I was in the process of voting for Ming on the NBA All-Star team and realized that Richard Jefferson should be voted as an Eastern Conference All-Star. Does anyone else have a "what-if" mentality? I don't think there is any doubt he would be our starting SF right now. He has a great shot..hustles..gets boards..everything! We already had a ?plethora? of PF when we traded for Griffin. Don't get me wrong I can see the potential in Griff..I am just thinking that Jefferson fits our need. I saw him in Arizona in the NCAA championship thinking this kid is GOOD so I know he showed potential way back then. If we had Jefferson we then could have used the pick from Boki on a more relevant postition or to satisfy trade obligations.. don't misunderstand I am a happy Rockets fan just a little "what-if"?
How many times is someone going to have a "Griffin or Jefferson" thread? but anyway no jefferson is getting the minutes and shots that griffin isn't getting. the Nets have no one scoring over 20 and they need everyone to be involved. On the Rockets we have plenty of scorers and we need to free up the 4 spot for eddie to develop.
I loved Richard Jefferson coming out of Arizona -- he is just so athletic... BUT, I never thought he would be the kind of guy that would fit in with us. The kind of player he is, he couldn't have been dropped in a better situation than in New Jersey with a PG who likes to get up and down. That fits RJ perfectly and his stats reflect that. I don't think his stats would be as impressive anywhere else. I also would contend with him having a "great shot." Yes, it is improved from last year, but I still don't think he's that consistent of a shooter. Like Ced Ceballos, a lot of his points come from within 2 feet of the basket. For now, I am totally content to see Eddie develop...
Richard Jefferson isn't in the neighborhood of Glenn Robinson and Jermaine O'Neal, to name a couple off the top of my head. Jefferson would be exactly what Shandon Anderson was here. He does NOT have a great shot. Not at all. His percentage is high because he gets so many baskets in transition due to Jason Kidd. Everyone dreams about these players (Jefferson, Artest) seemingly every week, and apparently forgets what happened when Shandon was in this offense. Like it or not, we're not a fast break team, and with more plays for Yao in the low post, there's even a greater need for shooters on the perimeter. Jefferson's in the best situation for him now. He's extremely athletic, and with Jason Kidd pushing the break in transition, he gets a lot of easy baskets due to his speed and Kidd's passing. Also, with the motion offense the Nets have, there is a lot more movement without the ball, where again Kidd can easily find him on cuts to the basket. I'm not sure if Jefferson would be any better than Hawkins for this team right now. I'm not saying that they are equivalent players, but when you consider the team and the system they may be. Jefferson's best skills (movement without the ball, running in transition) would be less important on this team, and his weaknesses (making open shots) would be exposed.
I guess that's why Kenny Thomas doesn't take that many shots and doesn't post up or score very much because we don't need any scoring from the SF..what? It's the PF position that we don't need any scoring from.. So this ain't another Griff or Jefferson thread it's a Thomas or Jefferson thread..
I see the Rockets SF position as one that isn't part of the offense most every night.. that position has always been responsible for its own scoring.. that's what KT is doing. I think we are becoming a greater fastbreak team with ever game..even our center is moving up the floor..I think that if you put Richard Jefferson in KT's role you would have improved scoring..shot percentage..boards..definitely assist..
Cat, I was going to say the same thing about Kidd. Whenever a player has a guy like Jason Kidd feeding spectacular passes to him, it's hard to miss. As far as I see it, Kidd just makes Jefferson and everyone else on the Nets look better than they really are. This is not to rag on Jefferson. I think he has turned out far better than my expectations (thus far). But to say he'll be a better player the EG is perposterous. First of all EG is still only 19 or 20. He was a freshman in college when he came into the draft. Jefferson was a junior or senior and had the seasoning of a great college program that made it to the final four. Griffin will soon enough build on his potential and will dazzle us. RJ might be better now but in the longrun, there is no doubt our EG will pay us dividends.
This is getting old. Many of you do not realize that Jefferson is putting the numbers he is because 1) Hes one of the primary offense options on his team (Griffin isnt nor he is needed to be) and 2) His stats are a direct result of playing with the best passing point guard in the NBA. Would Griffin have better numbers playing along side Kidd? IMO, probably so. Would Jefferson have the same stats/production if he played along side Francis (who along with Yao, and Mobley are the primary offensive options on our team) instead of Kidd? Bottom line is, Jason Kidd makes Jefferson look like a better player than he probably is. Thats why Kidd is one of the elite players in this league. BTW, Im not knocking Jefferson or his game or saying that hes not a good player. EDIT: Sorry NRuss ....I didnt read your post before I wrote mine. I agree whole heartedly with what you said.
