Sekou Smith predicts us to be 'Utah Jazz South' after 2013 Free Agency

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The Hawks tanked the end of the season while the Jazz were playing for their play off lives and bowed out from the 7th seed. That 09 team was also near dead last in pace so you seem to be greatly confusing efficiency (odd since this criteria is never brought up with Jefferson) with speed of the game.

So do the Hawks win those last 2 games if they played everybody, and their opponent played their full team? I mean, because we definitely were not "tanking" the end of the season before then. Derozen and Gay were virtually unstoppable the night we played them on National TV. And the Knicks C team played our C team. Utah won 9 of their last 12, but had to play a full strength Denver, OKC, and Memphis team down the stretch. Those were their only losses.

Hawks and Jazz were basically the same team. Couldn't consistently win on the road. Highly inconsistent vs teams over 500. Feasted on teams below 500.

As for the 2009 - 2010 team, they posted an offensive rating of 111.9 . . . 2nd best in the league that year. And the reason why they posted that rating was because they were a team that didn't turn the ball over, and a team that dominated the offensive boards, which gave them extra possessions and opportunities to score more points. Plus we had guys who could put the ball in the hole with tough shots, in JJ and Jamal.

You subtract Smith and add Jefferson, what happens to the Hawks offense?

- your FG% increases

- your TOs go down

- your Offensive Rebounding increases

- you get a guy who can create his own offense in the mid range and down on the blocks

- and you drastically reduce the number of long jumpers coming from the PF spot

At that point, the question is if the Jefferson - Horford frontline can defend . . because we know they can rebound.

The Hawks should definitely NOT max that guy out. What they can do, is offer him a 3 year deal with a player option in Year 3 . . or a 4 year deal with a team option in Year 4. Give him anywhere from 11 - 13 mill a year.

[Kimsey]

2013 stats: Josh Smith - 15.6 fga = 17.5 ppg.

2013 stats: Al Jefferson - 15.8 fga = 17.8 ppg.

Jefferson is one dimensional in every single way. Even when you look at rebounds AJ camped out in the lane not playing a lick of help defense while JS played perimeter defense alot and contested shots.

2012 stats: Josh Smith - 16.7 fga = 18.8 ppg.

2012 stats: Al Jefferson - 17.2 fga = 19.2 ppg

LOL

Edited May 10, 2013 by Kimsey

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Jefferson is a poor defender. Duncan blocks shots and all of that stuff, Jefferson does nothing. He's a blackhole somewhat like Shareef was. He rebounds at the same level as Al roughly and we want to move Al away from the center position. If you're the Thunder and you already have Durant and Westbrook... Adding Jefferson seems reasonable. But if you're the Hawks and you go locking Teague, Horf, Milsap and Jefferson into big contracts then you're just going to get more of the same. It's simply not good enough and signing those two guys to big contracts suggest that this franchise still doesn't have the drive to try and piece a championship team together.

On top of that, neither Milsap or Jefferson are that young and Jefferson's numbers have been on the decline for 3 years.

There isn't anything "declining" about Jefferson's game. He's still the same player that he's always been while in Utah, which probably makes fans mad. Like us with Joe Johnson, Utah fans wanted him to progress into a superstar, and he hasn't done it.

So criticize Jefferson for not being a superstar. But to say he does "nothing" is straight BS. You don't put yourself in position for a 40 - 60 million dollar contract, if you do "nothing". The guy can create his own shot, shoot it at a 50% clip, and rebound the basketball.

It was easier for Jefferson to put up the numbers he did in Boston and Minnesota, because he was the only or main offensive threat. He got a lot more shots and usage. Saying that Jefferson rebounds at the same rate as Horford is NOT a negative on Jefferson's game. That means that we now have two guys who are capable of being top 10 rebounders in the NBA.

And people kill me dogging Shareef, like he was a garbage player here. Shareef wasn't the problem with those Hawks teams back in the day. We virtually had no bench and no shooters outside of JT on those teams. LOL . . Dion Glover and Ira Newble used to alternate starting at the 2. Reef at times looked like a damn All-Star, with the games he put up. He simply had no help, outside of JT ( who wasn't a true PG ) and Big Dog, who was inconsistent as hell as a scorer and a turnover machine.

