talk about how much potential Al Jefferson has and how good of a player he'll be in the year 2017, while the Celtics are playing for a championship with KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and company.

PS: Even the Celts bench is better than half of the NBA starting teams.

[Roy Hobbs]

Watch it with the "fans" stuff.  I would refer you to the site rules, which provide:

Do not label fellow posters in a way that is likely to provoke a negative response.  Dependent upon context, examples include, but are not limited to, "fake fan", "bandwagon fan", "not a real fan", "hater", "koolaid drinker", etc.

I don't see how rooting for a former Celtic player calls somebody's loyalty into question.

[celts55]

Because I am soooooo sick of so-called Celtics fans always talking about the underacheiving Al Jefferson (though you wouldn't know it, based on how fans here talk about him) I am starting the anti-Jefferson thread.

Anyone else who is sick of hearing "fans" bring up Al Jeffeson instead of enjoying these historic times of watching the Cetlics blow teams away by 45 with one of the greatest Celtics teams in history, please respond.

Also, for those of you who love Al Jefferson so much, feel free to root him and his 2-10 Timberwolves team on.  You can also talk about how much potential Al Jefferson has and how good of a player he'll be in the year 2017, while the Celtics are playing for a championship with KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and company.

PS: Even the Celts bench is better than half of the NBA starting teams.

While I agree I'm sick of hearing about Jefferson every time he has a good game, I have to wonder how you could call him an underacheaver? The guys played very well for the Celts last year, and looks like he's doing even better this year.
I'm happy with the trade. Love having Garnett on the team, but I don't understand your need to knock Jefferson. I have no doubt that he is becoming one of the best big guys around.

BTW.. Don't get so carried away. Name me any team (okay, not the Knicks) that the Celtics' bench is better than their starters.

[BballTim]

Edit - I hijacked this thread and made it the official Al Jefferson discussion thread.  wdleehi



I know this has been talked about a trillion times already, but after watching last nights game I have come to the conclusion that we should have kept Big Al in Green. I LOVE KG and all that he brings....leadership, focus, intensity etc. but KG has had TWELVE years in this league already. Yes, we will win more games with him, but anything short of a championship I will be HIGHLY disappointed, and that is only with the fact that we gave up one of the best big men in the league and WILL be for the next 12 years. I was very excited about the trade, but honestly, I would have shipped out Pierce, got back a quality player, kept our pick and picked Yi and built around Al. Done, end of story. We would have made the playoffs where anything goes and even if we had gotten knocked out in the first or second round, that would have been experience to build with.

Last night was the first full Minny game I have watched and afterwards I felt that we gave up something really special in Al Jefferson.

Actually, there is NOTHING special about Al Jefferson.  But, feel free to become a fan of the great, 2-10 team that is the Minnesota Timberwolves.  In the meantime, I'll be rooting for my Celtics as they're blowing teams away by 45.

  Of course there's nothing special about Jefferson. You can probably name a dozen or so crappy players who average 21 and 11 when they were 22, right?

  PS: If it's easier, name the 15 or so teams that are worse than our bench.

[Brickowski]

As I said earler, Jefferson is a special offensive player and a great rebounder.  But KG does two things much better than Big Al: pass the ball and play defense. Al will learn to be a good passer in time.  He's just raw and needs to understand where his teammates will be.

But if don't think Jefferson will ever be as good as KG defensively.  The guy is like a cat.  He's everywhere, making up for everyone else's mistakes, and bringing the kind of defensive intensity that I haven't seen from a Celtic since (dare I say it?) Bill Russell.

[Boris Badenov]

Not sure whether this deserves its own thread or not, but I posted over TWolvesblog.com asking for fans there to give their impressions of Al so far this year. A lot of us have been following him but I thought it'd be interesting to hear their perspective.

Only a couple of responses so far, and no real surprises, but it may grow:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/fireboard/minnesota-timberwolves-den/4290-impressions-of-al-so-far-for-celtics-fans.html#4290

A couple of things on my end from visiting that site. First, it seems pretty deserted. we really need to count ourselves among the lucky here in Beantown that we have such an active (and well-run of course) blog.

Second, it appears that Jerry Sichting is not only an assistant but coached his first game the other night. By my count that brings the number of 85-86 Celtics who have coached an NBA game to seven. That has to be a record. And who knows, maybe the Chief will make it. I would be slightly more surprised to see David Thirdkill get the nod, but you never know.

