What if Al Jefferson.....

=LarryLegend=

=LarryLegend=

Starter
What if Al Jefferson doesnt resign by Oct 31.


I think the kings should throw the bank at him. seriously

he is the power foward we need a beast.
 
Various problems with this:

1. We have no salary cap space to just offer him a contract
2. The Wolves would be likely to match or exceed any contract offered to him (and to my knowledge they can offer him more than anyone else)
3. He was the KEY piece to the KG deal, letting him get away would be an absolute embarrassment to that organization.
4. Even if sign and trade were an option, we have nothing that would really interest Minnesota outside of Kevin Martin and future draft picks, meaning, we'd be mortgaging our own future for a chance at a player who hasn't proven he can lead a team to win.
 
While I might dispute the relative market value of Jefferson, this is one of those moments where the opertunity cost of picking up these middling vet contracts (Sheed, Salmons, Thomas, Moore etc.) becomes real. Get used to it beceause there will be more of them. In the end you can't pick up those big contract FA's that are necessary to START a rebuild when your at or near cap with spare parts. That is why I frequently refer to the Kings current position as Pre-rebuild. Fans may WANT to rebuild heck managemnt, such that it is, may even want to, but out side of draft picks we can't really do anything beceause we are saddled with a slew of long term contacts that mean our roster is set with essentially this same crew for the next 3 years baring trades or buy outs. We have seen how successfull GP has been at trading in the past few years so that leaves us wholesale buy outs and I don't see the Maloofs throwing Millions of dollars at the problem.

So as quality FA's hit the market that fans would love to see in uniform it is worth while to remember WHY we can't go after them.
 
cfechter said:
3. He was the KEY piece to the KG deal, which was an absolute embarrassment to that organization.
Click to expand...

fixed that for you. ;)

as for jefferson, shaky ankles, not sure whether he can sustain last year's production. i wouldn't be tossing max dollar at him, because there are better targets. but it's not like we even have the money to begin with.
 
If we had that kind of bread, my choice would be to go after Elton Brand. He already has lead his team to the playoffs, and is exactly the rebounding demon that we need. He is reportedly opting out at the end of the year to become an unrestricted FA.
 
Jespher said:
If we had that kind of bread, my choice would be to go after Elton Brand. He already has lead his team to the playoffs, and is exactly the rebounding demon that we need. He is reportedly opting out at the end of the year to become an unrestricted FA.
Click to expand...
After his injury, turning down the guaranteed money for the final year of his contract would be a huge risk. I would be very surprised if he opts out, unless it becomes apparent that he'll be back to 100% very quickly.
 
Hold up.

6'8" PF with conditioning problems? That's our guy. ;)

....Okay, that's one reason to say no to Al Jefferson for the Kings. It's obvious he doesn't fit our stereotype for Kings-type PFs either, based on the sick rebounding numbers he's putting up, his ability to combine his hefty weight with solid explosiveness, and his penchance for blocking shots to a solid extent, not to mention that's he only 22. And besides, you think that Kevin McHale would want to squander his most-likely-to-potential-All-star player out of the KG deal? The guy seems to be seriously obsessed with Al Jefferson to the point that he was willing to live without Rondo in the deal. Not to mention that Jefferson is not a top King priority both in terms of fit and position.
 
Jespher said:
If we had that kind of bread, my choice would be to go after Elton Brand. He already has lead his team to the playoffs, and is exactly the rebounding demon that we need. He is reportedly opting out at the end of the year to become an unrestricted FA.
Click to expand...


Elton, well saying he led his team to the playoffs is kind of deceptive unless you add the word ONCE. ;) He's led his team to the lottery about 8 times over the same span.

Bigger issue wiht him is that he's aging, short, and coming off a major injury. He's been a very good PF, but never a carry you on his back to victory star, and while he should still be far better than all the crap we've got on our roster now, fact is that aging and undersized is a bad combination. If you're smaller, you are often having to compensate with athleticism, and as you age that starts to fade. Size never fades.

And for us of course its the same as everythign else. Brand is still in his prime, but by bthe time we are ready to make much noise, he'll be ont he downside. The question for us isn't who is better today, but rather who will be better in 4 or 5 years.
 