[yungsta]

Al jefferson gets criticized by fans for his lack of defense/hustle, and how he stagnates the offense btw. Has nothing to do with him wanting to be a superstar.

[gurpilo]

Simply said, we don't need Milsap, our PF is Horford.

Jefferson could be a good addition but we would need to complement him with a defensive center like Dalembert, we don't need Hickson neither. I would pay 12 m$ for Jefferson.

Iguodala could be a good fit also but we would need to complement him with shooters to compensate his lack of 3pt range, Mayo or Kevin Martin would be good assets to add with Iguodala, anyway I doubt we sign him and compromise our cap space to not sign a top level all-star, he is just another Josh Smith that would be paid 3 M$ less than Dwight Howard, I even think he has less impact than Smith on the game, I would not want to go that route unless we can sign him by 8M$ wich is very unlikely.

Monta Ellis, Mayo or Tyreke Evans are players I think we should target and sign one of them. Mayo probably would be the best price/production combination, I think we can sign him for 5M$ and get our starting SG.

Other players I think would be good and cheap fits here would be Brewer, Dalembert, Dorrell Wright and Jarret Jack, all could be signed for 3 M$

Teague/L. Williams/Kabongo

Mayo/Jenkins/Caldwell Pope

Brewer/Bullock/Scott

Horford/I. Johnson/Scott

Jefferson/Dalembert/Adams

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2013 stats: Josh Smith - 15.6 fga = 17.5 ppg.

2013 stats: Al Jefferson - 15.8 fga = 17.8 ppg.

Jefferson is one dimensional in every single way. Even when you look at rebounds AJ camped out in the lane not playing a lick of help defense while JS played perimeter defense alot and contested shots.

2012 stats: Josh Smith - 16.7 fga = 18.8 ppg.

2012 stats: Al Jefferson - 17.2 fga = 19.2 ppg

LOL

LOL . .. you really want to do a stat comparison of Al Jefferson and Josh Smith? OK . . let's do it line by line

JOSH SMITH

MIN - 35.3

PPG - 17.5

REBS - 8.4

ASST - 4.2

STLS - 1.2

BLKS - 1.8

TURN - 3.0

FG% - .465

3FG% - .303 ( 201 three point attempts )

FT% - .517

PER - 17.7

TS% - .501

eFG% - .491

Off reb% - 5.8

Def reb% - 21.3

Tot reb% - 13.6

AST% - 20.9

STL% - 1.8

BLK% - 3.9

TOV% - 14.6

USG% - 26.7

Off Rating - 97

Def Rating - 101

Off Win Score - ( -0.3 )

Def Win Score - ( 4.5 )

Tot Win Score - ( 4.2 )

Win Score/48 - ( .075 )

AL JEFFERSON

MIN - 33.1

PPG - 17.8

REBS - 9.2

ASST - 2.1

STLS - 1.0

BLKS - 1.1

TURN - 1.3

FG% - .494

3FG% - .118 ( 17 three point attempts )

FT% - .770

PER - 20.9

TS% - .522

eFG% - .495

Off reb% - 7.0

Def reb% - 25.9

Tot reb% - 16.3

AST% - 12.0

STL% - 1.6

BLK% - 2.7

TOV% - 7.3

USG% - 25.3

Off Rating - 109

Def Rating - 104

Off Win Score - ( 4.3 )

Def Win Score - ( 3.3 )

Tot Win Score - ( 7.7 )

Win Score/48 - ( .143 )

Outside of Al being a superior offensive player than Josh, the big addition to the Hawks would be the fact that we could keep Jefferson or Horford out on the court at all times, instead of having to completely downgrade the frontline by having Zaza or Petro in the game.

When engaged, Josh is a very good defender. The problem is keeping him engaged. And part of defense is rebounding. Too many times in his career, Josh has not gotten critical rebounds simply because he refuses to put a body on somebody and box them out.

Give me the superior offensive and rebounding PF/C, over the great talented F who can't seem to let go of his affinity for long jumpers.

Edited May 10, 2013 by northcyde

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Oh . . and here's your "he's not a center" vs Hibbert and the Pacers. Think we could've used some of this in that series?

[Kimsey]

If Jefferson is superior than Josh in scoring then why are they nearly identical in production. Josh is the better overall player. Who said we are relegated to putting Zaza or Petro next to Josh and Horford.