[cdif911]

Big Al's knees do seem to be a source of concern. A potential worrysome comparison could be to Pervis Ellison - I know he had the college experience, and thus a bit more wear on his knees to begin with, but his first 3 seasons, showed steady progress towards being a double double guy (capping with a 20 pt 11 rebound year in 91-92) then his decline thanks to knee problems left him as a role player who was lucky to go half a season... Anyone else see a potential comparison here?

[College Wolf]

Not sure whether this deserves its own thread or not, but I posted over TWolvesblog.com asking for fans there to give their impressions of Al so far this year. A lot of us have been following him but I thought it'd be interesting to hear their perspective.

Only a couple of responses so far, and no real surprises, but it may grow:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/fireboard/minnesota-timberwolves-den/4290-impressions-of-al-so-far-for-celtics-fans.html#4290

A couple of things on my end from visiting that site. First, it seems pretty deserted. we really need to count ourselves among the lucky here in Beantown that we have such an active (and well-run of course) blog.

Second, it appears that Jerry Sichting is not only an assistant but coached his first game the other night. By my count that brings the number of 85-86 Celtics who have coached an NBA game to seven. That has to be a record. And who knows, maybe the Chief will make it. I would be slightly more surprised to see David Thirdkill get the nod, but you never know.

It's really not that deserted, all things considered.  First off, you posted in the morning and throughout the middle of the day it tends to slow down (due to people at school and working.)

You have to keep in mind that the Celticsblog forums are probably one of the most active forums of any sports blog on the internet (at least in the United States.)  Of course, in comparison to these forums they will seem deserted.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on KG if I may ask?  Is he all that you expected?  Better than you expected?  Worse?

[Boris Badenov]

Not sure whether this deserves its own thread or not, but I posted over TWolvesblog.com asking for fans there to give their impressions of Al so far this year. A lot of us have been following him but I thought it'd be interesting to hear their perspective.

Only a couple of responses so far, and no real surprises, but it may grow:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/fireboard/minnesota-timberwolves-den/4290-impressions-of-al-so-far-for-celtics-fans.html#4290

A couple of things on my end from visiting that site. First, it seems pretty deserted. we really need to count ourselves among the lucky here in Beantown that we have such an active (and well-run of course) blog.

Second, it appears that Jerry Sichting is not only an assistant but coached his first game the other night. By my count that brings the number of 85-86 Celtics who have coached an NBA game to seven. That has to be a record. And who knows, maybe the Chief will make it. I would be slightly more surprised to see David Thirdkill get the nod, but you never know.

It's really not that deserted, all things considered.  First off, you posted in the morning and throughout the middle of the day it tends to slow down (due to people at school and working.)

You have to keep in mind that the Celticsblog forums are probably one of the most active forums of any sports blog on the internet (at least in the United States.)  Of course, in comparison to these forums they will seem deserted.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on KG if I may ask?  Is he all that you expected?  Better than you expected?  Worse?

I hope you didn't take offense. As you can see from the next sentence, I was really just counting us among the lucky ones rather than casting aspersions on anyone else.

As far as KG, I can't speak for everyone but I'll give you my two cents. (See the "what I don't like about Garnett" thread here for an overall view).

My personal view? We are all blown away by his intensity and professionalism, which are on a par with the best Celtics ever (Larry, notably, since few of use remember Russell). I personally have been most surprised by how well he has improved our team defense, which was atrocious last year. It is really amazing to see how much more quickly everyone seems to be getting to the right defensive spots, and helping. (People will say that Thibodeau is responsible, but if it were as easy as hiring a coach there would be many better defensive teams in the league).

I can't say I've been disappointed by anything except the fact that I think the Celtics should initiate the offense with KG on the low block more (even if he ends up passing out of a double). But that's a complaint about the offensive sets more than KG. Some people seem to be upset that KG doesn't shoot more - but what did they expect? That's been an issue for his whole career. Did people think that you'd take him off a team with maybe two other legitimate NBA starters, put him on a team with two other All-Stars, and he'd shoot *more*? I don't get it.

Thanks for checking in. I have enjoyed reading those posts about Al.
 

[College Wolf]

Not sure whether this deserves its own thread or not, but I posted over TWolvesblog.com asking for fans there to give their impressions of Al so far this year. A lot of us have been following him but I thought it'd be interesting to hear their perspective.

