Assume that the Celtics draft Oden. Wouldn't both Oden and Jefferson be a lot better with each other, offensively and defensively? And the same is true, to a lesser extent, with Durant. Who would you give up Jefferson to get?Pierce continues to lobby for Boston to bring a proven veteran to the Celtics. He recognizes the price could be steep. The team's bargaining chips include the lottery pick that will be coming the team's way in the June draft, Theo Ratliff, whose expiring contract is worth $11.66 million and is attractive to teams looking to carve out salary cap space, and a collection of young, unrefined talent that Danny Ainge, the Celtics' head of basketball operations, has been stockpiling.
It's no great mystery which of the youngsters will draw the most interest -- Jefferson -- and while Pierce prefers to rebuild with Big Al in tow, he acknowledged the price of acquiring a high level talent like Kevin Garnett or Pau Gasol might require parting with the young forward.
Team sources confirmed that if the Celtics end up with either the No. 1 or 2 pick (which would land them either Ohio State's Greg Oden or Texas' Kevin Durant, in that preferred order), they will not trade it. That would leave Jefferson, who was averaging 15.8 points and 10.9 rebounds a game before being sidelined with a bruised knee, as the major bait for a major veteran.
Big Al, meanwhile, consistently has chafed at the incessant talk of Oden in Celtics green.
"We don't need a big man," he sniffed recently. "We already have one.
"I just hope and pray Danny believes that me and Paul are the ones who can get us to the playoffs."
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Stick around, Al.
Jackie MacMullen has a piece on ESPN.com about the prospect that the Celtics will draft Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and then trade Al Jefferson, who doesn't think the C's need another big man:
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2 comments:
This has been the subject of a lot of debate on the Celtics messageboard where I spend my non-Sweetdue-internet-sports time (which between job and parenthood hasn't been very much these last six months)
My list of players I trade Jefferson for, setting aside salaries and the other concerns of the real world.
Without hesitation:
KG
Bosh
Howard
Brand
Gasol
Yao
In the ~20% chance we end up with Oden, you can start adding all kinds of wing men and point guards to that list:
CPaul
Deron Williams
Wade
Melo
Almost all of these, of course, are abstractions. The only two names that are likely on the market and in the right league are KG and Gasol.
Al is nice and all-- a 16/10 sub-all-star-but-above-average-starter. He plays a position where talent is more common than PG or C, but not as dime-a-dozen as shooting guards and small forwards. Nice young player. Potential all star some day, if he can actually get better than Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Bosh, which are two big ifs.
Gasol is an All Star PF right now, at age 25. Kevin Garnett continues to be an unholy freak of nature and perennial MVP candidate.
Pierce-Jefferson-Oden sounds nice. Pierce-KG-Oden is a top 3 team in the East immediately. All it needs is a good defensive PG (hello, Rajon Rondo) and a good defensive SG who can nail 3s off of ball movement (not a hard thing to find in today's NBA) and they're a championship contender
And just to play devil's advocate, here are some 'downside' comps for Al Jefferson who, let's not forget, is playing for his first post-rookie contract.
Joe Smith averaged an 18.7/8.5 at age 21.
Kwame Brown a 14.4/9.8 at age 21 (I know its early to call him a bust).
Keith Van Horn averaged a 19.7/6.6 at age 22.
Dave Greenwood averaged a 16.3/9.4 at age 22.
Clarence Weatherspoon, a 15.6/7.2 at age 22
I personally think Al has a really bright future, but its far from a given
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