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Big Al ranked 3rd best NBA center- ESPN

But I thought we established on the old board that blocks = good defense.

Seriously, all great points on this page.

I think part of the problem is the system. Sloan was a great, tenacious defender, but when was the last time a Jazz team played great defense? Jerry's system was very simple - and very flawed - force everything into the middle where a shot-blocking center will take care of it. Only problem is that defense was built for Mark Eaton and for about 1 1/2 seasons of Greg Ostertag. And Sloan's system never took into account that guards would eventually start making 3's at higher than 30%.

Jefferson is never going to be all-NBA on the defensive end. But I think (and hope), Corbin will tear down the defense and start all over again. There is enough athleticism with most of the projected starters and backups to play decent team defense.
 
LogGrad98 said:
It is funny we went from Boozer who did less than play no defense, to a guy who was among the league leader in blocks, and all we do is bitch about how his defense isn't better "beyond blocked shots". Unbelievable.
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I agree with you that AJ is a step up from CB. Fewer unsubstantiated yells from A-Jeff, too.

Are you going to claim, though, that Big Al's D is satisfactory for a center (especially on a team that has historically tended to favor protection of the paint, even at the peril of leaving the now-higher-percentage 3 open more often)?

Adjusting the "system" is easy: enforce defense by the center, and tell the non-centers to favor defending the perimeter a little bit more. Staples (Center), that was easy.
 
The-Joker said:
We give Notorious Al a lot of crap... but in reality dude put up really good numbers. He didn't miss a game. He was top 5 in blocks, top 6 in boards, Top 20 in points(18).

In more complex statistics, he had the best Turnover% (a good thing) in the league.

Big Al is probably a top 3 offensive C in the league... maybe even 2 or 1.

If he could improve his defensive game, beyond blocked shots... He would be a solid piece to build the Jazz dynasty with.
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Stop the madness!!! You can NOT come here supporting Jazz players. That isnt very jazzfanz of you at all. At least you threw in the caveat about his D to make it a little less gracious, thanks.
 
The-Joker said:
We give Notorious Al a lot of crap... but in reality dude put up really good numbers. He didn't miss a game. He was top 5 in blocks, top 6 in boards, Top 20 in points(18).

In more complex statistics, he had the best Turnover% (a good thing) in the league.

Big Al is probably a top 3 offensive C in the league... maybe even 2 or 1.

If he could improve his defensive game, beyond blocked shots... He would be a solid piece to build the Jazz dynasty with.
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Agreed. I think the bottom line here is that the coaching staff needs to dilligently work on Al's defense with him. Make him understand that if he can get down a solid defensive game, and stay strong in the paint he'll for sure be a big worth holding on to.

Round out Al's defensive game to the best of your ability, and keep a close on eye the developing game of Favors and we'll have two valuable bigs.
 
If the Jazz do not make Big Al a centerpiece of the team, then they might as well have dumped him for 2nd round draft picks. It is ludicrous to have a player like that on the payroll and not build around him, even if it is for the short term. At least we have built around a position in which we have a couple good young players that can fill that spot if/when AJ leaves.
 
i don't see your logic.
why must al be the centerpeice?
what does that mean "centerpeice"?
what does it mean to build around him?
why is not building around him not good?
 
I hope Al leads the team to a championship. If he does, he'll need some help.
The great Celtics teams had a front line of Bird , Parish , and McHale, and they still picked up other bigs to get minutes too.
Likewise the Lakers with Kareem, Worthy, etc.
i don't get why you wouldn't want to get as many good players on the team as possible.
 
My comment was more to coaching and game-play philosophy than it was to who to draft or acquire. If you have a guy taking up that much of your payroll, with the skills he has, and you don't use them, you may as well drop the guy and build around someone else.

The Celtics built around Bird. They had game-play strategy that maximized his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. If they did otherwise, they may as well have moved him. Obviously Big Al is no Bird, but the same philosophy applies. You try to maximize that guy. If he can't respond, or won't, or you don't want to go that route, move the player.

That was the mistake with AK, imo, of course other than giving him such a big contract to begin with. They didn't build around him, they didn't play according to his strenghts and weaknesses, but they paid him as if he were the centerpiece player. Hence we were hobbled with a guy that could not and did not respond, and the coaching staff and FO did not do anything to bolster his game. So we paid full price for half a franchise player. It crashed the team in the end, by hamstringing our ability to add other pieces to the mix. I am not saying that if we had focused entirely on AK we would have had championships by now, but by half-heartedly going that route, we really did not ever see what might have been if we went whole-hog that way. We handled AK in a half-assed sort of way and that is what we got out of it in the bargain, a half-assed sort of player. And a crippling contract to boot.

Don't hire a carpenter if you are going to stop working on your deck and put in a pool, then get mad at the carpenter for not being very good at working with the pool-builders, all while paying the carpenter so much that you can't get/keep the best pool-builders you can find.

The debate here has been if Big Al is an all-nba center or not. I think that no matter what we all think of his abilities, the most telling thing for the team will be what the FO and the coaching staff decide to do with him (or not).
 
LogGrad98 said:
If the Jazz do not make Big Al a centerpiece of the team, then they might as well have dumped him for 2nd round draft picks. It is ludicrous to have a player like that on the payroll and not build around him, even if it is for the short term. At least we have built around a position in which we have a couple good young players that can fill that spot if/when AJ leaves.
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With Boozer leaving, Al was brought in as a last ditch effort to retain Deron. They had very few options at that time and losing Deron was unfathomable for anyone at that time. Now that Deron is gone, the plan obviously wasn't good enough and I agree with you with that salary should be high on the trade block.
 
maybe, but obviously if he is traded you'd want to make the best deal possible, not dump him for nothing out of frustration.
 
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