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Is Al Jefferson...

Big Al the best Utah Center ever?

  • Yes

    Votes: 13 39.4%

  • No

    Votes: 20 60.6%
  • Total voters
    33
P

pappyman

Member
already the best center in Utah Jazz history? He is way better than Ostertag. He is better than Memo. He is probably better than Eaton. I think that it has been clearly established that Big Al will be playing center for the Jazz, while Paul Millsap will start at power forward. At 6'10" and 280 pounds, he is plenty big enough to play center. Thoughts?
 
Eaton was a dominant defender. However you could argue he's the best all around C for the Jazz even if he should see significant minutes at PF.
 
since he hasnt even played a game in a jazz uniform i think that it may be far to early to say hes the best center the jazz have had.
 
He isn't big enough though. Lets look at the last two champs.
The Lakers front line is 7'1 (Bynum) /7'0 (Gasol)
The Celtics front line is 6'10" (Perkins) / 7'0" (Garnett)

The Jazz front line will be 6'10" (Jefferson) / 6'7" (Milsap)
Its just not big enough to take a 7 game series from either of those teams, not to mention the Heat which will require two twin towers to challenge the relentless drives of Wade and Lebron.
Sadly, our championship hopes still rely on Fesenko or Tomic becoming something more than stiffs.
 
Mark Eaton retired as the NBA's all-time leader in blocked shots. Jefferson's a low-post scorer but not a bigman who can anchor your defense. Let's let him play a few games for the Jazz before we start talking "greatest ever."
 
All-time leader in BPG on average, not total blocks (which belongs to Hakeem, who dwarfs everyone else and I think isn't talked about as an all-time great). That's still impressive, though, and certainly noteworthy.
 
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vslice02 said:
Mark Eaton retired as the NBA's all-time leader in blocked shots.."
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NUMBERICA said:
All-time leader in BPG on average, not total blocks (which belongs to Hakeem, who dwarfs everyone else and I think isn't talked about as an all-time great). That's still impressive, though, and certainly noteworthy.
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Hakeem broke Eaton's career blocks record after Eaton had retired.
 
Let's see Big Al block ten shots in a game and then discuss this. I think he's certainly (and obviously) an offensive upgrade over Eaton and Tag, but then so is Memo.
 
I want to see if he pisses down the side of his trousers when he faces the Lakers in a postseason game before I vote on this. The second he is tough and viable in those conditions then we can start talking.
 
JoelHodgeJr said:
since he hasnt even played a game in a jazz uniform i think that it may be far to early to say hes the best center the jazz have had.
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This..
He MIGHT become a great for us, but he has yet to do anything at all. There is no way he can become the defensive stopper Eaton was either. We shall see where he ends up. I hope he turns out great.
 
Doc Cherno said:
Let's see Big Al block ten shots in a game and then discuss this. I think he's certainly (and obviously) an offensive upgrade over Eaton and Tag, but then so is Memo.
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Yes, let's see if Big Al can develop into a complete center. Certainly Eaton was the best ever Jazz defensive center. And Memo is the best ever offensively. Best all-around would have to be Ostertag, as much as that pains me to say. He didn't do it often enough, but Greg was a force defensively and was not a complete liability on the offensive end. With Eaton, he just had to get completely out of the way. At least Ostertag could drop it in the hoop occasionally.

Having Jefferson around just might help Fes. After all, he's never really had a low-post guy to watch: Memo, Collins, Boozer and Millsap - you aren't going to get learn post moves from those guys or have to defend against them on the low block.
 
One of the best things about AJ is he plays his best against the toughest teams. Someone on here took the time to make a post of AJ's best PPG/RPG/etc. against specific teams, and his best numbers were against the better teams. It's tough to compare him and Eaton, because Eaton had a completely diff. skill set than AJ.
 
Eaton was a 2-time DPOY and even stumbled into an All-Star Game(1989...I think...either way the first ASG I'd ever seen). Yeah, Jefferson is a 20-10 guy, but if the Jazz had a 2-time DPOY center instead of Al right now, we'd be contenders. I don't think Jefferson makes us contenders.
 
Jefferson is a great player, and could very well be the best "center" have ever had but at the moment Fesenko is a better Jazz center then Jefferson, because Jefferson has scored 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 Assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals in Jazz uniform. I hate to be a debbie downer, but all this talk about Jefferson being the best makes me feel like we are curseing ourselves.
 
JimLes said:
Eaton was a 2-time DPOY and even stumbled into an All-Star Game(1989...I think...either way the first ASG I'd ever seen). Yeah, Jefferson is a 20-10 guy, but if the Jazz had a 2-time DPOY center instead of Al right now, we'd be contenders. I don't think Jefferson makes us contenders.
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It's also a different era. When Eaton played, you could get physical with opponents. It was all man-to-man, no zone defenses. Today, you sneeze on someone and it's 2 shots. Eaton probably couldn't play in today's NBA. Too big and too slow to keep up with the hybrid PF/C's that most teams have. It's all about offense and "protecting the superstars" in today's game.
 
GlassEater said:
It's also a different era. When Eaton played, you could get physical with opponents. It was all man-to-man, no zone defenses. Today, you sneeze on someone and it's 2 shots. Eaton probably couldn't play in today's NBA. Too big and too slow to keep up with the hybrid PF/C's that most teams have. It's all about offense and "protecting the superstars" in today's game.
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He'd also get killed because of the defensive three-second rule, but that's not the point. You can only play in the era you live in and against the competition facing you. Mark Eaton was one of the prime defensive centers of his generation, and Al Jefferson is hardly the prime anything of his generation yet. I wholeheartedly hope it doesn't stay that way very long, but you gotta give credit to Eaton where credit is due.
 
JimLes said:
He'd also get killed because of the defensive three-second rule, but that's not the point. You can only play in the era you live in and against the competition facing you. Mark Eaton was one of the prime defensive centers of his generation, and Al Jefferson is hardly the prime anything of his generation yet. I wholeheartedly hope it doesn't stay that way very long, but you gotta give credit to Eaton where credit is due.
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Eaton played when there was an actual illegal defense rule. The one now would suit his game better as it is less restrictive not more, at least it would help him on defense. On offense Eaton stood around trying to get the opposing center out of the paint for Malone and Dantley. This strategy worked because of the illegal defense rule. The defensive 3 seconds only counts if you are not guarding a player within arms reach.

He was a better player than Ostertag all the way around. They played in different era's but Eaton would have been better in either era than Tag.
 
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