Boo hoo. Now my feelings are hurt. You want stats? How about this: 79 games played out of 246 while he has been here. Sounds like the multiple coaches feel he is really worth playing. Either that or the guy can't be healthy. What am I missing?
Your little diatribe was impressive, but I failed to see the facts that you are asking that I post. If the guy is as good as some on this board say, then why has he not been signed to a contract or an offer sheet? 7 foot plus guys are in such huge demand and here is this guy who has an "obvious influence" on games that is waiting for a contract. Apparently all of the GM's haven't yet talked to "multiple coaches, teammates etc" or someone would have offered this immensely talented center a contract. Instead, he sits, unsigned, while debates take place about whether $1-2M per is fair or if a third year should be offered.
OK; now I see your attempt at basis. Your assumption is that coaches and GMs correctly judge talent, and that assumption is clearly not true. You need not go farther than your own Utah Jazz to see that such an assumption is weak.
Do I hate Fes? No. I wish that he would step up and understand that with work he could have the world, but instead he is happy to be an NBA player but not actually play.
This doesn't have to do with liking or hating. I "like" Okur, perhaps as much or more than Fesenko. But Okur lets opposing players drive and/or rebound and/or score more than Fes does, not that Fes is perfect. I wish that the players whom Sloan tends to play (such as Boozer and Millsap together) were more effective, especially against athletic teams and contenders. But they aren't, and Sloan has failed to sufficiently adapt to this fact.
We've been through this exercise before: in no game in the Laker playoff series did the Lakers score more than the Jazz when Fesenko was in the game, and when he was in the game, more often than not they scored less inside. Yet at least two out of the four times, Sloan reverted to the comfortable CB + PM combo down the stretch, and it resulted in Utah losing a lead or a small deficit. Oh, and BTW, the same pattern happened repeatedly during the regular season. The key difference is that certain combinations with Fesenko were usually up against at least partial backups, whereas Fes was going against the starting lineup (including Bynum) for much of the Laker series.
I am optimistic that Jefferson will be at least modestly better defensively alongside Millsap than Boozer was. A frontcourt of AK, PM, and AJ can be pretty formidable on both ends. But Utah will still need Fesenko to win games, and Sloan should still find 10 to 15 MPG so that he can develop. Because despite your childish insults, reality is that big men especially need on-court playing time to develop, and although Fes doesn't score much (neither did Eaton nor Tag, btw), he still helps to control the paint even now.
Rusty, nobody saying he is an all star or going to be an all star, but if we can keep him for the million or even 2 million I think it would be well worth it. Obviously we would not have extended the QO if Sloan and O'Connor did not feel the same way. What great center otherwise would we get for a million?