The beauty of Josh and Horford is they play multiple positions and can guard multiple positions. You could have Dwight, Horford, and Josh as easily as having Horford, Josh, and Iggy.

[Dragitoff]

He had some sick post moves in that video.

[Kimsey]

If we have to go by one game. Dec. 29 2012

Zaza: 17 points, 14 rebounds

Hibbert: 0 points, 1 rebound

We could have used anyone not named Petro vs. Hibbert, come on now.

[Flight]

Y'all are way too hard to please. Josh is nice but the main point we've been making for years is that we need a center. Now we have the opportunity to get one that is established and has the ability to make our team a lot more versatile and we're saying that's not enough.

As far as the Jazz go, they're in the west and have never had the best guard play or wings around their big men. If you put the Jazz in the East I'm sure they would go further.

I'd like the addition of Jefferson to go alongside Horford, we would finally get to have Al at PF and a center that can naturally play center. If we miss out on Dwight I'd be fine with that or even Bynum to be honest.

[GameTime]

We are really arguing over nothing. Al Jefferson is not going for 11-13 mill, so we will have to overpay for him. Thus making it not a good deal regardless.

[Plainview1981]

There isn't anything "declining" about Jefferson's game. He's still the same player that he's always been while in Utah, which probably makes fans mad. Like us with Joe Johnson, Utah fans wanted him to progress into a superstar, and he hasn't done it.

So criticize Jefferson for not being a superstar. But to say he does "nothing" is straight BS. You don't put yourself in position for a 40 - 60 million dollar contract, if you do "nothing". The guy can create his own shot, shoot it at a 50% clip, and rebound the basketball.

It was easier for Jefferson to put up the numbers he did in Boston and Minnesota, because he was the only or main offensive threat. He got a lot more shots and usage. Saying that Jefferson rebounds at the same rate as Horford is NOT a negative on Jefferson's game. That means that we now have two guys who are capable of being top 10 rebounders in the NBA.

And people kill me dogging Shareef, like he was a garbage player here. Shareef wasn't the problem with those Hawks teams back in the day. We virtually had no bench and no shooters outside of JT on those teams. LOL . . Dion Glover and Ira Newble used to alternate starting at the 2. Reef at times looked like a damn All-Star, with the games he put up. He simply had no help, outside of JT ( who wasn't a true PG ) and Big Dog, who was inconsistent as hell as a scorer and a turnover machine.

Shareef was a problem here... His passing abilities were weak and he was a weak defender and along with no real presence on the boards despite his numbers. No leadership abilities either. Another player who quickly started falling down the ladder when everyone started realizing that he was mostly a stat player. Yes, that Hawk team was flawed, but the east wasn't all that tough either. He played with an all star SF, a SG that scored 17-19PPG and Mohammad was a decent back up center also. Theo had injury issues, but that team underachieved.

I thought it seemed obvious that I was talking about him doing nothing on the defensive end. No shot blocking or defense. He and Al are not good enough to push for a title. Jefferson is going to probably get a really big contract, but he doesn't have that value to a team like this. He is 28 or 29 already. Giving him a big contract is a bad idea. To this franchise he is worth 8 million at most. He plus Milsap and the team still doesn't win 50 games even. This team gets rid of Josh, spends a lot of money and gets older to boot. Oh, and still no SG, and so you have the same issues that Utah had according to you. It's just not a fit and Jefferson isn't worth it.

I wasn't saying Jefferson's rebounding was bad. I said he rebounds at about the same rate as Horford to show you that just because Jefferson rebounds that doesn't mean we want him starting at center just like despite Al's solid rebounding we still want to move him to PF. We say that Al is mismatched at center and so is Al Jefferson on the defensive end.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Hotlanta1981

[MrNique]

Comparing Smith to Jefferson is a bit pointless, because putting Jefferson at the 5 allows us to have Al at the 4 who I'd rather have than Josh. We can get a real 3 rather than having Josh chuck up jumpers when we go big.I do agree that I don't want to overpay for him though.

Edited May 10, 2013 by MrNique

[Plainview1981]

Al jefferson gets criticized by fans for his lack of defense/hustle, and how he stagnates the offense btw. Has nothing to do with him wanting to be a superstar.

If Jefferson had Milsap's hustle it might be a different story.