Only a couple of responses so far, and no real surprises, but it may grow:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/fireboard/minnesota-timberwolves-den/4290-impressions-of-al-so-far-for-celtics-fans.html#4290

A couple of things on my end from visiting that site. First, it seems pretty deserted. we really need to count ourselves among the lucky here in Beantown that we have such an active (and well-run of course) blog.

Second, it appears that Jerry Sichting is not only an assistant but coached his first game the other night. By my count that brings the number of 85-86 Celtics who have coached an NBA game to seven. That has to be a record. And who knows, maybe the Chief will make it. I would be slightly more surprised to see David Thirdkill get the nod, but you never know.

It's really not that deserted, all things considered.  First off, you posted in the morning and throughout the middle of the day it tends to slow down (due to people at school and working.)

You have to keep in mind that the Celticsblog forums are probably one of the most active forums of any sports blog on the internet (at least in the United States.)  Of course, in comparison to these forums they will seem deserted.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on KG if I may ask?  Is he all that you expected?  Better than you expected?  Worse?

I hope you didn't take offense. As you can see from the next sentence, I was really just counting us among the lucky ones rather than casting aspersions on anyone else.

As far as KG, I can't speak for everyone but I'll give you my two cents. (See the "what I don't like about Garnett" thread here for an overall view).

My personal view? We are all blown away by his intensity and professionalism, which are on a par with the best Celtics ever (Larry, notably, since few of use remember Russell). I personally have been most surprised by how well he has improved our team defense, which was atrocious last year. It is really amazing to see how much more quickly everyone seems to be getting to the right defensive spots, and helping. (People will say that Thibodeau is responsible, but if it were as easy as hiring a coach there would be many better defensive teams in the league).

I can't say I've been disappointed by anything except the fact that I think the Celtics should initiate the offense with KG on the low block more (even if he ends up passing out of a double). But that's a complaint about the offensive sets more than KG. Some people seem to be upset that KG doesn't shoot more - but what did they expect? That's been an issue for his whole career. Did people think that you'd take him off a team with maybe two other legitimate NBA starters, put him on a team with two other All-Stars, and he'd shoot *more*? I don't get it.

Thanks for checking in. I have enjoyed reading those posts about Al.
 

No, I'm offended... it's not like that.  It's kinda my bad because the first time I read your entire post (but didn't respond), and then when I came back later to respond I got caught up in that one sentence without re-reading it all again. So yeah, no harm done.

Good stuff about KG.  As you could probably guess, he was most of the posters from Twolvesblog's favorite Minnesota athlete ever.  I'm glad he went to Boston because I've been following them for a few years and I'd say the C's are my second "favorite" team, if I can say that.  That was even before we traded KG to you guys. So yeah, I wouldn't consider myself a bandwagon fan or anything like that.

I agree that your defensive improvement is most likely attributed to KG rather than Thib (for the most part.)  I'm sure Thib does help things, but when you've got someone like KG, it's just amazing what he can do for the rest of the team as well. Also agreed that there is no way one should think that KG would go to Boston with PP and RA and shoot MORE, that's insane.  That's never been KG's mindset anyways.  From the games I've watched this season, it is odd that they don't run the ball through him from the low block more than they do.  Then again, KG has always initiated the offense from all over the court when he was in Minny.  Hopefully Coach of the Month can get things figured out.  If he does, you guys will be golden.

Glad you enjoyed the posts about Al.  Feel free to stop back to Twolvesblog if you've ever got any questions or comments.  I browse these forums every now and then, but I hardly ever post due to time constraints.  So if there's anything you guys ever want input about, just ask.

Have a good one~

[College Wolf]

Anyone got anything?

http://www.twolvesblog.com/fireboard/minnesota-timberwolves-den/4347-big-als-new-name-contest.html

[Donoghus]

You guys really don't like "Big Al", huh? 

[College Wolf]

You guys really don't like "Big Al", huh? 

Personally, I don't mind it too much.  It does seem kind of bland however, and he's not really all that "big" anymore... especially after he lost all that weight two off-seasons ago.

I'm sure everyone will probably keep calling him "Big Al", but maybe someone can come up with something cooler and/or more fitting.

[Curley]

He has a nickname ... It is Big Al.