Here are Big Al’s year-by-year defensive ratings:

04/05: 104
05/06: 103
06/07: 103
07/08: 108 (league Drtg was 107.5)

So, are we perhaps shortchanging Al a little bit on his D? Clearly he’s not Bill Russell. But in Boston he was fine (statistically) at that end, and this year, with very little help up front, it’s not like he was atrocious.

Personally, I don’t consider Jefferson to have great lateral movement, but both him and Love should be bullish enough strengthwise to match up against most teams. Of course the Stoudemire’s and Howard’s of the world are difficult, but that’s the case for most teams.

In the end, the NBA’s trending towards hybrids (which is actually pretty old school), including the bigs. The Jazz, off the top of my head, are a model team right now despite the fact they have a rather nebulous pairing at the 4 and 5.

McHale and Wittman said about 100x during the week preceding the draft that “our league is getting smaller.” My only response to that would be, “maybe the bad teams are getting smaller.” Just about every playoff team started a 7-foot player. It’s not always the center (Boston’s was KG who plays the 4) but most good teams have some combination of length and bulk up front. Duncan in SA, Bynum-Gasol in LA, Okur-Boozer in Utah, Yao-Landry in Houston, Chandler-West in NO, Dirk-Dampier in Dallas, Shaq-Amare in Phoenix, Oden-Aldridge in Portland…the Western Conference is as “big” as it’s ever been, so I disagree with McHale in thinking that teams are getting smaller. They are every bit as big, but perhaps the increased athleticism and versatility of the bigs (as well as the rule changes that don’t allow the long “back-downs”) have changed the nature of offensive sets. As Boston showed, it didn’t have any effect on the need for strength and toughness under the basket.

Jefferson is not a good post-defender no matter how you slice it. He showed this last year when he tried guarding Boozer, Gasol and others. If Love becomes a great post defender, the combo could work. I personally think he’ll be too small, and won’t be able to pick up the slack left by Al’s deficiencies on that end of the floor. If I’m right, they’ll need to add an enforcer-type to line up next to Al, and either bring Love off the bench as a 6th man, or start him at the 3. Those who point to Detroit as a champion with a 6’9” center should remember how strong Ben Wallace was at that point in his career, and also how good of a defender his partner Sheed was (and still is) at nearly 7’.

With enough offense, we can win regular season games with sub-par interior defense, but we’ll never be a true contender that way. Many fans will be happy with the quick improvement we’ll see by getting two players instead of one with our first pick. However, it’s the long-term solution that has yet to be filled, and there will never be enough offense to compensate for a weak front line.

gone too far in making arguments for why getting Love was the best thing the wolves ever did.

S-n-P wrote:

Out of all their positions, the only spot on the floor where the Wolves outscored, outrebounded, and out PER’d their opponents was at the 5. Instead of asking questions about how Kevin Love is “completely redundant” to Al Jefferson, how about asking this: How on earth can a 22 win team even think about moving their best player away from their best position?

This statement is completely ludicrous. Of course this holds true because Al is easily the best player we have and no one else even comes close! He could have been playing SF all year and had the best performance against his counterpart of any position on the team. Does that make him a SF and we should keep him there for the rest of his career?

I don’t care about the sample size. Anyone that has watched the Wolves with their own eyes knows it’s painfully obvious that Al should be playing PF.

I agree with the overall logic of the post; I’m also pretty happy about the Love pick (though I’d be happier if I knew a bit more about Mayo – only saw him play once). But it still seems to me that Jefferson is a 4 playing the 5. I’m not saying it’s impossible, and Pekovic might someday remedy the situation. But – and I realize this might be a bit nitpicky – this does strike me as somewhat problematic, for a few reasons. First, Jefferson himself has said he prefers the 4. This is pretty big in my book. I know he’s a team guy, but surely you want to keep your best player happy? Second, if I remember right, when McHale brought him in he described him as a 4. So not only does continuing to play him at the 5 go against his own vision of the team, but it probably goes against what McHale told Jefferson when he came in. I guess what I’m saying is this: if I’m Jefferson, I’m potentially less happy than I was a year ago about my place on the team, my future with the team, my ability to develop as a player, etc. I guess I’m a pessimist, and the need is harder to fill than it seems – you don’t just want to bring in some big slow dude who will totally ruin chemistry, etc. And like I said, I like Love. This is just something that sticks out in my mind.

not really agreeing on this.

On the league getting smaller thing: I agree the league is not getting smaller. What I do think is that the difference between PF and C is getting smaller and smaller. Nowadays we just talk about “bigs”. We are seeing more and more 7 foot guys who don’t camp near the paint and are succesfull without being the best rebounder in the world.

With that in mind I think the talk about PF/C should be translated to. What kind of other “BIG” do we need beside our other “big” Jefferson.

On the offensive end, Jefferson is always gonna draw the other teams best defensive big. So he’s always going to be the “center” on the offensive end (unless off course we get another big that’s equally talented …...) because they only way they’re gonna be able to stop Al is by putting their biggest, strongest player on him. Some teams might try something different but .. let’s just go with this logic for now.

On the defensive end on the other hand. In games against teams that have bigs the way Andy G said: Bynum-Gasol in LA, Okur-Boozer in Utah, Yao-Landry in Houston, Chandler-West in NO, Dirk-Dampier in Dallas, Shaq-Amare in Phoenix, Oden-Aldridge in Portland

The logic says we need a big that can defend either of the 2 in each couple. Since we agree that Al is probably a bad defender regardless of which one of the 2 he guards. At least if we have someone who’s a defensive presence inside we can pick our poison.

I think Love is better defender than most people think. He doesn’t give up post position easily and does the little things to make scoring hard BUT .. with the physicals he’s got: size, wingspan, standing reach. You’re kinda force to put him on the latter of each of those couples because he just have the physical tools to guard the “center” of the 2.

So my problem with not having a “center” is that even though Jefferson has the physicals to be guarding either a center or a power forward we can’t choose on which we put him because the other big doesn’t have that same physicals and can only be used against a “pf”.

What’s flawed in my thinking is that some “centers” aren’t able to guard a PF either. So actually to have the perfect situation we would need to have a center, a power forward AND jefferson. That way we can always put Jefferson where we like him best and if Randy is as witty as his name suggest we should be able to effectively sub in and out the PF and the Center so that Jefferson is always on the weakest one so we can effectively guard the other.

SO, I think we’re on track. As I’ve said, I’ve turned 180 on the deal and think we’re on track. Pekovich might be that Center that I’m talking about, Love is in my opinion defenitly that PF that I’m talking about + we’ll have a chance in 2011 to fill in what we lack in free agency.

I’m seeing the pieces fall together slowly here. I’m still skeptical because this IS McHale. You never know when he might pull another trade out of his hat but he kinda seems to be on the road of redemption. Let’s hope he stays on it.

use the preview before posting

because he just have the physical tools to
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beucase he just hasn’t got te phsy…;

the other big doesn’t have
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the other big hasn’t got

SO, I think we’re on track. As I’ve said, I’ve turned 180 on the deal and think we’re on track
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Twice on track.. :d