I like Jefferson in that he can slide over to center. If Yao can only play 20-25 minutes a night, then you need someone that can play a good role as a center that can put up numbers. You start Al at the 4 and when Yao goes out he slides to the five and Scola comes in at the four.
I'm all for aquiring Al Jefferson at the right cost. He is another legitimate low post threat, and will really help to limit Yao's minutes. I also think he'll help out defensively because of his size and length. However, I wouldn't give up more than Ariza/Battier + Jeffries and MAYBE a Knicks pick...
How much is the max? Isn't it 16 mill? So you're saying Al J is a max player now? Also Al J is 25 and will be turning 26 in 6 months, and not the 23 year old you imagine. His offense might be ok, but his D is horrible and negates some of that offensive ability you like so much. Definitely not worth 14 mill, IMHO his salary should be 8 mill tops.
Jefferson seems like he goes for 30 every time vs the Rockets, so why not. Finding a big guy to compliment Yao is retarted especially if he's going to play only 1/2 the game and is a basketball liability. Scola and Jefferson seems like it would work, it's not like were going to find a big man with the skills of Gasol. This whole offseason should be about how were going to match up with the Lakers and a front court of Jefferson/Scola/Yao should put us in the firm picture for the top dog in the West. If we want a compliment to Yao and he's going to actually play enough center minutes, then yeah a Josh Smith type is the 4 we want with Scola coming off the bench.
Opinions must not be humble these days when we got people around here thinking 23-10 guys will only make 8 mil a season. This league won't ever work like that again.
Yes to Al Jefferson! He wouldn't be the most ideal but more than good enough. Even morey agrees that we need another all star caliber player to go along with yao and substitute for him when he's injured. It'd be foolish to think we're championship contenders with last years team plus yao. For those who say no to him, who could we get that is on the market? Explore it morey!
Get me Andray Blatche from the Wizards. I remember that dude torching us for 30 a couple of times last year. Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 05-06 WAS 29 0 6.0 0.388 0.231 0.833 0.4 0.9 1.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.41 1.24 2.2 06-07 WAS 56 13 12.2 0.437 0.148 0.612 1.4 2.0 3.4 0.7 0.3 0.6 0.88 1.68 3.7 07-08 WAS 82 15 20.4 0.474 0.231 0.695 2.0 3.2 5.2 1.1 0.6 1.4 1.37 3.15 7.5 08-09 WAS 71 36 24.0 0.471 0.238 0.704 1.8 3.5 5.3 1.7 0.8 1.0 1.65 2.97 10.0 09-10 WAS 81 36 27.9 0.478 0.295 0.744 2.0 4.3 6.3 2.1 1.0 0.9 2.25 2.69 14.1 Showed improvement every year.
I don't think he is either. Particularly with the lack of FTs, Morey definitely seems to target guys who go to the line with regularity (KMart, Bosh, Stoudemire). Which isn't a bad strategy.
By my calculations, he'll be average 34 ppg in 5 years. I say we lock him up to a 6 year deal, Morey.
Except Al J averaged 23 pts only one season his entire career. Last year he only scored 17 pts, and his career average is 15 pts a game. Also I'm not a fan of guys who score a lot but are defensive liabilities (like Amare, Al J, Boozer). They get high salaries because of the amount they score but the truth is they give the opponent back what they get due to their poor D. The market might pay him more, but then again the market also paid rudy gay, Joe Johnson and Rashard Lewis the max as well.
I like Big Al. Yao insurance now and possible future replacement. If we bring in Miller, we have Yao insurance, but then need a future center. Start Yao and Scola. Jefferson would still get plenty of minutes at the 5 with Scola and Hill/PatPat as backup 4.
I don't really expect we'll even be aiming to acquire another power forward now. The point wasn't that we needed to improve at power forward, it was that we could drastically improve at the power forward. Chris Bosh is a huge upgrade over Scola. I'm not so sure that Al Jefferson really is. It depends on if he returns to his old form or not, and that isn't something you can count upon. Overall, I think Scola is probably going to be a better value for the money. I expect we'll look to upgrade elsewhere. Small forward or point guard seem more likely to me.
realistically, we are going to give lowry and scola long term deals this summer. yao and aaron will get extended... i dont see the team blowing it up and going for cap space anytime soon. for that reason, i don't see jefferson's 3 year contract that troubling. i think he adds a lot of size and interior defense. enough to matchup with the lakers. probably even get past them. he also has a great mid range game (which is on full display every time he plays yao). if we can get him for expirings and marginal young talent like JT, llull, rockets own first round pick in 2012... then sure. i think that's all it would take really since we are doing them a favor taking on that contract.
Since when Scola play C, last season yao didn't play single minute and we didn't even put Scola at the 5..
$14 million for 23/11 (what he was giving pre-injury) is a good value. Also, I meant he sustained his injury at 23-24 so he has youth on his side when it comes to recovery. His defense is far from horrible. He has problems with lateral quickness but he is a better than average shot blocker for his size and has quick hands too. Too say he has the tools to be a solid post defender is fair. I've heard nothing negative about his attitude or work ethic either so I think it's realistic to expect the guy to come here and improve significantly defensively (although even if he doesn't he is still a good deal compared to what other skilled bigs in the league make). The best part is he has only has three years left on his deal so if he comes here and gives sub-par production the Rockets still have a 6'10" skilled, BIG post player they can be rid of (if they chose to) relatively soon.