Brand blew out his achilles tendon. From experiences that I've seen, he'll never have the same explosiveness. That's worse than some types of microfracture surgery. And depending on how bad it was, it could get horrible for him. Until he proves he can play, I wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole.
 
Arby's Roast Beef said:
Hold up.

6'8" PF with conditioning problems? That's our guy. ;)

....Okay, that's one reason to say no to Al Jefferson for the Kings. It's obvious he doesn't fit our stereotype for Kings-type PFs either, based on the sick rebounding numbers he's putting up, his ability to combine his hefty weight with solid explosiveness, and his penchance for blocking shots to a solid extent, not to mention that's he only 22. And besides, you think that Kevin McHale would want to squander his most-likely-to-potential-All-star player out of the KG deal? The guy seems to be seriously obsessed with Al Jefferson to the point that he was willing to live without Rondo in the deal. Not to mention that Jefferson is not a top King priority both in terms of fit and position.
Click to expand...


Jefferson is 6'10''...
 
BMiller52 said:
Jefferson is 6'10''...
Click to expand...

Woops, my bad. For some reason, I always got the impression he was undersized in some way; in the draft, he was listed as 6'9". Maybe it's the fact that he was perceived as having a center skill set on a power forward body, making him somewhat of a "tweener"--but obviously, he's quelled those doubts. Good catch.
 
Arby's Roast Beef said:
Woops, my bad. For some reason, I always got the impression he was undersized in some way; in the draft, he was listed as 6'9". Maybe it's the fact that he was perceived as having a center skill set on a power forward body, making him somewhat of a "tweener"--but obviously, he's quelled those doubts. Good catch.
Click to expand...


Had the same impression myself before last season -- always thought of him as a 6'8" undersized guy. Now he did battle a lot of weight/fitness probelms there for a while, so myabe that was partly it. But still odd. When he blew up last year my first instinct was to compare him to Brand as another undersized guy able to compete inside on brute strength. Then as I started paying more attention I realized he really was that undersized at all.
 
HndsmCelt said:
While I might dispute the relative market value of Jefferson, this is one of those moments where the opertunity cost of picking up these middling vet contracts (Sheed, Salmons, Thomas, Moore etc.) becomes real. Get used to it beceause there will be more of them. In the end you can't pick up those big contract FA's that are necessary to START a rebuild when your at or near cap with spare parts. That is why I frequently refer to the Kings current position as Pre-rebuild. Fans may WANT to rebuild heck managemnt, such that it is, may even want to, but out side of draft picks we can't really do anything beceause we are saddled with a slew of long term contacts that mean our roster is set with essentially this same crew for the next 3 years baring trades or buy outs. We have seen how successfull GP has been at trading in the past few years so that leaves us wholesale buy outs and I don't see the Maloofs throwing Millions of dollars at the problem.

So as quality FA's hit the market that fans would love to see in uniform it is worth while to remember WHY we can't go after them.
Click to expand...

While I agree with your arguments, I believe that cap space is not going to be a solution for us, not yet anyway. Top level FAs rarely become available. If they rarely do, they either want to play in a big market, or play for a contender.

It's great to have money when you are missing one or two pieces, e.g. when Phoenix signed Nash and Q to play along side Amare, Marion and Joe Jhonson. Very very rarely, a team might get lucky, e.g., if Darko steps up this year, Memphis has earned themselves a bargain. Otherwise, teams with cap space usually end up throwing lot of good money at tier 2 FAs (Rashard Lewis). Even the fabled front office of the Spurs, when presented with a lot of cap after the retiring of the admiral, was able to come up only with Rasho.

Draft is the best way to progress for us. Drafts and cap space are not mutually exclusive though. In fact, if the owners, management and fans accept the rebuild as you suggested, we can hopefully add both at the same time, though it shall be tough to get lot of value for our vets.
 
kingsfan101 said:
While I agree with your arguments, I believe that cap space is not going to be a solution for us, not yet anyway. Top level FAs rarely become available. If they rarely do, they either want to play in a big market, or play for a contender.
Click to expand...

Actually, there is one way in which cap space can be a huge help. Trading with a team that is trying to shed salary. Like the Sonics fleeced the Suns this summer getting Kurt Thomas and two first round picks for only a second round pick (they used the trade exception they got from Magic for this).

It's still not a way to get a franchise guy, but can be a much better tool to get guys instead of the FA market.
 
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