FanPost

What should the wolves get for Jefferson? How good is jefferson?

Thought I'd try to compare jefferson to his peer group. [I did some searches on basketball reference.com]

To give credit where it is due, I saw this capability about basketball reference and saw a similar search by biggity2bit.

I first looked at young big men whose effective FG% is greater than 50% and have a Total Rebound percentage greater than 17.8, more than 15 FGA and a usage rate greater than 25% [Al has career rates of at least these levels].

I looked at all NBA seasons for all big men 6'10 inches or taller, who are no more than 23 yo. There were 5 players who had a season that met these criteria.

for players 23 yo and less >>>

1) Shaq had 3 seasons

2) Dwight Howard

3) jefferson

4) Ralph Sampson

5) Perkins (celtics)

See the search -

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1∑=0&type=per_minute&per_minute_base=36&is_playoffs=N&year_min=1947&year_max=2010&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=23&height_min=82&height_max=99&lg_id=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=&qual=&c1stat=efg_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=.5&c2stat=trb_pct&c2comp=gt&c2val=17.8&c3stat=usg_pct&c3comp=gt&c3val=25&c4stat=fga&c4comp=gt&c4val=15&order_by=ws

If I expand the criteria for all players 25 and under - Al's current age....we add

[Note last season pre-injury Al was close to meeting the criteria for a 2nd time and he is recovering from injury this season.]

Tim Duncan

David Robinson (2 seasons)

Moses Malone (2 seasons)

Chris Bosh

and one guy I've never heard of.. see the search here:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&type=per_minute&per_minute_base=36&is_playoffs=N&year_min=1947&year_max=2010&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=25&height_min=82&height_max=99&lg_id=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=&qual=&c1stat=efg_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=.5&c2stat=trb_pct&c2comp=gt&c2val=17.8&c3stat=usg_pct&c3comp=gt&c3val=25&c4stat=fga&c4comp=gt&c4val=15&order_by=ws

If then relax the age criteria to 28, we add

[Note: jefferson won't be in this age group for 3 more years and barring healthy issues would get better like all of these players did.]

Kevin Garnett (3 seasons)

Olajuwon (3 seasons)

Artis Gilmore

Shawn Kemp

Robert Parrish (3 seasons)

Bill Walton

Roy Tarpley

see the search here -

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&type=per_minute&per_minute_base=36&is_playoffs=N&year_min=1947&year_max=2010&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=28&height_min=82&height_max=99&lg_id=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=&qual=&c1stat=efg_pct&c1comp=gt&c1val=.5&c2stat=trb_pct&c2comp=gt&c2val=17.8&c3stat=usg_pct&c3comp=gt&c3val=25&c4stat=fga&c4comp=gt&c4val=15&order_by=ws

Again keep in mind that the primary criteria used are jefferson's career averages

jefferson's career effective FG% is 50.2%, his career total rebounding percentage is 17.8% and his career usage is 25%.

Its pretty select company!! and again keep in mind that players peak in their mid-to late 20's into their early 30's.

So jefferson has really only been competing with the first two groups, those less than 23 and 25 years old.