I totally agree with you RNUSS....it think you have a great point that Jefferson is a little older and Griffin still needs some time to develope. I think if EG works hard in the off season and add another 15-20lbs of muscle we'll be set at the PF position for awhile. And we don't need a slasher at the SF position...we need someone who can knockdown a three on a consistent basis and finish the break. I think Boki will be this player once he gets a chance to get some regular PT.
How does Jefferson solve our interior problem, which is what the Rockets had at the time they drafted Griffin. Griffin is a shot-blocker and a better rebounder then Jefferson. In less minutes Griffin is practically matching Jefferson on the glass. We have enough scorers as it is now how does getting Jefferson for his scoring help this team in the paint, which is what Griffin will do eventually, he's doing it now with his shot-blocking and rebounding. Keeping KT had nothing to do with trading Jefferson's pick, so why compare KT and Jefferson's right now? Bottomline Jefferson is putting up good numbers because he is a better fit on another team. Who's to say Jefferson would put up the same numbers on a team with a dominant center and an explosive scoring SG, something the Nets don't have?
Always someone who tries to be cool and question a legitimate thread about where it belongs.. dude the Rockets drafted this guy in a trade for Griffin so yeah we can talk about it.. "hell even the slower people can talk about ex-Rocket Tracy Murray.. so don't pad your post count with crap like that!! Otherwise, you guys make some good points.. we'll never know how Jefferson would do in the Pajamas but I gotta think about something while I am here at work. I have no doubt that we would all trade KT for Jefferson right now.. but not if it cost us Eddie Griffin.. We gotta have faith in his development I guess... we just got spoiled by Ming and how fast he has come along!
I'm with ya, Granville Waders. I would much rather have Richard Jefferson at the 3 than the Rice- TMo combo. Not that they have been bad, but Jefferson is really explosive and does a little bit of everything. I have seen a few of the Nets games this year, and he can really sky! He has had some tremendous dunks. I'm not sure if he would fit in the Rocket's system, but I think Rudy gives everyone a chance, and I think he would have done well. He's developed much further along than Eddie, that's for sure.
We have to look at this issue from the business point of view, not the "FAN" point of view. When we traded Jefferson for EG, it made perfect sense because we needed a power player at that time. Right now, we would be happy to pick Jefferson instead of EG. The reason: he is a good defender, he might be able to stop Kobe, T-Mac for us and thus fill the #3 position for us. The scoring is just the ice on the cake. In playoff games, defense is more important. We can NOT have the mentality that we will outscore the opponent. We have to stop the opponent's best player. In the western conference, they are Kobe, Finly, Peja etc. If the playoff is today, I am not sure we can do it. Actually I am pretty sure if the Rox loses, it will be that we can't stop the opponent's SG/SF or PF.
Yeppers. Anyways, we don't need Jefferson as our sf. I'm perfectly happy with TMo and... well to a lesser extent... Rice. I think TMo will be the equal or better than RJ overall. Also I would not choose Jefferson over EG. Griffin is perfect for this team.. or any team for that matter. Once Griffin develops, he'll be ten times better than anything RJ can be.
this is a weird discussion, at the end of the day if we didn't trade for Griff we would not have taken Jefferson anyway, remember we picked for the Nets, so who knows who we would have taken if the trade for Griff didn't go down. That aside Jefferson is playing unbelievably well right now, sure Kidd has made him better and sure he probably now the secondary option on the offense after Kidd, but remember he wasn't last and probably wasn't second even at the start of the year, he has worked damn hard and improved, last year he was probably the sixth scoring option behind the 5 starters and this year he would been projected to be the option after Kidd, Martin and Kitttles. Why can't we just give the guy some cred without it becoming some sort if we only had him sort of argument. Cat - Jefferson is not the same league as Shandon, he is SOOOO MUCH BETTER, not sure what Nets games you have watched but I beg to differ about his jumper, by the playoffs last year his jumper is very solid, especially off a one dribble move. His defense is much better and has so much more athletism than Shandon. The Shandon reference is also a reflection on the offense we played then (and also that Shandon has a very limited game), in the type of offense we are moving to, I think Jefferson would be a perfect fit at the 3 and back-up 2, he moves really well without the ball and can also create his own shot. He might actually go close, when the coaches select the reserves for the all-star game, the guy plays so tough.
I was under the impression that the only reason the Rockets took Jefferson was because the Nets told them to. If the Eddie deal wasn't on the table, the Rockets may not have even taken him. Oh, and when did Jefferson learn to shoot? Based on all the highlights I see, he doesn't do anything but dunk. Also, his numbers don't really look "All-Star Caliber" to me. They're definitely solid numbers, but not much more than that.
It was. The only reason all 3 of those guys were drafted by us was because New Jersey told us to. Maybe one day people will realize this after it's posted a billion times.
